Mary Allen
A squeak can be heard, cracks form on the shell, the beak and part of the head can be seen. The chick has been trying to hatch for several hours. Who wouldn’t want to help the little creature? But no help is needed here.
There are various reasons why a chick cannot free itself from the eggshell. One of them is too low humidity during incubation, which causes the chick to stick to the shell. It remains bound in its shell by the tough egg membrane.
However, it is also possible that the air chamber of the egg is in the wrong place or that the chick is not placed correctly. An improperly seated chick, for example with its head under its left-wing or between its legs, cannot turn itself to break through the eggshell. Even if a chick is positioned correctly but the air cell is not at the blunt end of the egg, the chick has no chance of breaking out of the egg. Incorrect positioning of the air chamber can be caused by too little or incorrect rotation during the incubation process. This makes it all the more important to place the eggs in the incubator blunt end up and to ensure the right temperature and humidity.
A bad hatch can also be hereditary or influenced by inbreeding. A balanced diet for the hen also plays a crucial role. Chicks that need help to hatch will more likely later produce chicks that will have the same problems. Usually, such animals will be too weak and hardly survive the first few days. They have deficiencies or are disabled in some way. Such disabilities can range from crossed beaks to crooked toes to splay feet. In any case, they are less strong and vital than their siblings. Therefore, under no circumstances should a chick be helped to hatch.
The Chick Takes Its First Breath Before it Bursts the Shell
In order to hatch properly, the chick must be in the following position in the egg: the head is under the right-wing. While the beak with the egg tooth is in such a way that it can break through the air chamber at the blunt end of the egg. On the 18th day, before the eggshell bursts open, the chick pricks the air sac. There it takes its first breath. In the following days, the breeder should tame his curiosity and not keep opening the incubator. If opened too frequently, the temperature and humidity will change too much, preventing quick and smooth hatching.
The refined incubation technology of modern equipment favors the hatching of chicks that would not survive natural incubation. This is because the animals are at the mercy of greater temperature fluctuations and therefore have to fight harder to survive.