A Flocking Miracle

I gained a few more gray hairs last night with two chicks in the incubator that decided they were ready to make an early entrance.

I put the eggs in “lock down” on Sunday and figured I had at least three more days to prepare the brooding box and double check everything that I would need.

Okay, let me stop for a moment. You probably have no idea what I’m talking about with “lock down”. Let me explain briefly.

“Lock down” is a term used when incubating eggs to signify the final three or so days of the 21 total days of incubation. It is called lock down because you up the humidity levels in the incubator, remove eggs from the egg turner (or just stop turning them if you’re doing it manually), close the incubator and do not open it again until the chicks have hatched. This is done so that the chick has the opportunity to orient its beak to where it needs to be to get out of the shell and also to keep the humidity levels high so that the chick can break out of the shell easily and not have difficulty. If the humidity levels are not high enough during hatching the chick can get stuck in the membrane inside the shell and basically is “shrink wrapped”. Typically, when this happens, the chick does not survive.

So, as I said before, I wasn’t prepared for these little ones to start making their entrance for a few more days so I hadn’t had anything set up yet for them. Heck, I could do it in five minutes so what was my big hurry?

I found out really quickly Monday morning when I stepped into the bathroom to check the humidity percentage and discovered a blue egg with a tiny hole in it. A “pip” or a breakthrough in the shell had happened and it meant that a chick was preparing to make its way into the world. I briefly glanced at the other eggs and noticed another blue egg had a tiny amount of shell protruding from the smooth surface of that egg.

Two eggs were preparing for hatching and it was TWO days early!

One might not think a couple of days is a big deal, but it can mean the difference between a chick surviving and dying while incubating as it is those final three days that the yolk is absorbed into the chick. Yolk fully absorbed the chick is hatched with a closed abdomen and scampers around. Yolk not fully absorbed and the chick either doesn’t hatch at all or hatches with an open abdomen and passes away soon after. It’s a crazy delicate balance.

You can see why I was beyond concerned that there was hatching going on. 

I had no choice though but to let things be and headed to work. All the while thinking of what I would find when I got home later that afternoon.

When I arrived home, I quickly ran to the bathroom to check the incubator and saw one chick stumbling around the unhatched eggs, still a bit damp from hatching but noticed that the egg with the tiny hole hadn’t made much (if at all) progress. At this point it had been roughly 15 hours since I first noticed the hole.

Needless to say, this mama got incredibly concerned.

I waited one, two, two and a half hours – fretting that I shouldn’t step in and try to help the baby out, but I knew that each hour that ticked by the baby was getting more and more exhausted and from what I could see of the membrane that was poking out of the shell, I was pretty sure the membrane had dried to

the point of “shrink wrapping” the chick.

There would be no way this little one would be able to make it out on its own. It would surely die if I left it, but it could die if I helped it.

Hands shaking, I removed the egg from the incubator and slowly, s-l-o-w-l-y, started to peel back shell and dried membrane.

One of the biggest causes of death for helping a chick out of the shell is bleeding and I kept watching for the tiniest sign of blood that would have caused me to immediately stop prying this little one from its calcium coffin.

I was fortunate. I only saw the tiniest amount of blood and was able to get the chick to the point that it was still cocooned in its shell but could break free if it just kicked.

Worried and stressed, I put the little one back into the incubator and stepped away for another hour. Hopeful that the other hatched chick’s peeping and prodding would encourage this little one to try and fight.

A miracle happened yesterday.

The chick rallied and when I stepped back into the bathroom I saw the little head shaking but rising and saw it try to get its feet under it. It wanted to fight, it wanted to live. Heaven would not gain this little one back this time.

Twenty-four hours later the two chicks are still going and I pray that it continues. I know that anything still could happen and has happened in the past, but for now I’m going to be thankful and realized how very blessed my household was last night to witness that miracle.