4 Baby Chicks

[alicat1993]

Hey guys. I'm fairly new to the site. I've already learned a lot just from reading and having people reply to some of my posts. I havent been on since I lost one of my beautiful hens, but decided to come on today to share some egg-citing news! My hubby decided to order me an incubator as he's had chickens most of his life and has hatched chicks before. He let me do the entire process on my own with his guidance. That being said. I started with 13 eggs. Only 4 ended up hatching. I followed the standard guidelines for humidity, temperature and candling days. Some weren't developing so they got tossed. Around day 18, I had 8 eggs total that showed life within them. As previously mentioned, only 4 hatched. I kept the other 4 in the incubator until atleast day 25 and they never did hatch. Curious me decided to open them before tossing them just to see where they stopped developing. All 4 of them were formed, just dead. Is this normal? I know theres not usually a 100% hatch rate but just curious as it was my first time. Attached are current photos of the little babies. Any guesses on hens or roos?

 

[Ilovemychicks08]

White and brown one kinda looks like a cockeral. Not sure on the others

 

[Ponypoor]

They look like they r thriving! As for gender I have been told you won't know till they crow, or lay an egg

 

[Dottie the Chicken]

The white and brown one looks like a boy.

 

[Allsfairinloveandbugs]

How old are they in photo? Yes the one has a suspiciously larger and redder comb. Also, what breed are they? If you post your pictures in the ""what breed and gender is this", you should get a lot of replies. Many in that forum specialize in answering your "boy or girl" question.

When you post on that forum, state age and breed (or mixed breed), & post full head shots so others can see their combs. Depending on age, they will want to see full body photos too.

 

[Allsfairinloveandbugs]

They look like they r thriving! As for gender I have been told you won't know till they crow, or lay an egg

Ocassionally that is true, but usually there are Strong clues before the first crow or first egg. Sometimes there is No doubt as to gender. Some breeds are either auto-sexing or sexIinked by color, & their gender is known as soon as they are out of the egg. This includes not only the various red & black sexlink varieties, but also welsummers, cuckoo marans, crested cream legbars, and several other breeds.

I learned a lot as far as how to identify cockerel chicks from pullets in the "What breed and gender is this" forum. Lots of Great information there.

 

[LadiesAndJane]

To answer your question about incubation, it is not uncommon for chicks to make it all the way to lock down and then not hatch for different reasons. Did they appear overly wet when you opened them? In that case, they could have drowned if the humidity was too high. If they seemed very dry and “shrink wrapped“ then the humidity was too low and this is what caused it. Both of these are not uncommon occurrences. Sometimes they have a heart/ lung defect when they transition from the embryonic state to the breathing air state when they pip through the internal membrane. Sometimes they pip through a blood vessel when they transition to the air cell.
Many possibilities, take it as an experience in incubation and adjust your methods if needed the next time.
Congrats on the chicks that did make it.

 

[Ponypoor]

Ocassionally that is true, but usually there are Strong clues before the first crow or first egg. Sometimes there is No doubt as to gender. Some breeds are either auto-sexing or sexIinked by color, & their gender is known as soon as they are out of the egg. This includes not only the various red & black sexlink varieties, but also welsummers, cuckoo marans, crested cream legbars, and several other breeds.

I learned a lot as far as how to identify cockerel chicks from pullets in the "What breed and gender is this" forum. Lots of Great information there.

Yep had a group of 7 chicks my niece hatched for her classroom, by 4 weeks old I new who were hens and who were roosters, by 5 weeks the roosterlets were crowing - these were 'barnyard mix'.

On the other hand my 5 Silkies I could only be 99% sure with one of them - Stanley the Stallion Chicken. Turned out Roxanna was a Rocky hahaha. So the other three I waited before getting my hopes up for a hen. Turned out all three were hens woohoo! Didn't know until they 'laid an egg' Gotta luv chickens always keeping you guessing!

I agree with the assessment on the white and brown chicklet in the above photo - that ones looks like a stallion chicken