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Yup - sounds like pasty butt. Pretty common issue in chicks, caused by stress and dehydration. If you can carefully dropper feed some liquid without forcing it down its throat that is best. As others have said, carefully and slowly work off the crust. There are lots of tutorials out there on how...

IMO, 5 and 6 are for sure hens. 1,3, and 4 are for sure cockerels. 2 is unsure for me.

From what I understand, dry incubation only applies to the first stage - that is, before lockdown. After lockdown the humidity should be consistently high. The tan membrane you're seeing is the membrane drying out (it should be white from pip to unzip to hatch) meaning the humidity was too dry...

Up to 7 of 14 hatched and all have been successful except for 1 which seems to have a mild case of omphalitis. Hopefully it'll pull through. Rest look great - so excited!

Update! First one has hatched, so far so good :)

That's great to hear and really puts me at ease - thank you. No, I don't have a hygrometer. I actually did more research in the intervening time and found the company that makes the incubator specifies to not put any hygrometer in their setup. They said the whole incubator is extremely carefully...

Probably not Marek's then. Does she seem to see well? My blue-eyed hen gradually lost sight in that eye and you can tell she can't see out of it by the way she tilts her head sometimes, and the way she won't notice me or another hen approaching her from that side. If she was totally blind you'd...

Just semantics. I meant that there is not draft. Edit: By "barrier" I meant anything to prevent a draft: a grate, a secondary wall, an external wall/tree/fence/ etc. that prevents a draft.

I guess that's just not what I've heard from my research. I think maybe we're miscommunicating on airflow vs. draft. Airflow is good and if you can design an open-sided coop with airflow but no draft that's all well and good. When I refer to draft I'm meaning like a wind blowing directly on a...

Both too little and excess protein are problematic. Laying hens fed starter, grower, or broiler feeds often become sick because of excess protein. Larvae are heavy in protein and fat - often, backyard farmers will create their own feed by harvesting soldier fly larvae for the protein source. If...

Most chicken keepers believe that 3 hens is a bare minimum for a mentally healthy flock. They're probably feeling a bit stressed out and unsafe just the two of them. Chickens help each other look out for danger, and the more pairs of eyes, the safer they feel. With just two, they're probably...

Yes - I meant this rule about drafts only applies to conditions well below zero Celsius. I have two big windows open the rest of the year for a cross breeze. We get summers almost as hot as our winters are cold.

Thanks for the take. I think you're right. I'm considering adding a humidifier to the exterior of the incubator (I happen to have one hanging around for the plants) which can be set to a certain humitidy level just to add in any lacking humidity through the airflow drawn in by the fan. But I...

At that age, my guess would be roo. A lot of redness and comb for a hen. The tail and strutting is also telling, though such "symptoms" aren't accurate measurements.

Unfortunately the symptoms you're describing are a commonality across pretty much all ailments in chickens, so it could be any number of things. That's a lot of weight to lose - do you know how fast she lost it? Is she passing droppings? Perhaps a partial impaction. I'm not an expert but...

How long has it been? Usually Marek's will make itself known pretty quickly. I have a hen with one blue eye, but she's had it for a long time and I know now it's due to damage to that eye. Markek's usually presents as a blue eye but there are many other symptoms that go with it to watch out for.

This is my first time incubating eggs (chickens) and it all happened in a bit of a rush - I had initially had bought fertilized eggs for my broody hen who promptly decided she was done with motherhood and left me with a bunch of eggs to raise! So I quickly bought the best incubator I could find...

Whereni am in the "far north" of Southern ontario, its always been suggested to me to never have a full window open unless there's a significant barrier between then hens and the window. The high winter winds will carry a draft almost anywhere. Best to use a grate or a cupola for winter ventilation.

Also agreed. I would add to this I had a hen that had a VERY roo-like tail her whole life. I posted pictures of her at 4-5 months on here awhile ago and everyone thought she was a roo.

At 8 weeks, that's probably a roo!