Hello,
I lost a baby chick this morning to suffocation. :'(
-The cause of suffocation? -Unable to internally or externally pip to get air, due to a malposition trapping its head between its legs.
This post is to help others identify and avoid unnecessary deaths of chicks struggling in a similar way.
(-I am really trying to turn this sad moment into something constructive for myself and others...)
If you suspect you have a malpositioned chick inside an egg, it might help to read my short story, and about what things I've learned, down below. (-I highlighted the more-important bits in red...)
And, please consult the following posts/websites on assisted-hatching, etc.:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/guide-to-assisted-hatching-for-all-poultry.72886/
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/step-by-step-guide-to-assisted-hatching.64660/
https://www.thepoultrysite.com/articles/investigating-hatchery-practice-examining-the-hatch-debris
But first, here are some images of my particular chick that died, with most of the shell removed. Except for the now-removed membrane that covered it, this first image is almost exactly what I saw after opening the egg's air-cell to investigate the possible problem (-while the chick was still alive, last evening...):
And here I've labeled the various parts:
As far as I can tell, this is an example of a 'head between the thighs/legs/feet', malpositioned chick. If I am wrong, please correct me.
Here is a screenshot from the third link given above, which I got from one of the other, linked articles:
And here are some more pictures:
...
(-As stated before, the more-important bits of information are highlighted in red...)
My egg's story:
It all began not in an incubator, but under a good-ol'-fashioned chicken mama (-Charlize). Out of the 4 eggs in our batch, this egg (and one more) was from the "Swedish Flower" breed of chicken. (-A tiny-bit smaller than a 'typical' egg.) Throughout day 20 of incubation, all eggs except for this one externally pipped, and you could hear chirping inside. (-I would occasionally pull them out from under the mama hen and listen, and then carefully place them back, without any rotating of course.) This particular egg/chick only made occasionally squirming, or cracking/scratching sounds that were quite faint. The next day, on day 21, all 3 of the other eggs hatched at different times. By the evening I was getting worried... -Still no external pip! I decided to take the egg inside for candling. -Sure enough, there was much movement, -but absolutely no internal pip. -Only a clearly-defined, normal air-cell. -At least it was alive!... I decided to very carefully poke a "safety hole" in the air-cell as shown in the first post linked above, just in case the chick needed air from outside. I then waited a few more hours. It was now around 10pm and still no internal or external pip! -Just movement, but now less! So, as suggested by the post from that same, first link, I continued by carefully removing the shell but only around the air-cell(!) to avoid live veins. I wanted to expose it just enough to get good view of how the chick looked. This hole was about 3/4", ±2cm in diameter. Then I applied just a bit of coconut oil (as recommended) which immediately turned the white, inner-membrane translucent. I could see just a few viens, slightly-larger than a hair's thickness. I decided to wait some more, assuming the chick needed more time to absorb its blood and yolk from the egg. But one thing confused me... -I couldn't see any beak! I honestly had very little clue what I was staring at. Eventually I was able to identify the chick's right wing, with no obvious beak or head positioned under it, and a foot pressed against the shell, towards the far edge of the now-exposed air-cell. -But where was the head?... At some point I just wrongly assumed that the head must be tucked deeply under the right wing, hidden from my sight, but will emerge and pip through the inner-membrane when it's ready. -This was the absolute biggest red-flag that I feel ashamed for missing... That night, after more online research, I read that some chicks won't hatch until days 22-25!... This, in combination with so many people advising to 'wait! wait! wait!' essentially convinced me that I was worrying too much and needed to be more patient. Well, I would find-out later that in this case, worry was absolutely necessary. By morning time, it had died. All movement had stopped, and I was very sad...
Things to learn:
If 'excessive' movement in the egg can be seen with candling whilst all the other chicks in the batch are hatching or (esp.) hatched, and there is still no internal pip, I would intervene by carefully exposing the air-cell, moistening the membrane that's covering the chick with a tiny bit of water or coconut oil, and examining the position of the chick. If the chick is clearly in the correct position, I would stop at that point, and allow it to continue the process on its own. -Or, at most poking a small hole in the membrane right at the tip of the beak (-unless there is a large vein there, or in general). Whether you can see the beak or not, if the membrane's veins are very tiny, almost gone or gone, then I would definitely cut a hole, or many, in the membrane to allow air to flow into the main cavity and hopefully find its way to the bird's beak, wherever it is. (-If I would have done this, the chick might have still been alive this morning...) But if the chick is clearly NOT in the correct position, and there still appears to be struggling movement, and the veins seem to be mostly receded or gone, I would then work on finding its head and getting air to its lungs with the assumption that the chick is struggling to pip, but is prevented somehow from doing so. However, at this point keep in mind that the yolk and a good amount of blood are still likely being slowly absorbed into the chick through its navel. So you should really try to remove as little additional shell as needed to free/partially-free its head, or expose its beak to air. The goal for the moment is to just get it access to air. In other words, it should stay inside the egg for 'as long as reasonable' to absorb any remaining yolk/blood. And depending on its actual position, it might be able to free itself later when it wants to. If after another 8-24hr, and still no progress, it's probably time to continue with a full-assist (-See links above).
What I would have done differently:
So, in my case, 1: I could see considerable muscle movement, 2: there were only very tiny veins along the inner membrane, and 3: I couldn't see the head... -A convincing case that something was wrong, and this egg was ready to begin hatching. Thus, I should have carefully ripped a hole (or a few) through the membrane in a place without a vein, and watch the bird's reaction. (-Hearing faint chirps after some time would be a good sign.) I should have then moved-on to freeing the head by chipping-away bits of shell towards where I think the head was most likely to be (-down by the feet). Again, -only enough to loosen the area, give it air, and to listen for any reaction. If the chick is soon more active, chirping, and is clearly struggling to get out, I would still give it more time (hours) to struggle by itself. As stated above, this would ensure that any additional yolk and blood naturally enter the body as fully as possible. Maybe then today (-incubation day 22), if the chick was still peeping and struggling but not out yet, I would have assumed that the yolk and blood are mostly absorbed, and carefully freed the chick the rest of the way.
Anyway, I hope this post will help some of you avoid this sort of needless suffering.
It is always so sad that a chick can make it this far... -so far... -but not far enough...
Please comment below if you have any questions or corrections.
Thank you for reading,
-Joe L.
I lost a baby chick this morning to suffocation. :'(
-The cause of suffocation? -Unable to internally or externally pip to get air, due to a malposition trapping its head between its legs.
This post is to help others identify and avoid unnecessary deaths of chicks struggling in a similar way.
(-I am really trying to turn this sad moment into something constructive for myself and others...)
If you suspect you have a malpositioned chick inside an egg, it might help to read my short story, and about what things I've learned, down below. (-I highlighted the more-important bits in red...)
And, please consult the following posts/websites on assisted-hatching, etc.:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/guide-to-assisted-hatching-for-all-poultry.72886/
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/step-by-step-guide-to-assisted-hatching.64660/
https://www.thepoultrysite.com/articles/investigating-hatchery-practice-examining-the-hatch-debris
But first, here are some images of my particular chick that died, with most of the shell removed. Except for the now-removed membrane that covered it, this first image is almost exactly what I saw after opening the egg's air-cell to investigate the possible problem (-while the chick was still alive, last evening...):
And here I've labeled the various parts:
As far as I can tell, this is an example of a 'head between the thighs/legs/feet', malpositioned chick. If I am wrong, please correct me.
Here is a screenshot from the third link given above, which I got from one of the other, linked articles:
And here are some more pictures:
...
(-As stated before, the more-important bits of information are highlighted in red...)
My egg's story:
It all began not in an incubator, but under a good-ol'-fashioned chicken mama (-Charlize). Out of the 4 eggs in our batch, this egg (and one more) was from the "Swedish Flower" breed of chicken. (-A tiny-bit smaller than a 'typical' egg.) Throughout day 20 of incubation, all eggs except for this one externally pipped, and you could hear chirping inside. (-I would occasionally pull them out from under the mama hen and listen, and then carefully place them back, without any rotating of course.) This particular egg/chick only made occasionally squirming, or cracking/scratching sounds that were quite faint. The next day, on day 21, all 3 of the other eggs hatched at different times. By the evening I was getting worried... -Still no external pip! I decided to take the egg inside for candling. -Sure enough, there was much movement, -but absolutely no internal pip. -Only a clearly-defined, normal air-cell. -At least it was alive!... I decided to very carefully poke a "safety hole" in the air-cell as shown in the first post linked above, just in case the chick needed air from outside. I then waited a few more hours. It was now around 10pm and still no internal or external pip! -Just movement, but now less! So, as suggested by the post from that same, first link, I continued by carefully removing the shell but only around the air-cell(!) to avoid live veins. I wanted to expose it just enough to get good view of how the chick looked. This hole was about 3/4", ±2cm in diameter. Then I applied just a bit of coconut oil (as recommended) which immediately turned the white, inner-membrane translucent. I could see just a few viens, slightly-larger than a hair's thickness. I decided to wait some more, assuming the chick needed more time to absorb its blood and yolk from the egg. But one thing confused me... -I couldn't see any beak! I honestly had very little clue what I was staring at. Eventually I was able to identify the chick's right wing, with no obvious beak or head positioned under it, and a foot pressed against the shell, towards the far edge of the now-exposed air-cell. -But where was the head?... At some point I just wrongly assumed that the head must be tucked deeply under the right wing, hidden from my sight, but will emerge and pip through the inner-membrane when it's ready. -This was the absolute biggest red-flag that I feel ashamed for missing... That night, after more online research, I read that some chicks won't hatch until days 22-25!... This, in combination with so many people advising to 'wait! wait! wait!' essentially convinced me that I was worrying too much and needed to be more patient. Well, I would find-out later that in this case, worry was absolutely necessary. By morning time, it had died. All movement had stopped, and I was very sad...
Things to learn:
If 'excessive' movement in the egg can be seen with candling whilst all the other chicks in the batch are hatching or (esp.) hatched, and there is still no internal pip, I would intervene by carefully exposing the air-cell, moistening the membrane that's covering the chick with a tiny bit of water or coconut oil, and examining the position of the chick. If the chick is clearly in the correct position, I would stop at that point, and allow it to continue the process on its own. -Or, at most poking a small hole in the membrane right at the tip of the beak (-unless there is a large vein there, or in general). Whether you can see the beak or not, if the membrane's veins are very tiny, almost gone or gone, then I would definitely cut a hole, or many, in the membrane to allow air to flow into the main cavity and hopefully find its way to the bird's beak, wherever it is. (-If I would have done this, the chick might have still been alive this morning...) But if the chick is clearly NOT in the correct position, and there still appears to be struggling movement, and the veins seem to be mostly receded or gone, I would then work on finding its head and getting air to its lungs with the assumption that the chick is struggling to pip, but is prevented somehow from doing so. However, at this point keep in mind that the yolk and a good amount of blood are still likely being slowly absorbed into the chick through its navel. So you should really try to remove as little additional shell as needed to free/partially-free its head, or expose its beak to air. The goal for the moment is to just get it access to air. In other words, it should stay inside the egg for 'as long as reasonable' to absorb any remaining yolk/blood. And depending on its actual position, it might be able to free itself later when it wants to. If after another 8-24hr, and still no progress, it's probably time to continue with a full-assist (-See links above).
What I would have done differently:
So, in my case, 1: I could see considerable muscle movement, 2: there were only very tiny veins along the inner membrane, and 3: I couldn't see the head... -A convincing case that something was wrong, and this egg was ready to begin hatching. Thus, I should have carefully ripped a hole (or a few) through the membrane in a place without a vein, and watch the bird's reaction. (-Hearing faint chirps after some time would be a good sign.) I should have then moved-on to freeing the head by chipping-away bits of shell towards where I think the head was most likely to be (-down by the feet). Again, -only enough to loosen the area, give it air, and to listen for any reaction. If the chick is soon more active, chirping, and is clearly struggling to get out, I would still give it more time (hours) to struggle by itself. As stated above, this would ensure that any additional yolk and blood naturally enter the body as fully as possible. Maybe then today (-incubation day 22), if the chick was still peeping and struggling but not out yet, I would have assumed that the yolk and blood are mostly absorbed, and carefully freed the chick the rest of the way.
Anyway, I hope this post will help some of you avoid this sort of needless suffering.
It is always so sad that a chick can make it this far... -so far... -but not far enough...
Please comment below if you have any questions or corrections.
Thank you for reading,
-Joe L.
