Deb, I think a necropsy is a bit premature with the patient still being alive
But Al, culling might be the better route, you don't want to sell that chick in case it dies suddenly, and you don't want to pass on those genes to your flock either.
but that is kinda the point...
I really wanted to figure out what was going on to see if it was due to genetics, nutrition or what....
Anyway.... I was able to get the chick completely out of the egg this morning, have a better look at it and see what was wrong.
It turns out that the umbilical cord, even though it was dried up this morning (it was still very "alive" looking yesterday, i.e. still full of blood even though the belly button was closed) was TOUGH.
I have never seen it like that.... it turns out that the string of umbilical cord, was cutting tightly against one side of the chick's neck as well as around one edge of one foot.
Even after removing the cord, there was a noticable dent against the neck of the chick... I think that is why the chick was/is swollen on that side of the neck and face... blood couldn't flow properly because of the tight cord.
The cord also tightly held up one foot... which would maybe explain why the chick could not move properly to unzip and hatch (it did make one large pip).
It is making me think that it was a very odd/ whatever annomily, and the restriction caused by the tight umbilical cord is what made some blood flow strange/odd, and perhaps also managed to cause the inner membrane to be so very odd.... just STRANGE.
And yes, it is STILL alive.... but now hatched and resting... totally not sure what I want to do with it... but I don't even have to worry about that, until I know for sure that it will live.
I did last year... for several hatches...
Yep, completely depends on what has been allowed to continue to breed.... and since this is my fist time breeding these birds together.... I am only know figure out what genetics are in there.
It is ODD what crops up.... Out of the chicks that have hatched from Olive Eggs (only one hen, only one rooster.... so pair breeding) I have only gotten ONE brown one.... all of the rest are black, but I have hatched less than 20... maybe 10ish.
I need to keep records... but I am SUPER disorganized in all aspects of my life, so that might be asking too much... anyway... I think I have hatched about 50ish Marans now...... and this hatch, is the first one that I have noticed that I have TWO with some toe fuzz on their middle toes (big no-no for the Marans SOP).
