P.S. I have absolutely no experience with hatch assistance. All I can do to help you is send the link to Susanne's hatch assist article, and you already know where that is. I'm glad Baruch was able to give you so much help - there's no substitute for experience.

I think I'm actually in good shape, knock on wood. His yolk is maybe half to 2/3rds the size of this chick's. Once that's in he should be okay, and with any luck I can sneak him back in under Pippin and she'll know what to do from there.

The only problem currently is I did get a peak at his intestines too, and they're black so he is dehydrated. Hopefully that coconut water I just gave him will take care of that.

I will probably send a message anyway just in case.

It's always good to have some backup in case things suddenly go wrong. But it sounds like it's actually going pretty well for an assist hatch, and it's wonderful that you were able to get some fluids into the chick.

I am following this story and it's so engrossing! I know zero about these things so I am learning something in the process.

How is the chick doing today?

Well, I got little guy fully out of the egg. His umbilical opening still seems a tad large but the yolk is entirely absorbed. I placed him back in the empty shell to rest under the warm lights. Once he's crawled out of the egg on his own I'll see about putting him back under his parents.

That's amazing! Wonderful job. I am thinking that you should let him stay out of the egg and under the light. Let him stretch out and start wiggling on his own. Keep feeding him fluids like you have already. You should probably put him in the nest with his parents in a few hours.

Hey, he's out! (He's much less red in real life, and his intestines are clear so the coconut water seems to be doing the trick!)



Problems though...Pippin is a little chicken. JJ is completely unfazed by the "imposter" but isn't interested in sitting today, apparently. I pulled him back to the heat lamp, will try again in a bit.

It's okay that they are a little scared. Take a look at this video. http://youtu.be/yAUhTPqESdk it's a little potty-mouthed at the beginning. The point of that video is that when the chick hatches, the mom gets scared, the only difference is that the mom in the video pecked the chick. Hopefully JJ will show her that there is nothing to be afraid of. I think you should leave the chick there so they can get used to him. If they don't accept him is 30 mins. You should keep him warm and hydrated.

I left him in for a half hour, then put him back. Neither parent has been on the nest since about 7AM, it's now 8:30 my time. Pippin did eventually go in and peck him a few times, then went back out.