an odd hatch, bald in spots

[RoosterDon]

One of my two hatched chicks came out with the normal fuzz/feathers on its head and from the top of the chest on down to the rest of its body. So the area from just under its eyes to the top of its chest (basically the entire neck area and 1/2 of its head) was skin only, or bald looking. We looked online but could not find an answer.

Does anyone have experience with this? My guess is that it got torn off inside the egg, however, there was no sigh of this being so inside the egg shell left behind.

I might add, this was my first batch in the Octagon 20 and I was not happy with the unit. We did not get the motorized turner and it was not advised that we get a humidity reader. So, I was constantly having to open the unit to hand turn the eggs, then the temperature adjustment would go out of wack EVERY TIME the lid was removed, leaving me to sit and make small adjustments till it got back to 99.6. One time it went up to 101 which was not fun to see. So, hatching 2 out of 20 is a lot worse then I was doing with the Brinsea MINI, where I consistently was hatching 3-4 out of 7.

Any thoughts on the Octagon 20 in addition to help on the bald new chick?

 

[Pyxis]

Hello! Does it have a feather pattern like this, without the little bowtie of feathers on the neck that my boy has?

If so, it's probably a naked neck. Totally normal, and it's a trait that you can breed for.

As for the Octagon 20, I love mine. In regards to turning, it's made so that the whole unit can be rocked back and forth to turn, no opening needed, and that's what I did with mine before I got the turner. And yes, you really do need a humidity gauge in there, and I have a nice one purchased from Amazon that was pretty inexpensive. The humidity problems are probably what killed most of your eggs, since eggs can survive a spike up to 104 degrees.

 

[RoosterDon]

Wow thanks for all of that. I googled Naked Neck chickens and Wikipedia has some interesting pics, especially of a rooster that looks truly out of this world. How exciting.

And on your octagon 20, do you just rock it back and forth a few time to get the egg insides to move around, then return the octagon to the original position? Or do you rock it to one side, leave it, then in a few hours rock it back, leave it, then rock it to the opposite side, rinse and repeat over and over? That part I am confused on.

Why did you go for the auto turner? Just easier? That is why I would want to get one. And it sounds like if I get a humidity gauge then I might be motivated to give this another go.

It was interesting that I asked our egg lady for all RIR's since our one RIR lays humongous eggs and lays like clockwork. Eggs are always in the 70-74 gram size. Our roosters are now mixed breeds so we were hoping to have some pure RIR's to hatch, then start hatching our own eggs again. I guess one of her RIR's had a Naked Neck recessive gene. They sound like awesome chickens too.

Thanks again for the info and pic.

 

[Pyxis]

No problem! Yeah, I love NN's. I'm currently working on two projects with them. They're great chickens. As for the turning, you rock it to one side, leave it, then in a few hours rock it back, leave it, then rock it to the opposite side, etc etc like you described. I got the autoturner because it's easier and it turns it way more than I would be able to.

 

[RoosterDon]

Just wondering, what would be wrong with rocking it back and forth a few times each time? I have never understood why that is not a good thing to do? It seems like either way you are wanting their to be non sticking issues to the inside of the egg.