Shugercube
Songster
Okay I will try to keep this brief but still include important info. It’s a lot. Ultimately, I’d like to know if this baby has a chance, and if it does survive all of this, will it be able to mingle with the rest of the flock, or is it destined to be a house chicken?
I had to assist one of my chicks during hatching. It was consequently born with seemingly a host of issues. It was “sticky,” was born with spraddle leg, it’s MUCH smaller than the others, and it just “looks” off to me. There is a line down the center of its chest and abdomen where there is no down whatsoever. I haven’t noticed this in any of my other chicks. Its skin around its belly and rear is very thin and seems almost translucent.
I’m not sure if it’s just sick/weak, if it has some sort of genetic issues, or what. It is a coronation sussex, and was the only one out of 4 CS eggs that made it to hatch. One quit around 10 days, the other 2 were healthy seeming at lockdown. One of these two was 100% obviously gone and I cracked it yesterday. The poor baby. It looked small but otherwise fully and normally developed. But it had some sort of bloody membrane covering its nostrils, not sure what that was, but appeared to be part of the yolk? It had internally pipped, and there was NO membrane between air cell and the rest of the egg and there was a lot of liquid. I’m guessing it either suffocated from whatever membranous thing was covering its beak, or drowned from all the liquid not being separated from the air cell. The 4th CS egg is more than likely a goner too, as I couldn’t make out any movement, but it wasn’t as obviously dead as the one I cracked so I’m giving it another day. All the CS eggs were very porous and seemed to have thin shells when I candled, so I’m not sure if it was just a bad supply or what. But I’m about 90% sure if I hadn’t candled when I did, this little one wouldn’t have survived either. And it still might not.
I have done what I know to do for this baby so far- I bathed it and got all the dried up gunk off of it, and now it’s fully fluffed up. I’ve been keeping it nestled on my chest most of the day yesterday, and overnight I had it in a small clear box inside the brooder, so that all the chicks can see each other, but it wouldn’t get hurt. It’s so small compared to the others, and they seemed to just be trampling over it, so I didn’t want to just leave it with the others unattended.
I gave it little hobbles for the spraddle. But now it won’t lie down, only wants to stand. Is that normal? I don’t want to exhaust it. See pics, and please let me know if they look alright. I just snipped the first one off to give a break and some physical therapy, and already its stance is looking better.
NOW. What’s up with its belly? It’s starting to get some down filling in the line that was there, but there’s still an obvious line. See pictures. Is this a developmental thing, like it was just further behind the others? Or does it indicate a bigger problem? I’ve tried to Google but I can’t find anything on the subject at all, and I’m not sure if there’s a certain term I should be using to search for it.
Right now, this baby seems happy and fairly strong. Apart from the somewhat “off” appearance from the spraddle legs and the line down its front, it seems like a perfectly normal chick. Hasn’t started eating or drinking yet, but it’s only been about 30 hours since hatching so there’s still time for that. I do have sav-a-chick on hand just in case, but for now I’m not seeing any signs of dehydration or fatigue.
If you’ve read this far, thank you!! Just some extra info below for additional context.
Story of the assist for background info: thus was my first hatch, and 14 out of 18 made it. All of the hatchlings except this one hatched either day 19 or 20. On the evening day 21 (so almost day 22) I candled the remaining non-pipped eggs after moving all the fluffed out chicks to the brooder. This one showed what looked like a very stressed chick inside. It had pipped internally and was chirping like mad, and seemed to be thrashing about and pushing against the air cell like it was in a panic. So I made a safety hole, and after several hours of no progress I widened it and could see that this chick was feet over head, and that it looked like it had already “zipped” but only on the inside. The membrane was fully translucent, no veins or blood, and was torn all around the base of the air cell. But there were no external pips anywhere. From what I’ve read, the feet being behind its head kept it from getting the leverage needed to pip through the shell. I ended up just taking off the “cap” of the air cell, wetting the membrane with coconut oil, and putting it back in the bator to do its thing.
Pics:
Assist pic
Immediately after hatching
After bath and snuggles
Hobbles
Abdomen
I had to assist one of my chicks during hatching. It was consequently born with seemingly a host of issues. It was “sticky,” was born with spraddle leg, it’s MUCH smaller than the others, and it just “looks” off to me. There is a line down the center of its chest and abdomen where there is no down whatsoever. I haven’t noticed this in any of my other chicks. Its skin around its belly and rear is very thin and seems almost translucent.
I’m not sure if it’s just sick/weak, if it has some sort of genetic issues, or what. It is a coronation sussex, and was the only one out of 4 CS eggs that made it to hatch. One quit around 10 days, the other 2 were healthy seeming at lockdown. One of these two was 100% obviously gone and I cracked it yesterday. The poor baby. It looked small but otherwise fully and normally developed. But it had some sort of bloody membrane covering its nostrils, not sure what that was, but appeared to be part of the yolk? It had internally pipped, and there was NO membrane between air cell and the rest of the egg and there was a lot of liquid. I’m guessing it either suffocated from whatever membranous thing was covering its beak, or drowned from all the liquid not being separated from the air cell. The 4th CS egg is more than likely a goner too, as I couldn’t make out any movement, but it wasn’t as obviously dead as the one I cracked so I’m giving it another day. All the CS eggs were very porous and seemed to have thin shells when I candled, so I’m not sure if it was just a bad supply or what. But I’m about 90% sure if I hadn’t candled when I did, this little one wouldn’t have survived either. And it still might not.
I have done what I know to do for this baby so far- I bathed it and got all the dried up gunk off of it, and now it’s fully fluffed up. I’ve been keeping it nestled on my chest most of the day yesterday, and overnight I had it in a small clear box inside the brooder, so that all the chicks can see each other, but it wouldn’t get hurt. It’s so small compared to the others, and they seemed to just be trampling over it, so I didn’t want to just leave it with the others unattended.
I gave it little hobbles for the spraddle. But now it won’t lie down, only wants to stand. Is that normal? I don’t want to exhaust it. See pics, and please let me know if they look alright. I just snipped the first one off to give a break and some physical therapy, and already its stance is looking better.
NOW. What’s up with its belly? It’s starting to get some down filling in the line that was there, but there’s still an obvious line. See pictures. Is this a developmental thing, like it was just further behind the others? Or does it indicate a bigger problem? I’ve tried to Google but I can’t find anything on the subject at all, and I’m not sure if there’s a certain term I should be using to search for it.
Right now, this baby seems happy and fairly strong. Apart from the somewhat “off” appearance from the spraddle legs and the line down its front, it seems like a perfectly normal chick. Hasn’t started eating or drinking yet, but it’s only been about 30 hours since hatching so there’s still time for that. I do have sav-a-chick on hand just in case, but for now I’m not seeing any signs of dehydration or fatigue.
If you’ve read this far, thank you!! Just some extra info below for additional context.
Story of the assist for background info: thus was my first hatch, and 14 out of 18 made it. All of the hatchlings except this one hatched either day 19 or 20. On the evening day 21 (so almost day 22) I candled the remaining non-pipped eggs after moving all the fluffed out chicks to the brooder. This one showed what looked like a very stressed chick inside. It had pipped internally and was chirping like mad, and seemed to be thrashing about and pushing against the air cell like it was in a panic. So I made a safety hole, and after several hours of no progress I widened it and could see that this chick was feet over head, and that it looked like it had already “zipped” but only on the inside. The membrane was fully translucent, no veins or blood, and was torn all around the base of the air cell. But there were no external pips anywhere. From what I’ve read, the feet being behind its head kept it from getting the leverage needed to pip through the shell. I ended up just taking off the “cap” of the air cell, wetting the membrane with coconut oil, and putting it back in the bator to do its thing.
Pics:
Assist pic
Immediately after hatching
After bath and snuggles
Hobbles
Abdomen
