chicks not getting out of eggs

[chickenfan]

I have a hatch of Faverolles happening. Unfortunately one chick pipped halfway around the egg then to my surprise I returned and found it had died without hatching. Now I have another chick trying to hatch which looks as though the membrane could be dry/stiff. They are at 65% humidity. I have raised it to 70%. I wonder what the problem might be? I haven't been opening the incubator.

 

[Marigold]

Maybe 65% was a bit low for the final couple of days? It sounds as if they were too dry so the eggshells stayed rather hard.
I hope more have managed to hatch overnight, do let us know what has happened.

 

[chickenfan]

Most have hatched extremely rapidly and are lovely strong chicks, so I'm puzzled about the other two.

 

[MrsBiscuit]

It may just be that they were weaker individuals and so did not get out as easily. Views are mixed on whether you should assist these types, most people say don't, but I think many of us can't resist, particularly if its a rare breed/colour or there is some other reason for intervention. My experience is that the assisted hatchlings are often marginally weaker in some respect (eg growth rate or egg laying ability or final size) than their stronger siblings, but its not major enough to put me off doing it on the odd occasion if I have a special reason for wanting to maximise the hatch. Also, I don't know if humidity inside the incy is affected when there are more bodies in there drying off, as opposed to eggs waiting to hatch 19

 

[chickenfan]

Thankyou for your feedback. Chick sounded strong last night (loud cheeps) but has made no progress at all further around the shell. It is just half way around. Breeder says she helped two chicks out that are the parents. I've had another chick just hatch from a strange angle which took ages. The others burst out of their shells no problem.

 

[chickenfan]

One thing I've noticed is that Faverolles bantams are born with exceptionally long down that takes 24 hours to dry out. I've looked more closely at the chick that got only half way around the egg. The down is covered in a thin film/skin which would definitely stop it hatching so I've removed this and enlarged the opening a little. If the chick succeeds in getting out, I'll need to mark it in some way so that it is never bred from. I'm not sure the best way of doing this? I will also mark the chick that was born sideways from the egg.

 

[MrsBiscuit]

That sounds like 'shrink wrapping' where the humidity is too low throughout incubation. I've never marked a tiny day old or similar chick, I'm not sure when you can first use a leg ring although I believe it is pretty young but obviously you have to change them quickly. I have heard people mark chicks with food colour as a temporary measure.

 

[chickenfan]

Thank you Mrs Biscuit. That's interesting about the shrink-wrapping and that the humidity may have been too low throughout. I have just had the incubator serviced and it was supposed to be perfect. I shall just use broody hens in future. I've marked the chick that hatched lengthways with a tiny spot of gentian violet.

 

[KittyKat]

chickenfan, why don't you use leg rings to mark the ones that you don't want to breed from? All of our hens and cockerels are tagged so we know which breeders they came from and so our hen sitters can identify them individually.