Horrible hatch, chick with one eye larger than the other. So confused.

gingerly1983

Chirping
6 Years
Mar 2, 2013
277
18
96
Grand Ridge, Fl
I'm super annoyed with this hatch. :( I bought 2 dozen Salmon Faverolle eggs, they were shipped to me in Florida from Oregon. Clear across the country, I know. I had concerns with the distance but the seller assured me that they have shipped to Florida and the people had great hatch rates. I think the seller lied. This is the worst hatch I have EVER had. I received 29 eggs. They weren't in bad shape at all. No detached air cells. There were a few saddle cells, but nothing too crazy. One egg had a hairline crack in it and I covered it with scotch tape (it hatched BTW). Some of the eggs were 7 days old when they got to me. Anyway, I let the eggs rest for 12 hours and put them in the incubator. No turner for 24 hours. I'm not new to hatching, but I am not an expert either. Temp at 99.8, humidity at 42%. These numbers have always given me good hatches. I have a Brinsea Octagon 40 Advance with the auto humidity pump so the shipped eggs had a great chance at making it. I did random temp checks and it was always right. Well, after day 7, I had SEVERAL clears and about 6 early quitters. I was left with only 16 eggs out of 29 that were developing. Yeah. I opened some of the clears and there were no germinal discs on any of them. I asked the seller if they had any issues with fertility and of course, I was assured that there wasn't. By the time lockdown got here, I only had 12 eggs left. They started to hatch, 7 were out when I left for work tonight. One hatched on day 20, the rest that were out hatched on day 21. The first 2 were fine, the 3rd, well, it's deformed. One eye is grossly larger than the other. It's not infection or anything like that. It's the chick's actual eyeball. It's HUGE! I took a pic but I'm at work right now. I'll upload one in the morning. I've researched all I can online and the conclusion is that it is either improper temps during incubation, improper turning, eggs from breeders with poor nutrition or too much inbreeding. I know the temps were right and the incubator is in an auto-turn cradle. So what do you guys think the issue is?? Incubation? Bad eggs? Shipping across the country??? Should I bring this up to the seller? What would be a fair resolution to this problem?

Here's what the chick looks like. It's head isn't malformed, just that eye. It has eyelids that open and close over it. Nothing else is wrong with this chick. It walks around, eats, and drinks without a problem. My husband has lovingly names it "Crazy Eyes".
 
I would attribute "crazy eyes" to poor nutrition of breeders, or bad genetics :(

The rest.... Not so honest breeders is a possibility... Hatching shipped eggs usually only has 50% success, give or take... But wow that's like, 25%.... Sounds like you're experienced ENOUGH lol, I'm going with poor quality breeders and low fertility.

Sounds like you're lucky ANY hatched :(
 
Wound up with 8 of 29 eggs hatching. All the chicks look great except for Crazy Eyes. She's growing on me though. Here she is, pics as promised. I'm still not sure as to whether I should tell the seller or not. It probably wouldn't do any good. I just hate that I paid a large amount per dozen for eggs from poor breeders...and I hate even worse that it can happen to other people on BYC.


 
Awww crazy eyes IS cute, poor little bugger :(

I'll stick with genetics or poor nutrition... I wouldn't go do far as to say they were being dishonest; my concern is maybe they don't even KNOW.... Some don't know how important proper nutrition is when collecting hatching eggs. Sure its super easy to get a rooster and gather fertile eggs to sell, but getting them proper nutrition to form a baby.... Well lets just say it may just be innocent ignorance :(

How are they to know if the eggs are fertile or not?... You just can't tell until they hatch....

I would contact them, NOT angrily..lol ;).... But concerned that their breeders may need better nutrition. They might not know and you might save others the same issue if they can get it corrected.

Worth a shot anyway.. ;)
 
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To be honest there's a lot of things that can go wrong with shipped eggs especially in florida during the hot season. The fact that you were shipped eggs that were already incubating was a bad sign to start with. I personally wouldn't have let the eggs rest they would have been put straight in the incubator with the turner disabled. Once you start shipping in fancy eggs then there's also the added risk of genetics as some colors can not successfully breed with the same color and stuff like that. I know 25% sounds bad but for a shipped egg in florida that's not terrible. I recently had a 0% run that I disposed of after the first week as the shipper removed the eggs from under a hen checked them for fertility then shipped them. It was partly my fault as the ad said 100% fertile and I just considered that as a sales pitch, It wasn't until I complained about the eggs and pointed out that the eggs were at least 10 days old when he shipped them that he told me he did that to ensure they were fertile o.0 .
 
sorry for the double post... I'm new
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Just wondering how this chick is doing. We bought a few from our local tractor supply and when we got home I noticed that one has one eye larger than the other. I came across your pictures and it looks exactly like what this chick has going on. She's a perky little thing and doesn't seem to have any other issues so I didn't automatically assume that she was sick. Any updates you have would be appreciated. We are getting a little attached to this one already.
 
I wonder if maybe it's not his eye that's big but if the socket just didn't form right? I mean if you think about it, the part of a chick's eye that you see is only part of the sphere itself, I bet that if that entire eye were bulging out it would look a lot like his right one does. I bet an x-ray could answer this question!
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Anyway, I wonder if his vision is impaired, or if it will degrade over time? You should post adult pictures someday!
 
Hi guys, I'm sad to report that the little chick did not make it. :( I really think it had something to do with the eggs being shipped across the country to me. I had other eggs in that hatch that turned out fine, so I knowing wasn't the incubator. Oh well, it happens. :(
 

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