Chick with no feathers :(

[Beour3rd]

Lets all start eating placenta when we are sick. Because ita good for us.

 

[KristinaE]

Lets all start eating placenta when we are sick. Because ita good for us.

Sorry, I have to get all geeky and scientific here...

By all means, if eating egg icks you out then find another source of protein to feed to your chick. However, your statement really doesn't make sense. Yolk is not placenta. Yolk and placenta are two entirely different things with very different functions.

A placenta is an organ that develops in mammals, and it allows transfer of nutrients from the mother and the fetus, and the transfer of metabolic waste back from the fetus to the mother. The baby doesn't consume it; the placenta simply passes the nutrients along to the baby. Sometimes a mother animal will eat it after the birth, but this is thought to be a clean-up act to percent predators to come sniffing after mom and baby.

Birds don't have a placenta organ because there is no need to transfer food between mother and baby. The yolk is a basically a sack of food and not a part of anyone's body. It is wholly consumed by the chick. It's a bit of a stretch, but yolk is closer in function to a mammal's first-day milk that a baby would drink.

It really isn't cannibalism to feed yolk to a chicken, but if feeding food meant for a chick fetus is creepy to you there are other options.

A weird scientific fact; mammal eggs (including human) DO have a tiny yolk at the earliest stage of development (pretty much microscopic) but the placenta takes over the feeding of the baby, so most mammal eggs only have a small amount of yolk for a very short time. The exception being the platypus, of course.

 

[Aphrael]

My soul survivor from my first hatch attempt will be 9 weeks on Tuesday. He still is half down under the feathers. He is healthy in every way and is a pig. We started on medicated chick starter and just last week switched to regular. My first hatch attempt was thwarted by a faulty thermometer so "Peep" was actually a day 24 hatcher. I am assuming that his slow feathering out has something to do with the delay of developement in the shell. (Temp was actually 6 degrees lower during hatch than the thermometer read.) I'm not to worried about it, but I'd really like to see what he will look like 100% feathered with no down.

As for the boiled egg thing. What Aphrael and Kristina said. Unless you are boiling a half term incubated egg...there is no chicken. Everything in that egg was put there for the chick, it isn't the chick. My soul survivor wasn't big on treats in the beginning, but since the second hatch and the 13 chicks out of that one going crazy for their "egg treat' he has taken to eating it right out of the bowl while I give them their treat...lol

I've found most of my chicks are kind of untrusting of treats at first. They don't recognize what it is and don't have mama to show them that it is ok to eat. Most of the time I can get them to try it by tapping my fingernail on the dish. Usually the boldest ones are the first to run in and take a peck, but if they decide they like it then everyone joins in. I imagine a single chick could be a bit harder to coax, since he has no siblings to urge him on.

Sorry, I have to get all geeky and scientific here...

By all means, if eating egg icks you out then find another source of protein to feed to your chick. However, your statement really doesn't make sense. Yolk is not placenta. Yolk and placenta are two entirely different things with very different functions.

A placenta is an organ that develops in mammals, and it allows transfer of nutrients from the mother and the fetus, and the transfer of metabolic waste back from the fetus to the mother. The baby doesn't consume it; the placenta simply passes the nutrients along to the baby. Sometimes a mother animal will eat it after the birth, but this is thought to be a clean-up act to percent predators to come sniffing after mom and baby.

Birds don't have a placenta organ because there is no need to transfer food between mother and baby. The yolk is a basically a sack of food and not a part of anyone's body. It is wholly consumed by the chick. It's a bit of a stretch, but yolk is closer in function to a mammal's first-day milk that a baby would drink.

It really isn't cannibalism to feed yolk to a chicken, but if feeding food meant for a chick fetus is creepy to you there are other options.

A weird scientific fact; mammal eggs (including human) DO have a tiny yolk at the earliest stage of development (pretty much microscopic) but the placenta takes over the feeding of the baby, so most mammal eggs only have a small amount of yolk for a very short time. The exception being the platypus, of course.

That is cool! I never knew that. I love weird scientific facts.

Yes, I'm a nerd.

 

[keesmom]

I have 6 week old chicks and almost all of them have their feathers. Some are almost fully feathered. But one only has a few wing feathers. Everything else is just fuzz. I had to bring her inside because she is constantly shivering, even under a heat lamp. Why would this be......that she hasn't grown her feathers in?

It is possible the chick in question has slow feathering genes (the K gene). It can range from slightly delayed to extremely delayed feathering.


from http://www.edelras.nl/chickengenetics/mutations2.html :


Feather rate of growth (late/slow feathering alleles, tardy/retarded alleles)

Kn, Ks, K, t, ts

Kn, Ks, K are sex-linked dominant alleles from the Late/Slow Feathering locus.

t, ts (Tardy & Retarded) are autosomal recessive alleles from the Tardy locus.

Slow feathering modifier(s) are believed to exist, these modifying expression of the Slow-feathering K alleles.

The Classroom @ The Coop


Usually the bird has normal feathering at maturity.

 

[AmyLynn2374]

It is possible the chick in question has slow feathering genes (the K gene). It can range from slightly delayed to extremely delayed feathering.


from http://www.edelras.nl/chickengenetics/mutations2.html :


Feather rate of growth (late/slow feathering alleles, tardy/retarded alleles)

Kn, Ks, K, t, ts

Kn, Ks, K are sex-linked dominant alleles from the Late/Slow Feathering locus.

t, ts (Tardy & Retarded) are autosomal recessive alleles from the Tardy locus.

Slow feathering modifier(s) are believed to exist, these modifying expression of the Slow-feathering K alleles.

The Classroom @ The Coop


Usually the bird has normal feathering at maturity.
Other than the slow feathering, it shouldn't cause or be a marker for any problems though, right?

 

[aquaponics3712]

You guys are so amazing! Thank you so much for your help and suggestions!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This little one is a Blue Cochin chick. I had another hen get injured and I cautiously put them together in "recovery" in my bathroom (heated). It took about 5 minutes of my gentle supervision and encouragement for the hen to accept the little chick. But within 5 min she was letting the little blue (once shivering) chick climb up on her back and burrow into her feathers and they both went to sleep. They have been snuggle bunnies ever since! I was amazed that it took such a short time for them to bond!!! I do hope she feathers fairly soon, though, as I can't keep the hen in recovery for months! And the weather is ridiculously cold here for this time of year. (18 degrees).

 

[CrazyTalk]

this makes zero sense as an analogy.

but i did start giving the shells to them so they can get the calcium.

No, it makes pretty much perfect sense.

Egg yolk, nutritionally, is pretty much exactly what chicks need.

 

[Aphrael]

You guys are so amazing! Thank you so much for your help and suggestions!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This little one is a Blue Cochin chick. I had another hen get injured and I cautiously put them together in "recovery" in my bathroom (heated). It took about 5 minutes of my gentle supervision and encouragement for the hen to accept the little chick. But within 5 min she was letting the little blue (once shivering) chick climb up on her back and burrow into her feathers and they both went to sleep. They have been snuggle bunnies ever since! I was amazed that it took such a short time for them to bond!!! I do hope she feathers fairly soon, though, as I can't keep the hen in recovery for months! And the weather is ridiculously cold here for this time of year. (18 degrees).

Awwww. That is so sweet.

I'm glad they became buddies. I bet it was adorable.