Hatching Is Hard Work


By now it’s safe to assume that Dorothy’s fourth egg will never hatch.  Perhaps it wasn’t viable. Perhaps the pip we saw was actually just a white spot — a dab of poot from one of the chicks.

It takes a while to be sure an egg won’t hatch because the entire process from pip to liberation takes 50-72 hours for peregrines.

Hatching is the first major effort of a new bird and he’s on his own to complete it. His mother insists on being present for the hatch but she doesn’t break the shell.  Her only assistance is to move the shell away when it’s finally opened.

How does the chick get out of the shell?

When a baby bird is ready to hatch its body takes up almost all of the egg’s interior.  Though it’s in cramped quarters the chick has a tool, a temporary structure on top of its beak called an egg tooth, that’s sharp enough to cut the shell.

First the chick positions its head at the large end of the egg near the air space and uses its egg tooth to break the interior membrane.  Now it can breathe and “peep.”  The parents can hear the peeping.  How cool!

The chick rests a while.  Then it starts rubbing its egg tooth against one spot on the shell until it makes a hole — the pip.  Starting at the hole, the chick now turns inside the shell bit by bit and hammers the circumference of the egg.  Turn, hammer, rest.  Turn, hammer, rest.  When the line is complete the chick pushes the large end of the shell with its head and shoulders and the small end with its feet to separate the shell.  Mom steps in and removes the shell.

It’s possible for the baby bird to mess this up and the mistake can be fatal.  The chick must work fast enough that he remains damp inside the shell.  Otherwise the membrance dries out and traps him inside.  This year at Cleveland’s Terminal Tower one of the peregrine chicks hammered the shell longitudinally.  The effort took so long that he died before he could open the egg.

Hatching is hard work.  It’s a wonder that chicks know what to do while in the shell.  It’s a wonder they turn and tap the circumference.  It’s a wonder they have the energy to complete it and break free.

Every hatchling is a tiny miracle.

(photo from the National Aviary falconcam at Univ of Pittsburgh, 27 April 2012, 4:37pm)

7 thoughts on “Hatching Is Hard Work

  1. So sad about the fourth egg. It truly is a miracle that they emerge, small and damp and weak, but ready to take on the world. Thanks, Kate, for your wonderful description of what they go through.

  2. Thanks for the information, Kate. If the egg lasts until banding, will it be analyzed for fertility?

  3. Status of the last egg:
    Though we saw what looked like a pip it may well have been a white spot deposited on the outside of the shell when one of the chicks pooped. The white spot did not grow in a way that indicated a live bird was pecking on the inside. The eggs that did hatch developed a pip that grew into an obvious hole which grew into a zip-line around the circumference.

    I think that egg was not viable — maybe not even fertilized.

    Having one unhatched egg is typical for Dorothy. At banding time WCO Beth Fife collects the unhatched egg and holds it up to the light (called candling) to see if there’s a chick inside. Many times there isn’t.

    In my view, I’d rather have an unhatched egg than have a chick die after hatching as happened last year.

  4. if they are all boys lets name them. Larry, Moe and Curly. If one is a girl she can still be miss curley. they are so cute sitting there waiting for thie turn to eat. I love watching them

  5. Kate, thank you for writing about how the chick hatches. You write beautifully; it was easy to imagine every little movement inside the egg. It is truly a miracle.

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