ginasuewho
In the Brooder
- Jul 19, 2017
- 6
- 7
- 21
Long story but here’s the short version (even though it’s still long).
One of our mama Pekings went broody crazy, laying on 22 eggs. 6 were broken into, 8 were duds, 10 were moved with Mama away from everyone. Four hatched under her, 6 left, 2 had stopped after the nest raid and move, leaving 4 in my ER incubator setup after she stopped sitting to take care of the 4. She was kicking the nest down, and the eggs too.
Only 1 internally pipped Thursday. Other 3 died in shell, managed to break their yolks.
After 48 hrs (a little more it was Sat. afternoon), I helped to make a pip hole, and unzipped enough to have her bill out. Her head and neck had broken out of the inner membrane still lots of blood vessels. Kept her wet (was about every two hrs, good thing I’m a mom and used to it!), and by 6 am Sunday her shoulders were out and the inner membrane was receding. I could see inside, and her yolk was huge. She was trying to kick it away. I tried to immobilize her, but she still managed to kick the shell away, but the yolk was attached to the shell. It eventually released and her yolk absorbed, although she still looks like she has an umbilical cord stump. It looked like she nicked a vessel as there was a little blood.
Anyways, after all that, she's mostly doing well (I delicately checked, but still unsure, so going with she). All fluffy, although she’s not a bright yellow like her siblings. Her fluff is almost a mottled light yellow-white and her head is almost fully white. She's also much smaller then they are (even with week difference, she smaller than when they hatched) She cheeps and peeps at her stuffed chick roommate and me when I first let her know it was time to eat or drink, or when we snuggle for a bit. She’s got the hang of eating/drinking now and gimps her way over. Her left leg seems to be lame. She'll move it, and tries to stand on it. But she hops around more on the right, and the left started to splay. I've just started niacin sup, but will have to go get brewer's yeast, as I bought the flush-free type, and didn't read that part until after I bought it (& it all the closest store had). I've hobbled tonight to keep the leg splaying of the left leg from increasing. I also let her swim in a tepid tub and watched the left leg. She moves it, but not near as much as the right. I also didn’t feel her Achilles’ tendon out of place and the joint seems to be the same size as the other.
So couple of questions.
Do I leave her hobbled to do swim therapy?
What other physical therapy could I do to strengthen the left leg?
Could it be just be underdeveloped as she had a hard hatch and I felt I had to intervene?
What else can I do? What shouldn’t I do?
One of our mama Pekings went broody crazy, laying on 22 eggs. 6 were broken into, 8 were duds, 10 were moved with Mama away from everyone. Four hatched under her, 6 left, 2 had stopped after the nest raid and move, leaving 4 in my ER incubator setup after she stopped sitting to take care of the 4. She was kicking the nest down, and the eggs too.
Only 1 internally pipped Thursday. Other 3 died in shell, managed to break their yolks.
After 48 hrs (a little more it was Sat. afternoon), I helped to make a pip hole, and unzipped enough to have her bill out. Her head and neck had broken out of the inner membrane still lots of blood vessels. Kept her wet (was about every two hrs, good thing I’m a mom and used to it!), and by 6 am Sunday her shoulders were out and the inner membrane was receding. I could see inside, and her yolk was huge. She was trying to kick it away. I tried to immobilize her, but she still managed to kick the shell away, but the yolk was attached to the shell. It eventually released and her yolk absorbed, although she still looks like she has an umbilical cord stump. It looked like she nicked a vessel as there was a little blood.
Anyways, after all that, she's mostly doing well (I delicately checked, but still unsure, so going with she). All fluffy, although she’s not a bright yellow like her siblings. Her fluff is almost a mottled light yellow-white and her head is almost fully white. She's also much smaller then they are (even with week difference, she smaller than when they hatched) She cheeps and peeps at her stuffed chick roommate and me when I first let her know it was time to eat or drink, or when we snuggle for a bit. She’s got the hang of eating/drinking now and gimps her way over. Her left leg seems to be lame. She'll move it, and tries to stand on it. But she hops around more on the right, and the left started to splay. I've just started niacin sup, but will have to go get brewer's yeast, as I bought the flush-free type, and didn't read that part until after I bought it (& it all the closest store had). I've hobbled tonight to keep the leg splaying of the left leg from increasing. I also let her swim in a tepid tub and watched the left leg. She moves it, but not near as much as the right. I also didn’t feel her Achilles’ tendon out of place and the joint seems to be the same size as the other.
So couple of questions.
Do I leave her hobbled to do swim therapy?
What other physical therapy could I do to strengthen the left leg?
Could it be just be underdeveloped as she had a hard hatch and I felt I had to intervene?
What else can I do? What shouldn’t I do?
