➡I accidentally bought Balut eggs: 2 live ducks! Now a Chat Thread!

[RUNuts]

We have Killdeer that nest in the work parking lot most years. Little miniature Killdeer running around the parking lot is too cute.

 

[RUNuts]

I'm coming to a new problem. Input requested.

I put 3 eggs under a broody. 1 developed and 2 didn't. I added eggs 7 days later. I don't want the broody to abandon the nest with 1 chick. Is it best to let it hatch with her and then remove it? Leave it and she will care for the solo and the eggs? Pull it, place in incubator to hatch and keep it with the 4 week quail for buddies who will only be larger for a week?

If I pull said chick, what are the chances a 1 week old chick will be accepted by the broody in a week?

Not counting my chick before it hatches, but curious what my best option is.

Thanks! Y'all are amazing!

 

[Molpet]

I'm coming to a new problem. Input requested.

I put 3 eggs under a broody. 1 developed and 2 didn't. I added eggs 7 days later. I don't want the broody to abandon the nest with 1 chick. Is it best to let it hatch with her and then remove it? Leave it and she will care for the solo and the eggs? Pull it, place in incubator to hatch and keep it with the 4 week quail for buddies who will only be larger for a week?

If I pull said chick, what are the chances a 1 week old chick will be accepted by the broody in a week?

Not counting my chick before it hatches, but curious what my best option is.

Thanks! Y'all are amazing!

Mine will leave the eggs to care for the one chick. Probably will not take it when it's a week old, but might. The week old might not bond with her either. But that is what I would try

 

[Redhead Rae]

I'm coming to a new problem. Input requested.

I put 3 eggs under a broody. 1 developed and 2 didn't. I added eggs 7 days later. I don't want the broody to abandon the nest with 1 chick. Is it best to let it hatch with her and then remove it? Leave it and she will care for the solo and the eggs? Pull it, place in incubator to hatch and keep it with the 4 week quail for buddies who will only be larger for a week?

If I pull said chick, what are the chances a 1 week old chick will be accepted by the broody in a week?

Not counting my chick before it hatches, but curious what my best option is.

Thanks! Y'all are amazing!

She is very likely to abandon the nest 24-36 hours after the first egg hatches. If you want her to mother as many babies as possible, I would removed and incubate the 1 older egg and add that chick back under mama when the other eggs are starting to hatch. The little babies will teach the one chick how to use mama for warmth. I did this once with incubator chicks. The week old chicks didn't know what to do, but mama was so good with them. It was warm so I didn't have to worry about them getting chilled from being out from under heat. Once the new babies started popping in and out from underneath mom, the older ones figured it out. If you have a heater plate, I think the chicks will transition better than if you brood under a heat lamp because the chick will know to go under to get warm. If mama doesn't accept the older baby or the baby doesn't accept mama, I would pull 1-2 babies from mama to brood with the older baby.

 

[NanaKat]

I'm coming to a new problem. Input requested.

I put 3 eggs under a broody. 1 developed and 2 didn't. I added eggs 7 days later. I don't want the broody to abandon the nest with 1 chick. Is it best to let it hatch with her and then remove it? Leave it and she will care for the solo and the eggs? Pull it, place in incubator to hatch and keep it with the 4 week quail for buddies who will only be larger for a week?

If I pull said chick, what are the chances a 1 week old chick will be accepted by the broody in a week?

Not counting my chick before it hatches, but curious what my best option is.

Thanks! Y'all are amazing!

You got great advice from Molpet and Redhead Rae.

 

[Redhead Rae]

So, I have a new experiment I'm trying. I have two chicks with leg issues. They are both HALs babies (a rooster I had to put down over the weekend) so I want to save them if possible. Both chicks have their legs splayed WAY out in front of them. Usually when this happens their legs are in a V shape, so putting on hobbles pulls their legs underneath their bodies. Not this time. They stayed out in front and the chicks couldn't get anywhere on their legs.

So I decided to try something different. When I rolled the chicks over on their backs, their legs went into the right position. You can see in this picture how the poor little thing has been rubbing it's hocks on the floor.

So I cut a strip of vet wrap in half.

I wrapped it around the chick to hold the legs in that bent position.

I also folded the vet wrap down under the wings so they weren't pushed up really high around their ears.

I'm going to leave them like that for a few hours to see if I can get them to keep their feet under them. I was careful not to wrap them too tight, but as you can see, It pushed some poop out of them. If this doesn't work, I'm going to have to cull them anyway. I left the hobbles on because they would help hold their legs in place by sticking to the vet wrap.

Have I ever said how much I LOVE vet wrap?

 

[FortCluck]

So, I have a new experiment I'm trying. I have two chicks with leg issues. They are both HALs babies (a rooster I had to put down over the weekend) so I want to save them if possible. Both chicks have their legs splayed WAY out in front of them. Usually when this happens their legs are in a V shape, so putting on hobbles pulls their legs underneath their bodies. Not this time. They stayed out in front and the chicks couldn't get anywhere on their legs.

So I decided to try something different. When I rolled the chicks over on their backs, their legs went into the right position. You can see in this picture how the poor little thing has been rubbing it's hocks on the floor.

So I cut a strip of vet wrap in half.

I wrapped it around the chick to hold the legs in that bent position.

I also folded the vet wrap down under the wings so they weren't pushed up really high around their ears.

I'm going to leave them like that for a few hours to see if I can get them to keep their feet under them. I was careful not to wrap them too tight, but as you can see, It pushed some poop out of them. If this doesn't work, I'm going to have to cull them anyway. I left the hobbles on because they would help hold their legs in place by sticking to the vet wrap.

Have I ever said how much I LOVE vet wrap?

Someone had one like this in the June HAL. They put it in a cup for 6ish hours and it returned to normal doing it for 2 days.

 

[Molpet]

So, I have a new experiment I'm trying. I have two chicks with leg issues. They are both HALs babies (a rooster I had to put down over the weekend) so I want to save them if possible. Both chicks have their legs splayed WAY out in front of them. Usually when this happens their legs are in a V shape, so putting on hobbles pulls their legs underneath their bodies. Not this time. They stayed out in front and the chicks couldn't get anywhere on their legs.

So I decided to try something different. When I rolled the chicks over on their backs, their legs went into the right position. You can see in this picture how the poor little thing has been rubbing it's hocks on the floor.

So I cut a strip of vet wrap in half.

I wrapped it around the chick to hold the legs in that bent position.

I also folded the vet wrap down under the wings so they weren't pushed up really high around their ears.

I'm going to leave them like that for a few hours to see if I can get them to keep their feet under them. I was careful not to wrap them too tight, but as you can see, It pushed some poop out of them. If this doesn't work, I'm going to have to cull them anyway. I left the hobbles on because they would help hold their legs in place by sticking to the vet wrap.

Have I ever said how much I LOVE vet wrap?

I was thinking cup too.

 

[Redhead Rae]

I was thinking cup too.

I've tried a cup before but they always ended up flipping it. Maybe my problem is using plastic throwaway cups. I don't want to use good drinking cups for dirty birds.

 

[FortCluck]

I've tried a cup before but they always ended up flipping it. Maybe my problem is using plastic throwaway cups. I don't want to use good drinking cups for dirty birds.

I get cups at the dollar store for chicks to use