I had no intention of doing an assisted hatch. I am firmly of the belief that the first step in maintaining a healthy flock is to never perpetuate problems.
However, after discussing it with people who knew more than I do, it seemed that the late egg from my first hatch, the one that had spent hours and hours half-zipped, had become shrink-wrapped when I took the already hatched chicks out. Since the chick's cheeping was getting weaker and shrink-wrapping isn't the chick's fault I decided to do a light assist -- peeling away dry, tough membrane and just chipping away tiny bit of shell at the ends of the zip to reach soft membrane.
Within minutes Slowpoke had vigorously kicked himself free of the shell -- revealing himself to be splay-legged and to have a badly-curled foot. Yes, he *was* shrink-wrapped, but he had failed to zip for a reason. Now I had a live chick, but one in need of additional assistance.
A search of our resources here turned up this article. A chick shoe made from blue painter's tape and hobbles made from a hairtie and a bit of plastic straw got that problem taken care of. (Note: I did not brood him specially, but put him into the brooder with the others once I saw that he could shuffle around to reach the food and water -- which I set a little closer to the brooder plate than I might otherwise have done).
Fast forward to 12 weeks and it's clear that this young cockerel was unable to hatch on his own for a very good reason. He's severely deformed -- wry-tailed and hunchbacked. Able to mostly keep up with his peers so far, but significantly smaller and definitely not a candidate for a permanent member of anyone's flock.
It will be interesting to see what his carcass looks like at butchering age and if there are any problems with his internal organs. I'll update this after he's been butchered.
I *think* I made the right decision to peel away dried membrane, but I know that I am making the right decision to butcher him so that he will never father chicks to inherit his deformity.
Update at 15 weeks:
His wry tail is now cocked almost 90 degrees. He walks like Quasimodo -- but you can see that he's active enough that it's hard to get decent photos and he doesn't seem to be in pain so I'm letting him grow along with the others until I'm ready to butcher any who don't sell.
He is, however, barely over half his hatchmates' size:
Update at 6 months, with carcass photos after butchering.
After his hatchmates were sold, Slowpoke lived happily in Camp Cockerel with the other cull boys from the next hatch, being only slightly larger than they were, until I was ready to butcher the entire batch at once.
He reached a live weight of 93oz -- 5.8 lbs and butchered out to a carcass weight of 4lbs 5oz.
With his feathers off the full extent of his deformity was revealed (photos spoilered for the sensitive).
Had he been a hen it would have been physically impossible to pass an egg through that badly choked-off pelvic opening.
When I gutted him I only found one testicle -- presumably coming from the undeformed side, but he didn't lack masculinity -- though he did take longer to crow then his hatchmates.
Slowpoke lived a happy life while it existed. I'd assisted him to hatch, did therapy on his splayed leg and deformed foot, and, since he never seemed to be in pain (though he did grow more slowly than his brothers), allowed him to hang around with the company of others until I was ready to do the culling.
My hands brought him into the world, cared for him while he was here, and took him back out of the world as mercifully as I could manage. After he was plucked I discovered that his deformity was even worse than I'd thought. He probably ate enough feed in 6 months to be a very expensive 4lbs of picked chicken once he's been through the crockpot, but he enjoyed his life and it wasn't wasted.
I probably won't do another assisted hatch unless I'm 100% sure that it's a shrinkwrap instead of a deformity but I'm glad to have had this learning experience.
However, after discussing it with people who knew more than I do, it seemed that the late egg from my first hatch, the one that had spent hours and hours half-zipped, had become shrink-wrapped when I took the already hatched chicks out. Since the chick's cheeping was getting weaker and shrink-wrapping isn't the chick's fault I decided to do a light assist -- peeling away dry, tough membrane and just chipping away tiny bit of shell at the ends of the zip to reach soft membrane.
Within minutes Slowpoke had vigorously kicked himself free of the shell -- revealing himself to be splay-legged and to have a badly-curled foot. Yes, he *was* shrink-wrapped, but he had failed to zip for a reason. Now I had a live chick, but one in need of additional assistance.
A search of our resources here turned up this article. A chick shoe made from blue painter's tape and hobbles made from a hairtie and a bit of plastic straw got that problem taken care of. (Note: I did not brood him specially, but put him into the brooder with the others once I saw that he could shuffle around to reach the food and water -- which I set a little closer to the brooder plate than I might otherwise have done).
Fast forward to 12 weeks and it's clear that this young cockerel was unable to hatch on his own for a very good reason. He's severely deformed -- wry-tailed and hunchbacked. Able to mostly keep up with his peers so far, but significantly smaller and definitely not a candidate for a permanent member of anyone's flock.
It will be interesting to see what his carcass looks like at butchering age and if there are any problems with his internal organs. I'll update this after he's been butchered.
I *think* I made the right decision to peel away dried membrane, but I know that I am making the right decision to butcher him so that he will never father chicks to inherit his deformity.
Update at 15 weeks:
His wry tail is now cocked almost 90 degrees. He walks like Quasimodo -- but you can see that he's active enough that it's hard to get decent photos and he doesn't seem to be in pain so I'm letting him grow along with the others until I'm ready to butcher any who don't sell.
He is, however, barely over half his hatchmates' size:
Update at 6 months, with carcass photos after butchering.
After his hatchmates were sold, Slowpoke lived happily in Camp Cockerel with the other cull boys from the next hatch, being only slightly larger than they were, until I was ready to butcher the entire batch at once.
He reached a live weight of 93oz -- 5.8 lbs and butchered out to a carcass weight of 4lbs 5oz.
With his feathers off the full extent of his deformity was revealed (photos spoilered for the sensitive).
His hips were horribly twisted.
And his breastbone was so close to his pelvis that I *thought* I was going to have to spatchcock him in order to gut him -- just one finger's space. Even gutted I could barely get 2 fingers into the opening.
And his breastbone was so close to his pelvis that I *thought* I was going to have to spatchcock him in order to gut him -- just one finger's space. Even gutted I could barely get 2 fingers into the opening.
Had he been a hen it would have been physically impossible to pass an egg through that badly choked-off pelvic opening.
When I gutted him I only found one testicle -- presumably coming from the undeformed side, but he didn't lack masculinity -- though he did take longer to crow then his hatchmates.
Slowpoke lived a happy life while it existed. I'd assisted him to hatch, did therapy on his splayed leg and deformed foot, and, since he never seemed to be in pain (though he did grow more slowly than his brothers), allowed him to hang around with the company of others until I was ready to do the culling.
My hands brought him into the world, cared for him while he was here, and took him back out of the world as mercifully as I could manage. After he was plucked I discovered that his deformity was even worse than I'd thought. He probably ate enough feed in 6 months to be a very expensive 4lbs of picked chicken once he's been through the crockpot, but he enjoyed his life and it wasn't wasted.
I probably won't do another assisted hatch unless I'm 100% sure that it's a shrinkwrap instead of a deformity but I'm glad to have had this learning experience.
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