Belly Button Issue

[Mwewe]

Just watched a baby hatch, and to my dismay, there seems to be a small protrusion of the belly button.

I was wondering if it's small enough to right itself, or if I should q-tip it so that the flailing in the bator doesn't make it worse. Please help with advice!!

 

[Ravynscroft]

It should be ok, but if it doesn't get itself turned over soon you might want to slip your hand in quick and gently turn it over... it takes them a bit to get their 'land legs' but that spot should dry up without issue... I don't see any bleeding, so that's a very good sign...

 

[Mwewe]

Thanks! No bleeding, just a little bit of white and clear remnants left behind (looks similar to poop).

I'm going to take the egg tray out so its not so uneven. I'm pretty sure the other two in there won't make it anyways. This incubator has a 1 chick hatch rate apparently.

 

[Ravynscroft]

Little bit of white and clear remnants is normal, so all good there... sorry for the hatch rate, but I'd candle those 2 just to make sure before pulling them...

 

[Mwewe]

The eggs were due to hatch on Wednesday, but, given the crummy incubator, I expected them to take longer. I had a batch of 6 my first hatch- only 2 made it, and I had to cull one.

The current batch of 7 also had the odds against them since they were stored for a while while the first batch incubated (the guy sold me the first batch 2 weeks into incubation, and told me to do the next set afterwards).

However, I candled a couple days ago and the blue egg which is easy to see into had no movement and wasn't as developed, did a wiggle-water test even and nothing. Just confirmed that the embryo had gotten stuck to the shell. By its feathers T_T. Little thing actually cracked it with a swift kick, luckily it was already dead.

Since the other olive egg is a bit harder to judge, its remaining in there with the chick. I will give it a couple more days. When I candled I thought I saw slight movement, and the air cell had dropped a bit.

 

[Mwewe]

Very clean egg though. So the egg tray is out. I put a tissue paper down on the floor of the incubator so it can get some footing. The chick I had to cull had two things wrong 1) neurological issue that didn't get better with vitamins and 2) it had rubbed the skin off over the yolk sac while left in the incubator to dry. Stuff started to fall out a few days later. I'm scared to death that it might happen again.

The older chicks I have (I bought 3 for my lonely hatchling, and it's incessant screeching mysteriously quelled

) are going nuts because they can hear the newbie from inside my bedroom.

 

[Mwewe]

I took the tissue paper out after finding that it was messing with the thermometer's reading and making the floor WAY too hot. Little thing is starting to calm down now and rest. So glad I didn't go back to the house I'm pet sitting at yet, little thing would have fried!!!

I am a tad worried though, as this chick appears to be stargazing... Like my other one that I ended up culling did. I'm hoping that this is just something that happens after they hatch. I have nutri-drench at the ready in case it's vitamin deficient.

Fixing the floor/temperature fiasco really helped. I could hear thrashing when I walked back inside, so I picked her up, and put her on my hand while it cooled down.

 

[Ravynscroft]

Agh, glad you caught that! I put a bit of that rubbery gripper shelf liner down for chicks to get good footing on... works well... hope she isn't stargazijg, but sounds like you got it covered if it is... I do 1 or 2 straight drops of nutridrench 3x a day and any issues I've ever had of it cleared up within a day or 2...

Hope your other one hatches!!

 

[Ravynscroft]

And yes! That's a very clean egg! Good job!

 

[Mwewe]

Totally stargazing. I'm not sure if this is a neurological issue that's genetic, or a vitamin deficiency. 2/3 chicks that hatched from that guy's eggs have it. One is perfectly fine (although, Einstein is quite the pest lol).
It could be my crappy incubator, or it could be a vitamin deficiency. Knowing which one would be nice because I'm not sure weather to cull or not. Looks like a sweet little splash girly...

I gave her 2 drops of nutri-drench last night before I left, she's still rolling around the incubator... So I've been told, and the family feels bad for her. I'm about to head back over to dose again, or cull. Should I give her a couple days?

Same thing as Heisenberg (the one I had to cull). Neck is bent, and thrown backwards so that its resting on her shoulders. Legs splayed out in front of her vs underneath her (but they look fine, not malformed) and when she falls over, she will remain on her back or side indefinitely. This was evident as soon as she hatched, as you can see by the belly button picture.

At this point, I'm kind of hoping the other egg doesn't hatch. It probably won't because of her thrashing.