FloorCandy
Crowing
- Apr 15, 2020
- 3,925
- 7,943
- 471
Hi everyone, I decided to put this in general illness so perhaps everyone’s bird experience can be tapped.
here’s the story, I ordered 50 hatching eggs from a popular and recommended hatchery. I received 60 eggs. I have hatched 7 groups of eggs this year with my nr360, with excellent hatch rates, my recent hatches 100%. I have independent, salt tested, calibrated therm/hygr’s all numbers throughout incubation were excellent, I bought a second nr360 to accommodate all the eggs.
the eggs began hatching overnight day 17, there was one chick in the incubator the morning of day 18 but most hatched that afternoon and into day 19.
on day 20 I had several eggs that had been moving and zipping and had gotten weaker and weaker. I assisted about 4 and 3 went into what I call sick bay, along with 2 who were very small and ended up growing and feathering slowly so far. Sick bay is just a separate brooder for the weak ones, it has a plate heater. the rest of the chicks went into the main brooder that has a red light.
Over all 39 eggs hatched, I had to cull 3 early on because the long bones of their legs were twisted and I tried to orient them properly, but they just didn’t stand. I had one that had one foot fused into a hard fist, and I taped the toes and foot into the right position and eventually he was well enough to join sick bay, but he’s still small from 2 days of struggle and hand feeding. I had one other who I taped the toes, but he was an assisted hatch and just didn’t get going. Over the next 2 days I found another who was smaller than the rest and I put him in sick bay so he wasn’t trampled.
At that point I had 36 chicks, very few hatched true to the description, and I ended up only keeping 24, the other 12 are seemingly doing fine. I have one with a bug eye (Popeye), and it’s head is misshapen, and someone asked if it was albino since it’s white. I checked all the white ones and have 3 albinos, I never thought to look at the eyes, but tbh it’s hard to tell they’re red at first, it’s easier as they grow a bit. 2 of the albinos are blind, they were already in sick bay. I check the other birds and I have a total now of 7 blind birds, only 2 of the blind ones are albino, the rest are pearls.
On about Thursday or so, when they were 5 or 6 days old, one suddenly went lame, flopping around in the brooder, couldn’t stand, legs flopping limply every which way. I ended up culling it. I am giving nutridrench in their water, the slow ones are feathering, but still small, the one with foot fist is small but walks and looks totally normal, even Popeye does fine, and I think he’s mentally handicapped. I even moved the one who had been small and was getting stepped on back into the main group and he’s currently fine.
I’ve been watching these chicks like a hawk. I was even saying today to someone that some seem to be resting on their hocks a lot. But I thought I was imagining issues because of the problems I’ve had. Sick bay is great, they’re all growing and healthy, but tonight in the main group another went lame. I’ve been watching it, and it seemed to get weaker and weaker and was resting more and more on its hocks. The left leg is floppy from the hock down. I have separated it in a bowl in the main brooder with water and food. I’m seeing one of the biggest and strongest ones now, sitting on its hocks a lot, and I’m afraid they’ll be dropping like flies.
The feed is 28% protein and very high quality, Ive never had issues, and people always compliment how quickly my chicks feather.
Has anyone seen this kind of thing before? Any suggestions besides what I’ve been doing? The hatchery refunded me, but aren’t interested in the issues, so I don’t have background on any problems before with the line. Sorry it’s so long, I wanted to provide as accurate a timeline as I could.
here’s the story, I ordered 50 hatching eggs from a popular and recommended hatchery. I received 60 eggs. I have hatched 7 groups of eggs this year with my nr360, with excellent hatch rates, my recent hatches 100%. I have independent, salt tested, calibrated therm/hygr’s all numbers throughout incubation were excellent, I bought a second nr360 to accommodate all the eggs.
the eggs began hatching overnight day 17, there was one chick in the incubator the morning of day 18 but most hatched that afternoon and into day 19.
on day 20 I had several eggs that had been moving and zipping and had gotten weaker and weaker. I assisted about 4 and 3 went into what I call sick bay, along with 2 who were very small and ended up growing and feathering slowly so far. Sick bay is just a separate brooder for the weak ones, it has a plate heater. the rest of the chicks went into the main brooder that has a red light.
Over all 39 eggs hatched, I had to cull 3 early on because the long bones of their legs were twisted and I tried to orient them properly, but they just didn’t stand. I had one that had one foot fused into a hard fist, and I taped the toes and foot into the right position and eventually he was well enough to join sick bay, but he’s still small from 2 days of struggle and hand feeding. I had one other who I taped the toes, but he was an assisted hatch and just didn’t get going. Over the next 2 days I found another who was smaller than the rest and I put him in sick bay so he wasn’t trampled.
At that point I had 36 chicks, very few hatched true to the description, and I ended up only keeping 24, the other 12 are seemingly doing fine. I have one with a bug eye (Popeye), and it’s head is misshapen, and someone asked if it was albino since it’s white. I checked all the white ones and have 3 albinos, I never thought to look at the eyes, but tbh it’s hard to tell they’re red at first, it’s easier as they grow a bit. 2 of the albinos are blind, they were already in sick bay. I check the other birds and I have a total now of 7 blind birds, only 2 of the blind ones are albino, the rest are pearls.
On about Thursday or so, when they were 5 or 6 days old, one suddenly went lame, flopping around in the brooder, couldn’t stand, legs flopping limply every which way. I ended up culling it. I am giving nutridrench in their water, the slow ones are feathering, but still small, the one with foot fist is small but walks and looks totally normal, even Popeye does fine, and I think he’s mentally handicapped. I even moved the one who had been small and was getting stepped on back into the main group and he’s currently fine.
I’ve been watching these chicks like a hawk. I was even saying today to someone that some seem to be resting on their hocks a lot. But I thought I was imagining issues because of the problems I’ve had. Sick bay is great, they’re all growing and healthy, but tonight in the main group another went lame. I’ve been watching it, and it seemed to get weaker and weaker and was resting more and more on its hocks. The left leg is floppy from the hock down. I have separated it in a bowl in the main brooder with water and food. I’m seeing one of the biggest and strongest ones now, sitting on its hocks a lot, and I’m afraid they’ll be dropping like flies.
The feed is 28% protein and very high quality, Ive never had issues, and people always compliment how quickly my chicks feather.
Has anyone seen this kind of thing before? Any suggestions besides what I’ve been doing? The hatchery refunded me, but aren’t interested in the issues, so I don’t have background on any problems before with the line. Sorry it’s so long, I wanted to provide as accurate a timeline as I could.
so just a thought. Comes to mind because your heat source is different in the main brooder, and you said the sick bay babies are doing well. 
