I've had a really rough month. This was my first experience with eggs. I've woken up with puffy eyes too many mornings from heartbreaks. I bought 6 dzn eggs and gave them to a friend with an incubator to hatch, and 5 out of 72 hatched.
Which while disappointing in its own right, of those five, four of them have serious issues....
Chick #1 died 3 days later, it had legs that were so tightly contracted they wouldn't move, and it had a crooked neck and it really couldn't eat and drink on its own. I bought all the vitamins, everything I could research and find, to try to help it, but I think I might have killed it giving it water one night, with an eyedropper. The last drop came back up, and I turned the chick over, rubbed its gullet, got it back to breathing before I went to bed that night, but the next morning it was dead.
Chick #2 had a badly crumpled foot. I made a shoe for it daily, re- wrapping and re-doing the shoe daily, to avoid circulation cut off, and to allow the foot to grow, and avoid chaffing. It got lots of vitamins, and special care, and fortunately is doing pretty good right now.
Chick #3 also had a badly crumpled foot, and was extra small. I also made him a shoe, and cared for him the same was as the other, but as his foot began to heal, it seemed like his legs were becoming splayed. So I made him some leg hobbles to try to correct his legs. While I was at work yesterday, DH decided the water bowl was too high for him to reach, and he lowered it to ground level. The chick tumbled into the water, and drowned.
That one was really hard to take. I felt it was totally preventable.
It still makes me sick to think about it.
Chick # 4 has had pasty butt every day so far after 2 weeks. We clean his butt 2-3x daily, trying to keep it clean, and make sure he's eating correctly, and staying warm. He's on a vitamin regimen too, but this poor chick is just constant pasty!
and then
Chick #5, which is the only normal one of the bunch and seems to hate me.
I was so looking forward to having my own chicks, and the whole experience has been so discouraging.I have been dying to buy my own incubator, and start hatching eggs, but I don't think my heart can take this again. I know I should count my 3 remaining chicks as blessings... and I do.... I just can't seem to forget about all the others.
Chick #1 died 3 days later, it had legs that were so tightly contracted they wouldn't move, and it had a crooked neck and it really couldn't eat and drink on its own. I bought all the vitamins, everything I could research and find, to try to help it, but I think I might have killed it giving it water one night, with an eyedropper. The last drop came back up, and I turned the chick over, rubbed its gullet, got it back to breathing before I went to bed that night, but the next morning it was dead.
Chick #2 had a badly crumpled foot. I made a shoe for it daily, re- wrapping and re-doing the shoe daily, to avoid circulation cut off, and to allow the foot to grow, and avoid chaffing. It got lots of vitamins, and special care, and fortunately is doing pretty good right now.
Chick #3 also had a badly crumpled foot, and was extra small. I also made him a shoe, and cared for him the same was as the other, but as his foot began to heal, it seemed like his legs were becoming splayed. So I made him some leg hobbles to try to correct his legs. While I was at work yesterday, DH decided the water bowl was too high for him to reach, and he lowered it to ground level. The chick tumbled into the water, and drowned.
Chick # 4 has had pasty butt every day so far after 2 weeks. We clean his butt 2-3x daily, trying to keep it clean, and make sure he's eating correctly, and staying warm. He's on a vitamin regimen too, but this poor chick is just constant pasty!
and then
Chick #5, which is the only normal one of the bunch and seems to hate me.
I was so looking forward to having my own chicks, and the whole experience has been so discouraging.I have been dying to buy my own incubator, and start hatching eggs, but I don't think my heart can take this again. I know I should count my 3 remaining chicks as blessings... and I do.... I just can't seem to forget about all the others.
