As another Lame Cherry exclusive in matter anti matter.
We were supposed to have our place years ago, but it is amazing in how many people promised in they prelude to Trump who had money, who simply forgot to make that big donation, once the moment was passed. So I am stuck in this shit hole trying to keep things alive in the worst possible situation.
Chickens now either will not set on eggs, or they are so inbred that they barely will hatch. As baby chicks are about 5 bucks a piece now, I am trying to save some Sumatras which I got 3 years ago.......yeah I was supposed to have our place so things would be easier, but I instead have these problems in hatching which appear here, as no one has ever mentioned any of this except the Lame Cherry in how to birth chickens out of eggs as it is not easy.
For instance the first batch, satan murdered two of them out of the egg in the brooder. Never had any problems in that, but this time in praying for a place which the donations have not come in for, the chicks expired.
This time two died in the egg in the incubator. One was dried out and one was drown in the egg. That is the precarious situation in my homemade incubator is because I have left chicks to hatch out and they die, and taken them out and they die.
This though is the best protocol and if you violate it, you will harm them or kill them.
First photo is the chick with it's egg tooth making the first peck in the egg and getting it open.
This is a timing issue as if you take them too soon, they bleed, as there are four layers of protection in a chicken womb. There is the shell. There is the outer leathery membrane. There is the inner membrane where the blood lines are which rupture if they are premature, and then there is the inner slime or placenta that the chick is lubricated with.
Next up, this is what I do is pick the pick hole bigger and then saddle or pick off a ring around the top 1/3rd of the egg as that is what a chick normally does. You have to be VERY careful in not picking off the leathery membrane or rupturing the inner membrane as that is when you get the bleeding which is not what you want.
Ok at the top of the egg is the air sack space. That is hat you start picking the egg shell off next. This air space is usually not attached and will not bleed. So it gives you an opening to get at the chick.
As you can see a few droplets of blood. This is a preemie and with that warning you proceed with extra care.
When you get the air sack open you can start very carefully opening up the inner membrane very slowly to make sure it does not start bleeding. The important part in this is you do not try pulling on anything, do not pull on the chicken, but once you have the inner membrane hole expanded off the beak area of the first egg opening, you begin using your thumbs and fingers to roll this membrane to an ever larger hole. See if you are stretching this elastic material, it can not tear, and not tearing it, means no bleeding.
What you will find is the little head is tucked under a little wing. You do not touch the chick though as your attention is about sliding that membrane down to the egg shell.
If you make a mistake and a blood droplet appears, you stop, let it stop bleeding and then slide the membrane down in an opposite area. You can see by the photo below I have about half the chick exposed.
At this point, you start flaking off the egg shell again downward, leaving about an ass cup size at the bottom. BE CAREFUL in this as you do not want the chick out of the egg and DO NOT PULL THE CHICK out of the egg, as there is an attachment there like a navel on the bottom of the chick and it will bleed profusely and you might kill the chick.
Now you keep working the membrane down and do not leave sharp edges on the egg. What you are working toward is this photo in coming to a point on the underside where their little feet are exposed on the bottom. This is where you stop, as you get their feet free and when they are strong enough they can kick free of the egg, detach themselves and there will not be any bleeding.
What you need to watch for though is to not let them dry out and get stuck to that egg. Humidity is important, and a pan of warm water in your oven, brooder or with a light on them helps, as long as you do not drown them.
This is what you end up with in you keep their heads up as they dry out. You can see the bottom one was more of a bleeder. It happens, but you have to try to make it not happen.
If their heads are up and out of the egg. I will carefully pick them up and dip their beak in some water to hydrate them. When things work right, you will see these lifeless preemies seem to transform into chicken in a few hours. Sometimes they are slower in it takes a day.
Feed is not as important as they eat the yolk before hatching, but I do give water to help them move along.
Just be very patient and take your time, just do not take hours doing this. When I get going and things are working out as they should, I can start to finish do a chick in 15 minutes in taking extra time. As you will not be doing hundreds, there is not any point in rushing as this is birth.
The future is to have a place, hens sitting, hatching their own eggs and the chicks which do hatch, they will be vigorous and breed into the next generation, so I do not have these inbred problems.
At one time when I was young and we had chickens which were normal, I never would pick a chick out of an egg, as I found they were all cripples or would die. These I can keep going once I get them out of the egg providing satan is not murdering them.
As I have stated, chicks are 5 bucks a piece now, and I can not afford them, so I am trying to hang on until some rich person acts like a Christian and we can get our place as God jackhammers some bastard off that land they think they can take with them.
Oh and these Sumatras alike English games are tough ass chickens in things do not kill them that easy like other breeds.
Nuff Said
agtG