Musings of a twenty-something hobby hatcher: Whole Foods Fertile Chicken Eggs / Rock Island -- UPDAT

[MisfitMarie]

UPDATE: I have a total of three babies hatched now, drying off in the incubator!

INTRODUCING... RENO!
The "civilized" Whole Foods chick!



​

 

[chicksurreal]

UPDATE: I have a total of three babies hatched now, drying off in the incubator!

INTRODUCING... RENO!
The "civilized" Whole Foods chick!



​

Yay! How cute!!!


My girl abandoned the rest of her eggs this morning (day 25) and took her two little chicks out to explore. Very cute!

 

[MisfitMarie]

Concerning the chick that died halfway out of the egg...

Upon examining the poor little guy, I noticed a strange air pocket over the chick's wing. I noticed it earlier, while it was still in the incubator working away, but didn't realize fully what I was looking it. It is, quite literally, a large air pocket under the skin.

What is this? Is it common? Harmless? Could it have contributed in some way to its death?

I've never seen one of these before, at least not this large and located on the shoulder.

 

[WalnutHill]

It's only a theory, but a developmental defect that left a hole in the lung or air sac may have caused the chick to get air under the skin when it converted to breathing air.

Reno is a cutie!

 

[MisfitMarie]

It's only a theory, but a developmental defect that left a hole in the lung or air sac may have caused the chick to get air under the skin when it converted to breathing air.

Reno is a cutie!

Your theory makes a lot of sense to me! It was extremely unusual to me... The skin was literally translucent.

 

[MisfitMarie]

I'm waiting for all the babies to dry off and fluff out for some pictures...

So, I took a photo shoot of some other chicks I have in my brooder:

 

[lazy gardener]

Or, could it be along the same lines of misdirected air into the crop?

 

[MisfitMarie]

Or, could it be along the same lines of misdirected air into the crop?

That's another possibility! I've been skimming through old threads, in which similar issues are described. There had to have been a "leak" somewhere, seemed like an awful lot of air separating the skin from the rest of the flesh. Poor little guy.

 

[drumstick diva]

That is so sad - how close it was to hatching only to die

It probably would have had other issues once it was born.

 

[ChookRanger]

Reno is sooo cute! Very civilized. Are these sex links? Was the first chick a roo? Anyhow, Yay!