aweeeeeeeee yay!!!The chickies are hereeeee!!!
Brought home 6 Dixie Rainbow chicks (5 now ... cat attacked one). 2 of them I just love. Khaan and Klara, a cockerel and a hen (at least, I THINK so. Too young to tell for sure).
My favorites, Khaan (dark coloring) and Klara (yellow/white).
My sisters took the pics as soon as they got home ... lol I was like, "Wait! I need to put them in the brooder. Take pics later."
Hello Everyone!
I thought I would give you an update on my hatch. All six eggs hatched and they are all healthy and active. I do have to tell you, initially… one little egg didn’t start off so well.
I want you to meet….. YOLK!
Initially, all the eggs looked to be in good hatching condition. My first hatched and then two others started pipping at the same time. I was excited. It was a hatch off… Little did I know, that one of the eggs was going to lag WAY behind.
24 hours later… I was VERY concerned. Still no progress and this little chick appeared to be not only dry but crusting up. After talking with my secret Sally… I decided that with my DH’s assistance, I needed to intervene. Everything was done in stages. We wrapped the egg in a moist paper towel prior to attempting “The assist”. The humidity at this point was 75% due to the last of the other eggs hatching. I waited VERY impatiently for them to hatch so they wouldn’t be put into the same scenario. The inner membranes blood vessels were all absorbed and it was becoming transparent. It was time to start.
"The Assist"
We slowly in stages moistened the dry crusty matter away from the exposed chick and continuously put her back into the bator off and on to make sure she was warm. She chipped and peeped and hollered the whole time. Using an eye dropper, I inserted small drops of 97 degree water between the open membrane and feathers to help loosen the outer membrane that was stuck like glue to her feathers. I was extremely careful not to get water drops anywhere near her face, nose, and ears. It was AWFUL and took a very long time. I slowly chipped and peeled down to where it still looked moist under her shell, wrapped her back in a warm moist paper towel and waited to see if she could do it herself.
That’s when we noticed, her facial feathers were all glued to her belly and every attempt she made to pull away pulled on her delicate skin. My heart was broken. We let her rest for a while and tried to evaluate what our next step would be. 28 hours had past. We brought her back out and with a warm sponge; I brushed where I could see and applied moisture to the area without leaving excess water for her to inhale. The last thing we wanted was for her to drown after getting her this far. She went back into the bator and we waited some more.
With a huge holler, push and shove… she was out!
One more shove out of the shell and we discovered what the problem was. At some point during her hatch, she had punctured the yolk sack. Her legs were bound with yolk. They were literally cuffed together. It was tough, dried, and very sticky.
“The Sauna Swaddle”
Up goes the humidity, swaddled like a baby into another warm clean paper towel, into a corner where she couldn’t move or be harassed by the other chicks witnessing the whole event. All the while, little Yolk was ******! She’s a real pistol and didn’t give up through the whole process.
Back to the sink we go. I used a butadiene dilute (antiseptic) solution and slowly sponged the dried on sticky goo away from her little legs. This left her umbilical cord and what remained of the once dried but now thanks to the sauna swaddle, mushy empty yolk sack.
With sterilized bandage scissors, I chose to clip the umbilical cord where I saw no remaining blood. Closer to her body where it connected, I could see the last remaining blood in the vessel. I then used vetericyn to cover the umbilical stump. No sooner did I finish, Yolk pooped all over my hand and the stump I had just took so much caution cleaning. I have never in my life been so happy to be pooped on! She couldn’t poop meconium without having anything in her system which meant… she had absorbed enough of the yolk. Yippie… clean, rinse, treat and back in the bator to dry. Whew!
Well, I’d like to say we are done here… but we’re not:
It was obvious when we placed her back in the bator that there was going to be more to this story. Her feet were rolled up and over, she was dragging herself by her hocks, and her head was flipped over her back. It was awful! Any attempt on her part to use her feet immediately sent her flying backward to her back. This poor little thing. I will let you know, the thought did go through my mind…. “This is why most people do not attempt to help and let nature take its course”! I told myself that this is what I planned on doing when I started the incubation process.
I remembered Sally’s article had “orthopedic procedures” listed. Next thing I know, I get a message from Sally to make sure her feet are ok. Man Sally… were you reading my mind??? LOL!
I made some sandals for her to splint her little feet. My husband was already in bed at this point. ***Note to self*** applying chick sandals by oneself is VERY DIFFICULT
This did not resolve her neck bent over her back. It was the positioning in her egg for so long. What to do, what to do….? Ah ha! Ok guys, no laughing… I had to find a box that I could cut a hole in so her legs would be suspended (she needed to stretch her hocks out, they were held tight to her body) and wouldn’t touch so she couldln’t kick out of the box. Also, the box had to be small enough so that if she were to fall through the hole, she wouldn’t have long to fall. I also needed to device something to keep her poor little head off of her back, but would it work? This is about the only time I was not mad at my husband for not throwing away the empty toilet paper roll. Ok… now look at the picture!
I woke up so that every two hours I could dip her little beak into a sugar water solution. The first several attempts, she didn’t even attempt to swallow. Finally, she swallowed.. I was very concerned that my little Yolk may have brain damage. She acted NOTHING like any other chick I have ever seen. She just laid their peeping… peeping… She laid on her box for the rest of the night.
This morning to my surprise, she was still alive just chirping away. It was a different chirp. No distress sounds. I opened the bator, picked her up, gave her a drink and took her to the brooder where her siblings were. I set her down and her little head immediately flipped so I placed my finger over it, still leaving her standing… yes, I said standing on her own. Her head stayed there and has ever since! Woo hoo!
Just so you all know, she is now more like a normal chick. Pecking at things on the ground, at chicks and attempting to walk with her sandals an all. She is still weaker than the rest and not as sturdy, but she’s a real fighter! I am rotating her from the box, to the floor of the hatcher, and to the brooder today until she is strong enough to pick on the other chicks.
Here she is!
Wish us luck!
