Consolidated Kansas

[Deerfield Acres]

Hawkeye, I'm no expert but I did have a couple really sticky chicks and I would work that chick out. Keep it's head out of the water but run warm water over it's body and gently work that shell off of it. I did that with one of my chicks after waiting and waiting while it yelled and couldn't make any progress. It turned out just fine. You have to work the shell off slowly.

 

[Hawkeye95]

Hawkeye, I'm no expert but I did have a couple really sticky chicks and I would work that chick out. Keep it's head out of the water but run warm water over it's body and gently work that shell off of it. I did that with one of my chicks after waiting and waiting while it yelled and couldn't make any progress. It turned out just fine. You have to work the shell off slowly.

Okay... I'll do that. I already took the top of the shell off and he seems happier now. But I'm pretty sure he is stuck pretty good in there. The other chick is resting and alive, but still pretty sticky even after his mini spit bath.

 

[Deerfield Acres]

Mine were that way too. I chipped off the shell, leaving the membrane and then dampened the membrane until it would turn loose of the babies fluff. It was really tedious getting rid of the excess goo. So I held the chick in a wet warm wash cloth and stuck my finger in warm water and very carefully loosened all the goo with a finger nail that I just happened to have at the time. It took forever but I kept the chick warm in the wash cloth and he didn't even get pasty.

 

[Ivywoods]

Hawkeye-How long has that chick been pipped? If they have been pipped for over a day and I see that they are shrink wrapped I go ahead and help them out. Sometimes you can just give them a little help, but other times you have to help them all the way. It's a judgement call. If I think they are shrink wrapped I go ahead and help them out partially. If I do that and take off some of the shell and the remainder of the membrane is moist I go ahead and let them work the rest of the way out.

However, if I start to help them out and I notice the membrane is still dry and stuck to them, I go ahead and peel that off. If it is dry and stuck they will never be able to work their way out of it. If I can simply peel it off that is what I do. If it is too stuck I go ahead with the warm water and get it off. I make sure their head, neck, wings and feet are not stuck. At that point I put them back in the hatcher (or incubator in your case) and leave them there until they are completely dry, usually at least overnight. They will roll around and kick, but eventually they should be able to get on their feet if they haven't been encased too long.

Good luck.

 

[Deerfield Acres]

So relieved someone with experience is here!

 

[Hawkeye95]

Hawkeye-How long has that chick been pipped? If they have been pipped for over a day and I see that they are shrink wrapped I go ahead and help them out. Sometimes you can just give them a little help, but other times you have to help them all the way. It's a judgement call. If I think they are shrink wrapped I go ahead and help them out partially. If I do that and take off some of the shell and the remainder of the membrane is moist I go ahead and let them work the rest of the way out.

However, if I start to help them out and I notice the membrane is still dry and stuck to them, I go ahead and peel that off. If it is dry and stuck they will never be able to work their way out of it. If I can simply peel it off that is what I do. If it is too stuck I go ahead with the warm water and get it off. I make sure their head, neck, wings and feet are not stuck. At that point I put them back in the hatcher (or incubator in your case) and leave them there until they are completely dry, usually at least overnight. They will roll around and kick, but eventually they should be able to get on their feet if they haven't been encased too long.

Good luck.

He pipped yesterday. It wasn't until about a couple of hours ago that he started screaming and struggling. And when I came home and saw the sticky chick and then him screaming... ugh. I got him mostly out. Well, he IS out. I chipped his shell away and then used a lot of water and slid him out of his shell mostly. He is still stuck to his yolk sack so I left him be to kick the lower shell off himself. I didn't run into any blood at all. He seems exhausted.

 

[Deerfield Acres]

Sounds good, Hawkeye. Hope it makes it the rest of the way without any help!

 

[HEChicken]

Yesterday, I was taking down an old fence, rolling the wire up, and giving it to my DH who was using it to put up a new fence (we currently have a couple of fences running through the middle of our property and are missing a fence on the edge of our property). I was taking the barbed wire off the fence (post-by-post) and rolling it up into a roll about 3 feet tall. I got to an area where the weeds were a bit taller and leaned the roll against what was left of the fence. I then stepped around the roll and went to remove the staple that was holding the wire to the post. After doing so, I turned around to get the roll of wire, and there was a rattlesnake coiled up right beside the roll of wire.

The snake was only 3 feet from where I was standing at the time and was right in the path I took to go around the roll of wire. I am still not sure how I managed to not see him when I walked past him

and am still amazed that I neither stepped on him nor rolled the roll of barbed wire over him. It was cool enough that he wasn't rattling either. He sure scared me, though! When I realized that I had just stepped over/around a poisonous snake without noticing the snake, I started shaking pretty badly - my knees, my arms, my hands.... After that, my DH helped me move the roll of wire to the opposite side of the fence where the grass/weeds weren't as tall. He then helped me finish rolling the wire. I hate to think of what could have happened if it had been a bit warmer yesterday... I am hoping that we can find someone with a gyro mower that we can borrow to mow all those weeds down so the pasture is a little bit safer. Plus, it'd be good to give the grass a chance - we'll need every acre of grass we can get for my horses with as dry as it has been out here.

I'm so glad this story ended well. Having kept snakes as pets for years (none venomous) I can say that they are far more afraid of us than we are of them. Bites only occur as a defensive measure so I'm really glad you didn't step on him as he would have reacted and this could have ended badly. I had a close call of my own many years ago with a King Brown (for those who don't know, I am Australian and the King Brown is one of the top most venomous snakes in a country that has a LOT of animals that can kill in 3 minutes or less). I was walking down a dirt track, and rounded a bend to find myself eye to eye with a snake whose body spanned an 8' dirt logging track, and I couldn't even see his tail.. I froze and we eyed one another for about 2 full minutes. Two of the longest minutes of my life. He decided I was no threat and slithered off into the bush. Had he made a different determination I probably wouldn't be here to tell the tale as I was within striking distance, and his venom is so powerful I wouldn't have made it out of the bush alive.

I have lots of congestion in my chest today, on top of strep and am feeling really crappy.

So sorry you are feeling lousy. Hope this passes soon. Somehow it always seems worse to be sick when the weather is nice.

Okay hatching experts-- I hope you're on!!! I need HELP!

Having read on, I see you have found some help and I'm glad. I've only had to help once but am convinced that if I hadn't, my beautiful BCM wouldn't be laying her gorgeous eggs today. Good luck with your little one - the sticky look can last awhile but if he gets over his exhaustion and gets up and about, he'll eventually outgrow the sticky start.

 

[Ivywoods]

I came in from working out in the yard most of the afternoon.

Found TWO tiks crawling around in my UNDERWEAR!

Fortunately, they were just crawling around and not latched on.

Be careful, folks! 'Tis the season! Be sure to do a thourough check when you get in from outdoors.

Who was it that uses the flea and tick shampoo for dogs on themselves?

I don't do that, but since I have gotten older, sometimes I have pretty dry skin. Baby oil does the trick. I slick on a layer of baby oil. If I would happen to not see a tick and it gets baby oil on it, it will quickly die because it blocks it's ability to breathe.

 

[WichitaKidd]

You know, there really is some merit to getting them out there by this age. From some of the reading I've done keeping them in the warmed house or brooder too long negatively affects feather quality. I think there's a lot of truth to that, and along with that idea, I think it probably affects their overall condition and health. I know I've been guilty of keeping my brooders warmer than they needed at time.

From watching my broody hens raise their babies when it was still pretty cold out, those chicks are right out in the cold a lot of the time, but then of course they can always run back under the momma for warmth. The hen raised chicks I've raised seemed to be somewhat healthier than brooder raised chicks, although they do not always gain weight at the same rate. Maybe that is healthier, too.

Thanks for the advice. Looks like I'm making some rookie mistakes here by keeping them in the brooder longer than I probably should. I've been keeping my brooder around 80 degrees during the day for the past couple of weeks. Shutting the lamp off at night, the brooder gets down to about 70 degrees; sometimes cooler. So far I haven't noticed any problems with feathers other than they seem to shed a lot of them when they're outside. Or at least more than I expected. More than they ever lost in the brooder so I assume it has to do with more drastic temperature changes than what they experienced indoors. Hopefully, I'm not causing any long term problems for them. To be honest, for my first time doing this I'm surprised they are all still alive!

On another topic, went to the store & picked up some vitamin E soft gels. Surprisingly, they are much easier to work with than a medicine dropper. Still trying to find the right way to handle Buffy to give it to her, but I'm starting to get the hang of it. Started adding the PVS to their water. Figured it wouldn't hurt to give it to all of them.