This morning we had 7 chicks hatched, and one poor little mite who had been stuck partially hatched since last night.
Following Katie Thear's advice, we soaked a cloth in some sanitised water, wrapped him in it (being careful to keave a gap so he could still breath), to try and soften the by-now very papery and dry membrane. We then removed a bit more shell, and found the membrane still very dry. We soaked it some more, peeled a little more off, and then put him back in the incy.
While this was happening, DH transferred the first 5 chicks into the brooder, leaving the 2 latest chooks in the incy as they needed to dry a bit more and they would continue to provide encouragement to Sticky and to the as-yet unpipped eggs.
45 minutes later Sticky had made a little more progress but was still stuck. He was also exhausted, poor wee thing. So we did another round of damping and a bit of peeling, and then suddenly he burst into life and was kicking for all he was worth,
We popped him back in the incy, and waited.
And watched.
I find it surprisingly painful to watch, my heart strings get pulled as the poor exhausted chicks try and emerge from their shells. WIth this little one it was even worse than usual.
One final heave and he was out. And like all chicks he lay splayed out, looking as though the effort had killed him.
But it hadn't.
8 out, four to go. We'll candle them later when we move these three into the brooder.
Following Katie Thear's advice, we soaked a cloth in some sanitised water, wrapped him in it (being careful to keave a gap so he could still breath), to try and soften the by-now very papery and dry membrane. We then removed a bit more shell, and found the membrane still very dry. We soaked it some more, peeled a little more off, and then put him back in the incy.
While this was happening, DH transferred the first 5 chicks into the brooder, leaving the 2 latest chooks in the incy as they needed to dry a bit more and they would continue to provide encouragement to Sticky and to the as-yet unpipped eggs.
45 minutes later Sticky had made a little more progress but was still stuck. He was also exhausted, poor wee thing. So we did another round of damping and a bit of peeling, and then suddenly he burst into life and was kicking for all he was worth,
We popped him back in the incy, and waited.
And watched.
I find it surprisingly painful to watch, my heart strings get pulled as the poor exhausted chicks try and emerge from their shells. WIth this little one it was even worse than usual.
One final heave and he was out. And like all chicks he lay splayed out, looking as though the effort had killed him.
But it hadn't.
8 out, four to go. We'll candle them later when we move these three into the brooder.
