Arizona Chickens

[deserteggs22]

Hi, I have a couple eggs in my incubator, and I'm pretty sure that one of them had 2 yolks. What do you guys think?

 

[ChuskaMtns]

Hi, I have a couple eggs in my incubator, and I'm pretty sure that one of them had 2 yolks. What do you guys think?

There have been a few successful twin hatches, rare but has happened. Be prepared to assist though. Have on hand a heating pad, sharp manicure scissors, tweezers, bowl for hot water, wash cloths or plenty of paper towels, I also have a magnifying glass at hand due to my old eyes. Watch for when they start zipping the egg, they won't have enough room to manipulate around to completely zip, which is where you come in. Set the heating pad on high, place the wash cloth on top of it, get your bowl of hot water near by. Clean the manicure scissors and tweezers with alcohol, carefully and slowly snip very tiny pieces of the shell starting where the zip started. Go the same way as a normal zipped egg would. If there is any bleeding take a warm wash cloth or paper towel and dab around the bloodied area being careful water doesn't get into egg to drown the chicks, put the egg back in the incubator wrapped in the warm, damp paper towel for a few minutes. Keep doing this until the egg is completely cut around, you'll have to continue to wet the membrane with the paper towel. Don't pull the shell off as it may rip the membrane off at the end, again, place on warm wet paper towel and back into incubator.

 

[PhxBirds]

Help! I'm losing full grown hens! Yesterday afternoon a EE hen that just started laying last week was found dead on the ground. No blood, no bites. This morning, a 8month old black austral hen dead on the ground under the roost just the same. I'm out of town and the room mate is taking care of them. Any ideas?? It shouldn't be the heat, they have misters and tons of fresh water and food. I told him to let the rest them out of the coop/run to peck around the back yard. Please help!!!

 

[pdx2phx]

Help! I'm losing full grown hens! Yesterday afternoon a EE hen that just started laying last week was found dead on the ground. No blood, no bites. This morning, a 8month old black austral hen dead on the ground under the roost just the same. I'm out of town and the room mate is taking care of them. Any ideas?? It shouldn't be the heat, they have misters and tons of fresh water and food. I told him to let the rest them out of the coop/run to peck around the back yard. Please help!!!

What kind of food? Hopefully no corn/scratch....Is the food staying dry with the misters going? Also, scorpion stings can kill them without treatment.....

 

[PhxBirds]

What kind of food?  Hopefully no corn/scratch....Is the food staying dry with the misters going?  Also, scorpion stings can kill them without treatment.....

No corn or scratch right now. The food is out of the mister's path and it gets emptied and refilled every other day, just regular pet club layer pellets. I've never seen any scorpions, I'm just crossing my fingers that no more go down unexplained.

 

[MagicChicken]

Help! I'm losing full grown hens! Yesterday afternoon a EE hen that just started laying last week was found dead on the ground. No blood, no bites. This morning, a 8month old black austral hen dead on the ground under the roost just the same. I'm out of town and the room mate is taking care of them. Any ideas?? It shouldn't be the heat, they have misters and tons of fresh water and food. I told him to let the rest them out of the coop/run to peck around the back yard. Please help!!!

Without doing a necropsy it is going to be hard to tell. Good luck.

 

[PhxBirds]

Without doing a necropsy it is going to be hard to tell.  Good luck. 

Thank you. If we lose any more I'm going to have him wrap well and put in the freezer so I can necropsy when I return in a few days.

 

[DesertChic]

Help! I'm losing full grown hens! Yesterday afternoon a EE hen that just started laying last week was found dead on the ground. No blood, no bites. This morning, a 8month old black austral hen dead on the ground under the roost just the same. I'm out of town and the room mate is taking care of them. Any ideas?? It shouldn't be the heat, they have misters and tons of fresh water and food. I told him to let the rest them out of the coop/run to peck around the back yard. Please help!!!

Without doing a necropsy it is going to be hard to tell. Good luck.

Don't rule out the possibility that it's the heat. The air has been especially humid along with the high temps. Even my heat tolerant Naked Necks have needed some extra TLC this past week to keep cool.

 

[PhxBirds]

Don't rule out the possibility that it's the heat. The air has been especially humid along with the high temps. Even my heat tolerant Naked Necks have needed some extra TLC this past week to keep cool.

Well, that's good to know. I guess I would rather it be the heat and not disease

 

[MagicChicken]

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Freezing a bird makes it hard to do a real necropsy. Refrigeration is better. Hopefully you won't lose any more birds.

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My Javas have been just fine with no extra TLC. They are in well-ventilated coop/runs with lots of shade. I stopped wetting down the runs when the humidity kicked in. Each run has a large black rubber bowl of water for the birds to stand in. If you acclimate your birds, provide deep shade and ventilation, and breed for vigor you shouldn't have to do any TLC in normal heat. Yes, this is normal heat for our area ;-)

Hatchery birds and randomly bred birds are another story. Some are tolerant some are not and there is no way you can know ahead of time what you are going to get.

I'm in an area that typically runs 5 degrees or more hotter than the "official" Tucson airport temperature in the summer. (And 5 degrees colder in the winter. Sigh. Why can't it be the other way around?)