Absorption taking too long?

[Kenzie22]

You should probably read the last comment on the thread before commenting. This chick is 1 month old now and doing just fine.

I was just trying to help as it is very confusing trying to figure out what you have posted here.

 

[K0k0shka]

I was just trying to help as it is very confusing trying to figure out what you have posted here.

Help is appreciated, but in this case it's a month too late.

 

[Kenzie22]

Help is appreciated, but in this case it's a month too late.

This is a place to get help and not be super rude to others

 

[K0k0shka]

This is a place to get help and not be super rude to others

I'm not being rude. I'm just pointing out the simple fact that the thread is old and the advice is no longer relevant. How you take that, is up to you. Lots of people don't look at the post date when commenting, and appreciate being reminded to check, so they don't respond to old threads. Not everybody gets offended by that.

 

[BelovedBirds]

Update: the chick is over a month old at this point and doing well! I'm going to keep updating this thread, in case it can help somebody else with another data point of whether assisted chicks make it to adulthood, and whether they develop any other problems. This is my 4th assisted chick. The other 3 (from last year) all developed other problems and none of them made it past 1 year old. Which has been greatly discouraging, and I wasn't going to do any more assists, but... here we are again. So I want to see what happens with this one. It better be a girl, for the experiment to work, because if it's a boy it will need to meet its end pretty young, as I can't have roosters where I live.

So, at 1+ month old, it's doing very well. It's still smaller than the rest, and not feathering out at the same pace (it has lots of bare skin, where the others replace the fluff with feathers a lot more seamlessly). But it's eating and drinking and pooping and running around climbing things, acting normal. It's not even the shiest of the bunch. I have a suspicion that it's a boy, but we'll see.

View attachment 3170410

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Naked butt! It dropped its fluff way before replacing it with feathers, and has had a naked butt for a long time. But the feathers are slowly coming in.
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awesome to have an update! I was thinking about this chick just the other day!
Growing up super beautiful!

 

[UThobbyfarmer]

Update: the chick is over a month old at this point and doing well! I'm going to keep updating this thread, in case it can help somebody else with another data point of whether assisted chicks make it to adulthood, and whether they develop any other problems. This is my 4th assisted chick. The other 3 (from last year) all developed other problems and none of them made it past 1 year old. Which has been greatly discouraging, and I wasn't going to do any more assists, but... here we are again. So I want to see what happens with this one. It better be a girl, for the experiment to work, because if it's a boy it will need to meet its end pretty young, as I can't have roosters where I live.

So, at 1+ month old, it's doing very well. It's still smaller than the rest, and not feathering out at the same pace (it has lots of bare skin, where the others replace the fluff with feathers a lot more seamlessly). But it's eating and drinking and pooping and running around climbing things, acting normal. It's not even the shiest of the bunch. I have a suspicion that it's a boy, but we'll see.

View attachment 3170410

View attachment 3170412


Naked butt! It dropped its fluff way before replacing it with feathers, and has had a naked butt for a long time. But the feathers are slowly coming in.
View attachment 3170413

Glad your assisted hatch made it! Beautiful little bird.

What age do you process your young roosters? How do you eat them? In past years I've waited till 6+ months. However, this year we have so many grow outs I'll need to process some earlier. Even at 6-8 months they are a bit scrawny (dual purpose breeds) and I'll use them for making stock or soup.

 

[K0k0shka]

Glad your assisted hatch made it! Beautiful little bird.

Thank you! You helped me with my very first assist a few years back... I stayed up all night for that egg and you stayed up with me and guided me through. I learned a lot that night and really appreciate the help, so thank you (again)

What age do you process your young roosters? How do you eat them? In past years I've waited till 6+ months. However, this year we have so many grow outs I'll need to process some earlier. Even at 6-8 months they are a bit scrawny (dual purpose breeds) and I'll use them for making stock or soup.

If it were up to me and I had a choice in the matter, I'd let them get to at least 6 months, even older depending on the breed and how they're gaining. But I can't have roosters where I live, so I can't let them get very big... At the first signs of impending puberty, they gotta go. Last year, a very nice friend of mine offered to grow them out for me, but she's leaving town and can't do that anymore, so this year's boys will be scrawny soup material. Most of my chickens are dual purpose, too - English Orpington - and they can get pretty big, if you let them, so they're worth it even at 6 months. My biggest so far was almost 6 lbs at three and a half months old. Still tender and oh so delicious! My husband cooked him sous vide and then put him on the rotisserie to crisp up. The tastiest chicken we'd had in a long long time! The smaller, skinny ones I use for soup, and the meatier ones sous vide and then grilled or rotisseried. Sous vide is absolutely perfect for homegrown chicken, which tends to be tougher, because it keeps the meat juicy. Highly recommend it!

 

[UThobbyfarmer]

Thank you! You helped me with my very first assist a few years back... I stayed up all night for that egg and you stayed up with me and guided me through. I learned a lot that night and really appreciate the help, so thank you (again)


If it were up to me and I had a choice in the matter, I'd let them get to at least 6 months, even older depending on the breed and how they're gaining. But I can't have roosters where I live, so I can't let them get very big... At the first signs of impending puberty, they gotta go. Last year, a very nice friend of mine offered to grow them out for me, but she's leaving town and can't do that anymore, so this year's boys will be scrawny soup material. Most of my chickens are dual purpose, too - English Orpington - and they can get pretty big, if you let them, so they're worth it even at 6 months. My biggest so far was almost 6 lbs at three and a half months old. Still tender and oh so delicious! My husband cooked him sous vide and then put him on the rotisserie to crisp up. The tastiest chicken we'd had in a long long time! The smaller, skinny ones I use for soup, and the meatier ones sous vide and then grilled or rotisseried. Sous vide is absolutely perfect for homegrown chicken, which tends to be tougher, because it keeps the meat juicy. Highly recommend it!

I remember that now! That’s why your name looked so familiar. I believe it was another Orpington. A partridge one. A long night for us both. I’m happy to see you’re still hatching! I have some hatching tonight.

Thanks for the encouragement on the roos. Time will tell if we can wait the full 6 months. This is a particularly rowdy bunch of Marans.

6# at 3 1/2 months is an excellent weight for a heritage bird. I think I might try New Hampshires, meat bred line, next year. I’ll consider English Orpingtons too if they get that big. I’ll have to do some reading up before deciding.

 

[Ursuline Chick]

We had some "accidental" bantam X duel purpose hidden hatches this year. I can't have roosters either. The daddy cock bird (cockerel at the time) the neighborhood knows I rescued from an on coming hurricane last year, so they have been lenient, but as soon as one of the cockerels crows, they will all have to become food. The cockerels are about the size of Cornish hens. We will see what happens as the cock birds will have to go then too.
If I read back through this thread will it help with humanly culling and dressing the birds out for freezer or pot?
Thank you!

 

[K0k0shka]

If I read back through this thread will it help with humanly culling and dressing the birds out for freezer or pot?
Thank you!

No, the thread was actually about an assisted hatch... The culling/dressing/eating part was a digression There's lots of info on that elsewhere on BYC though. I personally like the slaughter cone method, and cutting the head off with long blade wire cutters. It's instant, easy, and the most humane.