Day 20. Hatch questions.

[One Chick Two]

I have no idea what she is lol! I've been meaning to post a good pic of her to see if anyone has any idea what she is. I'm a totally accidental owner, ended up taking on Polkadot (my profile pic) spotty, a black hen with a gold head/neck, and Dotty, an ex batt who's absolute amazement at the things we take for granted that chickens experience (her first sighting of a butterfly was hilarious!) chokes me up at times. I didn't realise they were such characters, I just couldn't bear the thought of the alternative and figured in return for a sack of food I'd get a few eggs! I think they're amazing, every home should have hens!!

I really hope you've got some cheeps to wake up to!!

Polkadots does look quite a bit like an Australorp.

Spotty sounds like she is possibly a Black Sexlink or Black Copper Marans. (Is her legs feathered, or does she lay a dark brown egg?)

This morning the three Black Copper Marans chicks are still in the incubator, and we are giving them some slightly warmed sugar water. Two are walking a bit now, and look like premie newborns- much smaller than their hatchmates of the same age. The third I still don't think is going to make it...he's not standing.

Here is one of the normal hatch mate chicks on left shown at 2 days old- Those chicks are five days old now. These chicks in the incubator are closer to three days old now. The chick below is the one with the most amount of membrane still attached to his feathers. Try as I might to get it off with warmed water, it is really stuck on him- right at skin level. His fuzz is matted, some fuzz has been accidentally pulled off. The tan on his chin is just a reflection.Poor little fellow just can't seem to get a break.


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[Polkadots]

Oh bless him, I love him! Beautiful chicks!!

Yes, I looked it up, Spotty does look similar to the sexlink hens, she lays darker eggs than the other two, they're not chocolate brown or anything though. She keeps stealing everyones eggs at the moment, I think she might be getting ready to go broody! She did this a few weeks ago and I had to steal her eggs at night as she was so mean!! After several days of this I thought why not stick some eggs under her rather than incubating myself, only she decided the next day that she was no longer broody!! In hindsight I should have stopped taking her eggs and switched them over one night.

Here's my boy (or girl, no idea lol) all fluffed up, he's a menace!! And lonely. The other second egg pipped then waned, the membrane was stuck over his nostrils. I removed a small area of shell and cleared a small area around his beak and popped him back in the incubator with a damp cloth, he really perked up. A few hours later I had another look at him as there was no progress at all, removed another small piece of shell, but could see a few blood vessels so again popped him back. I'm no way experienced and don't pretend to be. His beak is clear, he seems chirpy and obviously isn't ready for out. It's almost 1am here, I'll check back at 7am and reassess, he has an area about the size of a penny gone, well, shell and some outer membrane, I assume if there's blood vessels there's yolk. Another 6 hours and fingers crossed he'll be out before I get up. I can't even see what colour he is, but my other guy's a stunner! So tiny too, about 2" tall!! I can close my hand around him!







I don't have any out of the incubator pics, it's all through grubby glass I'm afraid lol

 

[chickster5003]

Only day 1 for me

 

[One Chick Two]

Oh bless him, I love him! Beautiful chicks!!

Yes, I looked it up, Spotty does look similar to the sexlink hens, she lays darker eggs than the other two, they're not chocolate brown or anything though. She keeps stealing everyones eggs at the moment, I think she might be getting ready to go broody! She did this a few weeks ago and I had to steal her eggs at night as she was so mean!! After several days of this I thought why not stick some eggs under her rather than incubating myself, only she decided the next day that she was no longer broody!! In hindsight I should have stopped taking her eggs and switched them over one night.

Here's my boy (or girl, no idea lol) all fluffed up, he's a menace!! And lonely. The other second egg pipped then waned, the membrane was stuck over his nostrils. I removed a small area of shell and cleared a small area around his beak and popped him back in the incubator with a damp cloth, he really perked up. A few hours later I had another look at him as there was no progress at all, removed another small piece of shell, but could see a few blood vessels so again popped him back. I'm no way experienced and don't pretend to be. His beak is clear, he seems chirpy and obviously isn't ready for out. It's almost 1am here, I'll check back at 7am and reassess, he has an area about the size of a penny gone, well, shell and some outer membrane, I assume if there's blood vessels there's yolk. Another 6 hours and fingers crossed he'll be out before I get up. I can't even see what colour he is, but my other guy's a stunner! So tiny too, about 2" tall!! I can close my hand around him!







I don't have any out of the incubator pics, it's all through grubby glass I'm afraid lol

Denis (or Denise) the Menace is so beautiful!

He will be so happy when his friend finally comes to join him.

If he goes more than two more days or shows dstress, definitely help him out, like we had to. Our boy was so glued in so well there was no way he would've gotten out of that sticky membrane himself. He has small chunks stuck to him and bald patches all over!

However, he has surprising vigor and wants to live! So he's out of the incubator now (hurray!) and he was busy interacting with the other chicks, being picked on and pecking back, eating and preening himself. A survivor. He and the other chick were "plugged" up, so especially with your later chick, make sure to check for that!

The other chick hasn't shown much interest in anything, so hopefully she will come around today. The last chick still in the incubator is not improving.

However, we have another batch due to arrive today, at any time. (Concurrent batches.)

Quote: It will go fast!

 

[Polkadots]

One Chick Two, how's the final baby doing now?? Will the shell and sticky bits come off or will you have to bathe it off when he's stronger?

When I got up this morning (it's 10pm here now) he'd somehow turned himself around, had a wing and one foot sticking out of the hole and his breathing was pretty slow, his membrane was brown around the edge and his fluff that was sticking out felt hard and dry so I made the decision to remove him based on his breathing. I couldn't work out what was where so just went around and around removing small sections of shell and he popped out and just laid there with the bottom of the shell, so I scooped him and the shell up and popped them back in the incubator while I did the school run. When I returned he'd detached himself from the shell and had moved and was sleeping, breathing much better so I left him to it whilst I went to the stables and he was wobbling around, though his eyes were swollen when he hatched and one wasn't opening, I didn't want to fuss with him until he was dried and up and about.

I've been keeping an eye on his rear end, it looks like the other ones, what do I need to look for with bunging up. I can't say for sure if he's been or not as the other poops for England lol, but as I say, his rear end looks fine?

Here he is, my two Pekin bantams (Cochins where you are, am I right?) The blue guy at the back, two days old and "Little Frog" as my daughter called him due to his swollen eyes he looked like a wet frog, 14 hours old at the front. His toes are much fluffier than the first, his outside and middle toes are both feathered, whereas the first only has the outer toe feathered.

 

[One Chick Two]

One Chick Two, how's the final baby doing now?? Will the shell and sticky bits come off or will you have to bathe it off when he's stronger?

When I got up this morning (it's 10pm here now) he'd somehow turned himself around, had a wing and one foot sticking out of the hole and his breathing was pretty slow, his membrane was brown around the edge and his fluff that was sticking out felt hard and dry so I made the decision to remove him based on his breathing. I couldn't work out what was where so just went around and around removing small sections of shell and he popped out and just laid there with the bottom of the shell, so I scooped him and the shell up and popped them back in the incubator while I did the school run. When I returned he'd detached himself from the shell and had moved and was sleeping, breathing much better so I left him to it whilst I went to the stables and he was wobbling around, though his eyes were swollen when he hatched and one wasn't opening, I didn't want to fuss with him until he was dried and up and about.

I've been keeping an eye on his rear end, it looks like the other ones, what do I need to look for with bunging up. I can't say for sure if he's been or not as the other poops for England lol, but as I say, his rear end looks fine?

Here he is, my two Pekin bantams (Cochins where you are, am I right?) The blue guy at the back, two days old and "Little Frog" as my daughter called him due to his swollen eyes he looked like a wet frog, 14 hours old at the front. His toes are much fluffier than the first, his outside and middle toes are both feathered, whereas the first only has the outer toe feathered.

Look at those lovely little chicks!

Your little chick looks so happy to have his friend to bond with! After a few days stuck in the shell, you can just tell when they need some assistance.

In our case, those three started late, then, spent a few days being stuck in the membranes... on top of that, the chirps sounded unhappy for those two extra days we waited to let them get out on their own. It was very stressful to step aside and not to help earlier!

Chick 1 who you see the photo of, had the most membrane on him. Mostly along his head and back. It was like wet, slimy, but dried out Wrigley's gum in his hair. We tried wetting him down repeatedly and gently pulling and trimming the membrane with cuticle scissors, then putting him back in the incubator to dry again after being given some sugar water. He was too immature (premie) to go in with the much larger chicks in the brooder at first (chicks lay on their side for many hours to rest at first). After a few hours of walking we put them in with the others.

He is tiny, but he has a tremendous drive, is socializing and eating like crazy! Making up for lost time IMO. Since it seems to finally be drying out, we are trimming bits that lift up off the fluff, and actually think that is working better than wetting it- which seems to matt it down all over again. He is getting fluffier now, and probably in a few days the majority of that will hopefully be gone. He looks much better already.

Chick 2 is still not actively going for the water or food or interacting socially with the other chicks. She still has some membrane as well, but not as much. She may be immature still (hopefully) and will wake up feeling like getting some food. She looks mostly normal, but tiny. She won't make it if she doesn't start eating soon. Chick 3 did quietly pass away. So sad. We did everything we could for him and he went downhill anyway.

Looking at the pasty butt, it's a small, very hard, dried, whitish (or slightly colored) clog that dries and blocks the vent and prevents droppings. I use warm water, and a wet tissue to first soak and remove anything at the pinfeathers there. They almost always have to go right away. Both chick 1 and 2 had membrane sticking there so it had to be removed.

Today, we had more chicks successfully hatch out from the next hatching... two more as of a few hours ago. More to come, hopefully!