Deformed chicks and shipped eggs

[Susan Skylark]

This is a generalized question to anybody who has shipped and hatched eggs regardless of species. Deformed chicks (wry neck, no feathers, whatever, hatched or dead in shell) can result from genetic issues, nutritional issues in the source flock, some can be infectious or toxic in nature (cerebral defects in kittens infected in utero with certain viruses), and some traumatic (flexural limb deformities from position in womb) or even hormonal (free martinism in twin calves). We’ll leave out infection, toxin, hormonal and focus on mostly nutritional or trauma (in this case shipping), genetic is harder to rule out but if you had issues in shipped eggs and don’t have those same issues in eggs from those resulting birds, we can just ignore it in this case. My question is: do you see a higher incidence of deformed/dead in shell (not early or mid incubation quiitters, rather full term ready to but failure to hatch but couldn’t) chicks in shipped eggs vs your own or locally sourced eggs?

I’ve shipped eggs twice, I was running about ten percent deformed/dead in shell chicks out of those 30 plus eggs (also ten percent each infertile and both early and late embryonic death). I’ve hatched as many or more chicks from those shipped birds and have had no deformed or dead in shell chicks. This is a small sample size so you can’t generalize anything but if it is genetic none of the weird chicks lived to pass on issues (wry neck, day 19 live chick in size but day 12 developmentally, pipped but never hatched, runty hunch back chick), if nutritional I have no idea what the 2 source flocks were feeding, or is it shipping related? Do you see a higher incidence of developmental issues or deformities in shipped eggs? Just curious, I know hatch rates tend to suffer but how about the rate of hatch of normal healthy chicks? Curious to hear your experience!

 

[JacinLarkwell]

I had onlle batch of leg horn and one batch of quail that had an odd number of DIS chicks with issues, but they were shipped almost across the country so its not surprising honestly. The quail I also didn't turn the first 8 or 9 days, which probably didn't help. The leg horns I got more hatched than what didn't make it to hatch, and of those, I only lost one to something other than me or a predator (though they might be mentally damaged because these things refuse to stop brooding)

 

[chickachicka12345]

pics of chicks please( the ones that hatched)

 

[JacinLarkwell]

pics of chicks please( the ones that hatched)

Of mine? The hatched ones all were normal

 

[chickachicka12345]

Of mine? The hatched ones all were normal

of whoever started this thread

 

[Project Blue]

I get a lot of shipped eggs, and yes there is a higher rate of birth defects than home grown, though I've had more of dead in the shell kind of problems than genetic. One crossbill, and one, what I can only describe as ugly feathers are the only genetic defects I've dealt with. I don't think curly toes is genetic. ??

My theory is the dead in the shell/curly toes isn't genetic but weakness, tapped out energy chicks that just don't have enough to get themselves hatched or fully developed. When I've helped a chick out of the egg, even getting totally limp chicks going, they have matured into normal healthy chickens.

Imagine things from the seller's prospective. They are going to first hatch their own chicks, keep the kitchen supplied and fill family and friend's orders before having extras to sell/ship. What the buyer is getting are extras, and from what I'm postulating, the hens maybe not producing as nutritious/quality eggs as the first few batches, hence a lower hatch rate than the home grown variety of fertile eggs. Most people would agree eggs from early in the laying season are more intensely colored and less porous than later laid eggs. That seems to indicate content might be less quality as well.

It's pretty miraculous a simple egg can produce a fully developed and functioning creature in just 21 days. Shipping is indeed rough, but we all tend to get one or two vigorous chicks with presumably the same shipping and hatching conditions, so in my possibly messed up logic one fertile egg has to be superior to another straight out of the hen.