Hatching Process and When to Help

Hatching your own eggs is a wonderful experience. Caring for the eggs, making sure the temperature is just right, ensuring there is enough humidity, and then going through the nerve wracking experience of watching the chicks’ struggle to escape the shell can be very rewarding. After all of your hard work, of course you will be nervous the little ones hatch successfully. Then you see one that seems to be in trouble. Your first instinct may be to help it, and that is fine, but you should know a few things first.

As it incubates, the embryo is encased by a membrane consisting of blood vessels. These vessels provide oxygen that enters the egg through the shell to the embryo. Several days before hatching, this network of vessels begins to break down and the embryo lacks sufficient oxygen. The egg will have slowly dried out during incubation, forming an air sack. This sack is pierced by the chick in order to get oxygen. Since there is not a lot of air in the sack, the chick will continue to peck until it ‘pips’ a tiny protrusion on the shell which allows for a greater flow of oxygen. After pipping, the chick will rest for 12 to 24 hours.

Once the chick has rested, it starts to make its way out of the egg. It starts at the pip before turning slightly and pecking again. The chick will continue this pattern around the egg until it forms a ‘lid’ which it can push open and wiggle out the rest of the way. During this process, the chick will take several breaks until it is finished about 1 to 3 hours later.

These rest periods are where most nervous soon-to-be bird parents think they are needed the most. After seeing and hearing movement only to have them go quiet and still can be stressful. Knowing when and when not to help a chick hatch is important.

When you help could mean life or death for the chick. If you help before the network of blood veins has completely broken down, you can cause the chick to bleed to death. Following are three scenarios and our recommendations for each.

• The chick forms a hole where it pipped and does not start rotating within the shell. In this situation you must be careful as not everything went as it should. You can try to help, but stop and try several hours later if you see blood forming where you have broken the shell.
  
  In the following video, we did not see blood until the 'lid' had been taken off. Make sure to stop and try again several hours later whenever you see blood.
  
  

  
  
• If the duckling has started turning and breaking the shell, then runs into a problem and stops turning, you can normally help them without a problem. The key is they have started turning in the shell which means the blood vessels under the shell have shut down and you can help them without fear of excessive bleeding. Gently pull the head out from under the wing and allow the chick to escape the rest of the egg on its own.
  
  The following video shows a variety of eggs where the 'lid' has not been developed and the chick has not turned, but we were able to help them because there was no blood.
  
  

  
  
• If the chick has gone completely around and formed a ‘lid’ only to get stuck, you can definitely help them out by removing the cap.
  
  

Many believe that helping during hatch will make the chick weak. This is not necessarily true. You could have a perfectly healthy and fit chick, but due to less than ideal incubation conditions, it may not be able to hatch on its own. On the flip side, it is possible to get a weaker chick when helping a less than healthy chick to hatch. As author and waterfowl expert Holderread says, hatching is like a “fitness test” for the chicks.

Improving Mobility in Older Geese

A customer contacted us about how she improved the mobility of her older goose, Oliver, with Cosequin.

“Hello to all,

 

I am sharing this in the hope that it may help another goose. I have a goose named Oliver that I rescued 12 years ago. He was full grown so I don't know his real age. About 6 years ago he started to walk less and less and began just staying stationary in the yard until being put in the barn at night. He got to the point that he would barely walk and had to be picked up and carried most of the time. He would get stuck in the bedding in his barn with his feet behind him just shoveling deeper holes.

I have a wonderful bird vet in Dr. Gary Riggs. Several years ago we exhausted every avenue to get Oliver mobile again. He had Adequan injections. He was on Gabapentin and Tramadol. He even had little Dr. Scholls gel insoles glued to his feet for part of the Summer. Nothing helped him. Dr. Riggs described his feet as "gnarly". His toes are not smooth and straight as they should be and look as they may have been broken or infected at one time.

So here is the thing. About six months [ago] I put the dogs on Cosequin. There are 3 different kinds and I actually bought all three. I contacted Dr. Riggs to see if it would be ok to try on Oliver. I started Oliver on the green label bottle simply because that is the first one I bought. [The pills are] shaped like a little dog bone. It breaks in half easily. I wrap each piece in a little ball of bread and pop it down his throat. In two weeks I "thought" I saw an improvement. Now six months later I see him doing things I haven't seen him do in years. Walking....not as much as the girls but he will get up and walk a bit and graze. I have actually looked out the kitchen window and done a double take in that he was in the pond - by himself. I used to have to carry him to get him to go for a swim. He gets up and comes to the barn at night when he sees me getting water buckets ready. He can hop up in the barn with a wing flap but no longer has to be picked up.

It is the only thing he is on at this point. I have no doubt it has made a major improvement in his mobility.

I hope this helps someone else.

Linda, Reebok, Oliver and Piper”

Linda’s story reminds us that sometimes solutions to your birds’ problems can come from obscure places. If you find that your older birds have issues walking, you can try this and see if there is any improvement. From brief searches (thank you Google!), we found that Cosequin is an over-the-counter supplement for older dogs and cats that help with joint pain and Boswellia is considered an anti-inflammatory.

We do not know if this actually works or not, however, as we are not a certified vet. If you do try this, please let us know the results! If you have found an excellent cure for other waterfowl problems, please write us with your story!

Hardware Disease

 

Ducks and geese are omnivores. If they think it looks interesting, they will try to eat it. This especially includes shiny things like coins, staples, nails, scrap metal, and the like. Obviously, this is not good for their health and can cause some severe problems. The issues caused by the ingestion of metals is collectively known as Hardware Disease.

While the objects themselves can cause damage, such as a sharp nail piercing the lining of the stomach, it is the poisoning from the metals as they breakdown that is the real problem. Symptoms include but are not limited to:

• Loss of appetite
• weight loss
• weakness and lethargy
• bright green or bloody droppings
• difficulty walking
• seizures
• death

Poisons are typically fast-acting and once symptoms begin to show they should be treated quickly by a veterinarian. We have a list of veterinarians by state on our website that are knowledgeable in waterfowl care. If a veterinarian is not on hand or not feasible, there are some things you can do to help. Countryside Daily suggests feeding your ducks molasses or charcoal pills to flush out the toxins. Lisa Steel of Fresh Eggs Daily advocates more for prevention, though she does list several herbs such as bay leaves, dill, sage, and thyme mixed as a salad to help detoxify. For objects that would not pass naturally, such as a metal springs or larger pieces of glass, they will require surgery.

The best way to prevent hardware disease is to remove any potential objects your birds might eat. This means monitoring the pen or pasture for anything they might dig up or find. If there has been a building project, make sure all screws, nails, and staples are picked up. To be very thorough, a metal detector would be of help.

Example of things we've found laying around.