Successfully opened a malpositioned chick

[RafterB_ranch]

Hi everyone!

I successfully opened an air hole for a malpositioned call duck. Feeling pretty happy that I was able to catch the issue (already had one die due to malpositioned in this batch).
how do I keep the now-open air cell moist so that the yolk sack doesn’t dry out? The yolk sack is visible from the air cell.
I put some olive oil on originally to try and find a bill as the membrane was white

https://imgur.com/a/LlZaRiF

 

[Kholts]

Hi everyone!

I successfully opened an air hole for a malpositioned call duck. Feeling pretty happy that I was able to catch the issue (already had one die due to malpositioned in this batch).
how do I keep the now-open air cell moist so that the yolk sack doesn’t dry out? The yolk sack is visible from the air cell.
I put some olive oil on originally to try and find a bill as the membrane was white

https://imgur.com/a/LlZaRiF

I’ve always had better luck with Vaseline. I finding olive oil eventually dries out again.

 

[Crazy Maizie]

This was a very helpful article: https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/guide-to-assisted-hatching-for-all-poultry.72886/

I had a chick I needed to assist 3 days ago and it's doing well.
How is your duckling doing?

 

[RafterB_ranch]

This was a very helpful article: https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/guide-to-assisted-hatching-for-all-poultry.72886/

I had a chick I needed to assist 3 days ago and it's doing well.
How is your duckling doing?

That one unfortunately didn’t make it. Guessing it needed to pip 24 hours before.
had another malpositioned (3 out of 9 eggs, it’s my first time incubating and my incubator is crappy so maybe that is why) and it is doing well. This one actually externally pipped on its own so probably saved itself!
All the malpositioned appear to be white, wonder if it’s a genetic thing.

 

[Crazy Maizie]

That one unfortunately didn’t make it. Guessing it needed to pip 24 hours before.
had another malpositioned (3 out of 9 eggs, it’s my first time incubating and my incubator is crappy so maybe that is why) and it is doing well. This one actually externally pipped on its own so probably saved itself!
All the malpositioned appear to be white, wonder if it’s a genetic thing.

That's too bad. The egg I assisted got squished in the nest during hatch. It didn't look like it would be able to get out on it's own. I really don't know about hatch issues. Having had enough broody hatch issues, the thought of trying to incubate gives me anxiety.

 

[HollowOfWisps]

Malpositioned are tricky and I'm sorry yours didn't make it I hatch a breed with around a 60% hatch rate so I deal with it a lot. In my experience malpositioned eggs in many cases can't hatch by themselves, often need more time to absorb the yolk than others and the veins take longer to dry up. I'm not sure why, but it's just something that I have noticed with mine. I do " 2hr. help hatches" is what I call them. I actually bought an extra incubator for this specific purpose that way I'm not vacuum sealing my other eggs and I can boost the humidity even more. Anyways I have found that every 2 hours if I remove a small part of the shell, set the timer again wait another 2 hours and basically every 2 hours remove small pieces of the shell until fully hatched they survive. Shorter times in-between removing shell they bleed out and waiting to long I ended up with the malpositioned ducklings dieing. It's a finicky process, but since I have been using the 2 hour process all have survived that I needed to assist.

 

[RafterB_ranch]

Malpositioned are tricky and I'm sorry yours didn't make it I hatch a breed with around a 60% hatch rate so I deal with it a lot. In my experience malpositioned eggs in many cases can't hatch by themselves, often need more time to absorb the yolk than others and the veins take longer to dry up. I'm not sure why, but it's just something that I have noticed with mine. I do " 2hr. help hatches" is what I call them. I actually bought an extra incubator for this specific purpose that way I'm not vacuum sealing my other eggs and I can boost the humidity even more. Anyways I have found that every 2 hours if I remove a small part of the shell, set the timer again wait another 2 hours and basically every 2 hours remove small pieces of the shell until fully hatched they survive. Shorter times in-between removing shell they bleed out and waiting to long I ended up with the malpositioned ducklings dieing. It's a finicky process, but since I have been using the 2 hour process all have survived that I needed to assist.

Ah I might need to start chipping away on this one then. Do you leave the outer thick membrane and just take the shell away? Or take shell and thick white membrane off?