Big bubble on chick's neck!!!

[Fiasco]

I'm really worried because my chick just hatched from my incubator, but he has a really weird, big bubble thing around his neck, mostly on one side and around the back. It feels like a water bubble or maybe just air to me, I can't tell. The skin is also sort of red around it too. Any idea what this is? He is acting really tired too, and had a hard time getting some water down so I'm worried that something is wrong!

 

[EggSighted4Life]

I'm really worried because my chick just hatched from my incubator, but he has a really weird, big bubble thing around his neck, mostly on one side and around the back. It feels like a water bubble or maybe just air to me, I can't tell. The skin is also sort of red around it too. Any idea what this is? He is acting really tired too, and had a hard time getting some water down so I'm worried that something is wrong!

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Leave the chick alone... they are all really tired after they first hatch. He won't need any water or feed for at least a day or longer... give it a chance to fluff up get it's land legs under it and start trying to make it around on it own. They have enough nutrients in their absorbed yolk sack to survive at least 3 days.

Was this hatch early, late, or on time? I haven't seen that before.

I hatch all the time... and that is likely something I would cull for, as I would consider it an abnormality and wish to protect my genetics. Not take the chance of missing it in the future and accidentally breeding weakness forward. I KNOW that is not the best answer for MANY people though. Most of us do like to give everything a CHANCE to survive. Especially if it hatched on it OWN without assistance. Did you help it out of the shell? I prefer leaving them in the bator until they are fluffed and able to move a bit... otherwise it may be to easy for them to get too cold or too warm and not able to figure out how to adjust themselves yet.

Are all your other chicks hatched? Or you don't follow a lock down procedure? Are these from your own stock or shipped?

@WVduckchick ever seen that before?

 

[WVduckchick]

I have not seen anything like that either. I would suspect a hatching issue, like humidity too high maybe. Curious about the parents genetics, etc.

I would also not mess with it for at least a day or so, to see what happens with it. I suspect it will resolve on its own and be fine. Some extra vitamins like Nutridrench couldn’t hurt.

 

[Fiasco]

Leave the chick alone... they are all really tired after they first hatch. He won't need any water or feed for at least a day or longer... give it a chance to fluff up get it's land legs under it and start trying to make it around on it own. They have enough nutrients in their absorbed yolk sack to survive at least 3 days.

Was this hatch early, late, or on time? I haven't seen that before.

I hatch all the time... and that is likely something I would cull for, as I would consider it an abnormality and wish to protect my genetics. Not take the chance of missing it in the future and accidentally breeding weakness forward. I KNOW that is not the best answer for MANY people though. Most of us do like to give everything a CHANCE to survive. Especially if it hatched on it OWN without assistance. Did you help it out of the shell? I prefer leaving them in the bator until they are fluffed and able to move a bit... otherwise it may be to easy for them to get too cold or too warm and not able to figure out how to adjust themselves yet.

Are all your other chicks hatched? Or you don't follow a lock down procedure? Are these from your own stock or shipped?

@WVduckchick ever seen that before?

Thanks for your reply. He was 1-2 days late, we took him out of the incubator about eight hours after we noticed he had hatched (we just noticed him when we woke up this morning), because he some kind of green/yellowy/white stuff stuck to his bum and some shell too. I thought it might be making him act so tired if it hurt him or something, so we took him out to soak it a bit with a damp paper towel and it came off.

We had two chicks hatch before him, and there's one more in there which we candled last night and it's still alive but no pip, so we thought it would be okay to open for just a couple of seconds. We have it with the other two under the "Mama Heating Pad" setup, and he seems pretty happy now...but still sleepier than the others.

I really appreciate you advice....I just hope I'm doing everything right!

 

[Fiasco]

I have not seen anything like that either. I would suspect a hatching issue, like humidity too high maybe. Curious about the parents genetics, etc.

I would also not mess with it for at least a day or so, to see what happens with it. I suspect it will resolve on its own and be fine. Some extra vitamins like Nutridrench couldn’t hurt.

Maybe it does have to do with the incubator somehow. I got a new incubator, and this is the second batch I've done with only 3 or 4 out of about 40 eggs hatching! There definitely seems to be something wrong with the temperature (some eggs seem much colder than others when we candle), so maybe the humidity is messed up too. I tried to keep it at 35-45% during the first 18 days, since I think I read about a dry incubation method like that. Then I raised it to 60% for the day 18 and after. But I should probably check out the humidity gauge in the bator too...it could be wrong!

I don't have Nutridrench, is there anything else I can do to help him out? Thanks!

 

[WVduckchick]

Humidity sounds good, so if they are hatching a little late, your temp is probably just a bit low. Incubators are notoriously wrong, out of the box, so a cheap external one (Walmart, etc) can be purchased and tested. Look up ways to test them, it depends on the type you get, but there are some easy ways. I would highly suggest it before another hatch. Or at least bump your temp up half a degree to a whole degree, and try again.
Does it have a fan? Still air incubators need to be a little warmer, since the air doesn’t flow around the eggs as evenly.

Hope your little one fully recovers. Do you have any of those little blue Sav A Chick vitamin packs? Those can help too. One-eighth of a teaspoon in a quart waterer.

 

[EggSighted4Life]

Maybe it does have to do with the incubator somehow. I got a new incubator, and this is the second batch I've done with only 3 or 4 out of about 40 eggs hatching! There definitely seems to be something wrong with the temperature (some eggs seem much colder than others when we candle), so maybe the humidity is messed up too. I tried to keep it at 35-45% during the first 18 days, since I think I read about a dry incubation method like that. Then I raised it to 60% for the day 18 and after. But I should probably check out the humidity gauge in the bator too...it could be wrong!

I don't have Nutridrench, is there anything else I can do to help him out? Thanks!

Some incubators are really bad. With that low of hatch rate... do you know the fertility rate? In other words were they fertile but just quit developing? Genetics and nutrition are other HUGE factors. (what do you feed)

If you are using built in equipment to measure humidity and temp... using calibrated stuff WILL increase your hatch... it's unreal just how far off those can be.

Also DAILY I move each egg to a new place inside the bator. Even in forced air, temp differences are there. Moving daily keeps my hatch frame tight. Other wise, it was all over the place. That is the humidity range I use... but it needs to be verified accurate. Your temp gauge is just as if not more important to be accurate.

The green, yellow, white sticky stuff was it's first poo.

My favorite hatching resource might be able to offer you some clues..
https://www.hubbardbreeders.com/media/incubation_guideen__053407700_1525_26062017.pdf