Cream Legbars

[chicken pickin]

Have you tried treating your breeders with a round of tetracycline?  This could be a yolk sac infection problem.

I had a simlar problem with my Isbars last year, they would hatch and all die at 3-4 weeks of age.  Turned out it was a specific strain of e coli present in my hens (both raised from the same breeder) that was being passed to the chicks as a yolk sac infection.  A round of tetracycline for the adults temporarily fixed the problem but I ended up needing a stronger antibiotic from a vet to actually clear up the infection in my breeders permanently.

The fact that it was taking 3-4 weeks to kill the chicks was very unusual, yolk sac infections typically kill chicks just before or just after hatch.  By 10 days as most.  So it took me a long time to figure out that was what was happening.

I'm not sure if things like that get tested for during NPIP testing. But all my flocks got retested last month and all is well.

It only seems to be the CL as usual, not the other breeds or even the CL mixes. I'm not sure I just keep moving forward and trying again but results aren't good. There is no way u will ever sell eggs from my m CL flock at this rate. It's a little frustrating because I'm enjoying working with them. I hope next spring brings better things.

I have 2 more small batches incubating and these are my very last for the year. I don't expect much out if them but I do hope to get a few.

 

[chambe94]

Are the unhatched eggs fertile? How far developed are they when they die?

This isn't a "normal" problem with Legbars so you definitely should dig deeper.

NPIP only tests for pullorum (sometimes mycoplasma and influenza if you pay extra), so that wouldn't tell you anything about yolk sac infections.

 

[chicken pickin]

Are the unhatched eggs fertile? How far developed are they when they die?

This isn't a "normal" problem with Legbars so you definitely should dig deeper.

NPIP only tests for pullorum (sometimes mycoplasma and influenza if you pay extra), so that wouldn't tell you anything about yolk sac infections.

Yes they are fertile and I don't open the unhatched eggs but by candling they look to develope until a little before lockdown. I suppose I can do some eggtopsies but I'm not sure doing that will help.

I have had some ok CL hatches like roughly 50/50 but the last 2 are by far the worst. I'm checking the temps now on my cooler-bator to see if that may be a problem. The brinsea spot check is reading 100.0 and the cooler bator has fans so the air is circulated.

 

[jerryse]

Yes they are fertile and I don't open the unhatched eggs but by candling they look to develope until a little before lockdown. I suppose I can do some eggtopsies but I'm not sure doing that will help.

I have had some ok CL hatches like roughly 50/50 but the last 2 are by far the worst. I'm checking the temps now on my cooler-bator to see if that may be a problem. The brinsea spot check is reading 100.0 and the cooler bator has fans so the air is circulated.

Sometimes this can be nutrition . They run out of nutrients and die late in incubation . Since the other breeds do not show this I would not think that is the problem but then maybe the legbars need a little more . Try some vitamin / electrolyte in the water . Most farm stores have this in the cattle and hog area . At lest you could rule that out if it does not help . Right now it is a guessing game . Could be inbreeding depression also .

 

[caychris]

My hatch was also poor and late too. Had 2 girls with wry necks. 5 out of 22 eggs. Lady hatching them for me (new to this dont have my own incubator yet) has had many successful hatches in her bators. Other breeds seemed to hatch fine though one Delaware had foot problems and didnt survive.

The eggs were hand delivered less than an hour drive.

 

[jerryse]

I guess I will find out soon as I have a trio about 23 weeks old . I have some crosses in the incubator now .

 

[Woodsmith]

Attempt to rule out as the cause the flock that the eggs came from. If successful, then you can focus on what might cause the low hatch rate and high mortality it at home.

 

[enola]

I don't know about anyone else but I am getting so tired of horrible hatch rates from my CL. Last batch set 10 eggs all developed till the end and only one hatched. And today is day23 of another batch of 10 eggs, only one pipped and she was upside down and pipped for somewhere between 24 and 36 hours so I just helped her. But her abdomen looks odd and shes bleeding from it. I don't know if I caused it or if it would have happened anyway. I also candled the other eggs and no movement. This is how it has been most of my CL hatches since I started hatching them in Feb.

I am very frustrated. Maybe its my incubator but other breeds I hatch seem to do fine so Im not sure. Between the really bad hatches and some of my CL with bad attitudes Im starting to wonder if I want 2 pens of CL now, not sure if its worth it

Same here. ALL of my other breeds are at about 85%. I have incubated EVERY egg from my CL' s. I have finally hatched 2 pullets. I desperately need another rooster now.

 

[sol2go]

Have you taken the "What dialog of English do you speak" Quiz yet? Some people will go to their death arguing that sugary water should be called pop while others will do the same for their preference of the word soda, coke, or a fizzy. Some people call their parent's sister "aunt" with the word rhyming with "can't" others rhyme with the word "want" while some think that both are silly things to call their "auntie". Some people use the word "bad" to describe something that is extremely cool and others understand anything that is "bad" to be unpleasant or dull. Hmm... what are some of my other good ones, Twinners vs. Twinkies to describe two people wearing the same outfit, license plate registration vs. tags for what you get to place on your car from the motor vehicle department, then possibly the most confusing I have come across is that depending on what state you are in you have to know if DUI, DWD, DWI, OWI, OUI, OVI, or DUII is the correct term to refer to drunk driving.

I could go on an on linguistics (I studied a foreign language for my 2nd college degree), but coming back to the use of the word rooster, cock, cockerel. None of them are absolute terms. Rooster is the most common term used in the USA today. It is not however used at poultry shows. The shows have categories for cockerels (male chickens under a year of age) and cocks (male chickens over a year old. If you talk to the APA show community (which I am guessing is NOT what the Heritage Chicken community identify them self as) they use the word cockerel and cock to indicate the category that their bird would be placed in. If they have a 12 month and one day old male chicken it is no longer a cockerel and to call it such would be incorrect and a no-no. However when you talk to big breeders they use the word cockerel with more liberty to refer to any male chicken that is either being bred to older females or who is in his first year of breeding even though they often grow out these birds for a year and a half to 3 years before they use them in the breeding pen.

Another example of human nature and why communication is so difficult even when everyone is talking about the same thing and knows it, just prefers to argue about it.

 

[sol2go]

Yes they are fertile and I don't open the unhatched eggs but by candling they look to develope until a little before lockdown. I suppose I can do some eggtopsies but I'm not sure doing that will help.

I have had some ok CL hatches like roughly 50/50 but the last 2 are by far the worst. I'm checking the temps now on my cooler-bator to see if that may be a problem. The brinsea spot check is reading 100.0 and the cooler bator has fans so the air is circulated.

There is a lady in New York with a nice breeding pair of CL, looks double for cream. She is hatching eggs that were up to 2 weeks old before she incubated them; which leads me to believe she is having a good hatch rate if you are interested in her contact info?