Are these chicks dead in shell?

[TbChiCken]

No, but the chicks came already vaccinated.

 

[SulkyBantam]

Right, I see.
I myself would not vaccinate.
We have our pullets vaccinated but not chicks we reared and bantams we got from friends.

It's absolutely your decision, but vaccination is usually done by companies with lots of chicks to sell. They are sold in bulk packs and you will have lots of excess. It is also said to be tricky for first-timers.

I would not but that is a personal decision.
If you want to go ahead and try it for safety, hope it goes well.
If you are worried about Cocci then you can feed them medicated feed (though medicated feed CANNOT be fed to vaccinated chicks or alongside any other medicine).

 

[TbChiCken]

Thank you!

 

[SulkyBantam]

You are welcome!

 

[TbChiCken]

 

[TbChiCken]

This is the chick

 

[TbChiCken]

What is the breed and gender?

 

[ackie]

On day 23 I open most of my leftover eggs up that look like maybe there's still hope.

One of my first clutches, I opened up all the bad eggs throughout the process so I could learn to relate what I saw when candling to what was going on inside the shell. It was sad, of course, but very insightful, and now I feel more confident about telling good from bad.

 

[ackie]

I decided not to vaccinate my chicks. I think Mareks is the only one I looked into thoroughly but my understanding was more or less

a. if you start vaccinating, you have to vaccinate everyone because the vaccine is 'leaky' which roughly means it helps the bird survive but doesnt prevent transmission. if everyone is vaccinated, that's just fine, but I have grown unvaccinated adults (which may not even be able to be vaccinated since they're adults) and I dont want to be 'locked in' to vaccinating every subsequent hatch.

b. the vaccines are definitely not batched and priced for backyard farmers. the price isnt crazy per dose, but you have to throw away a zillion doses because the product doesn't keep once mixed

 

[SulkyBantam]

This is the chick

He/she's lovely.
But I thought you knew she/he was Wyandotte x Rhode Red?
Slightly confused here, but would love to help....