LittlePygmyFarm
In the Brooder
We just hatched a few chickens for the first time in a homemade incubator. Everything was going great throughout the incubation and on day 21 4 healthy chicks hatched out normally. On the evening of day 21 another egg pipped with just a little progress by morning of day 22. By afternoon on day 22 something caused the humidity to rise really high in the incubator (80%). We really have no idea why as we didn't add any water and the humidity had stayed pretty steady until that point. Anyways the chick that had pipped and was slowly making progress before, completely stopped making progress but was doing a lot of rocking and peeping. After almost 48hrs we decided to help him out since he seemed strong but we assumed because we couldn't seem to lower the humidity it was stuck. Sure enough it was covered in goo and had one foot with the toes curled under. We cleaned him up and put him back in the incubator. He has fluffed up nicely and I put a shoe on his foot to straighten out his toes. He's still really wobbly though and I haven't been able to get him to eat or drink. He's peeping loudly and seems to really be fighting to make it. He's also had this clicking noise when he peeps. I can feel it in his back and I can hear it but only when he peeps. He's breathing normally when resting. Anybody have any advice on how to help this guy make it? I've still got him in the incubator since I only have one heating lamp and can't put him with the rest of the chicks. I tried placing him in the brooder with the others but he's just not steady enough on his feet.
