Heartbroken....

[warmandfuzzy]

Well, out of my 40 original eggs, I had 30 in my Little Giant on hatch day. Only 8 hatched in the first 24 hours. On day 22 four hatched, two died and two had leg deformities. One of the chicks with a bad leg just died an hour ago and one is left. The little guy can't walk right, his toes are twisted and he puts the joint part of his leg down and hobbles on it. He falls over and peeps constantly. If I hold him he snuggles in my hand and stops peeping. He doesn't really like the other chicks. I am so sad. My first hatch and it feels like a disaster. My kids are sad too. We opened a few of the eggs that didn't hatch and they had fully formed chicks in them. I don't know if we should try another batch in the incubator or just buy day old chicks.
We thought it would be fun to hatch our own, now I am not so sure.

carol

 

[simplyscrambled]

It is a bummer. I've hatched for years, and bought a brand new incubator, instead of my finicky LG - and I only got 7 out of 43 original eggs! Many were quitters later on. It happens.

What never gets old is watching even one chick hatch out of the egg though...but I understand the desire to buy day old chicks instead.

 

[cappuccino]

I think you still did well for your first try. We ordered chicks last year and this year decided to hatch our own. Although we had a pretty low hatch rate, my kids learned alot and enjoyed it. By the way, I had the same thing with the toes on one of mine and someone said it sounded like curled toes. I searched on here and found a remedy which I am trying. I will post with results. Good luck.

 

[Mahonri]

Temp may have been too warm with deformed legs and toes.

 

[Mrs. Glassman]

Don't feel so sad, and certainly don't give up!

Just because you put them in an incubator will mean they will hatch and be perfect.

What were your temps & humidity?

Where did you get your eggs?

How long were they stored before incubation?

Where did the eggs come from??

Gosh, I wish I could give you a

Listen to those who have hatched a lot & learn from them. We all can...I'm just learning myself.

Somethings that can help you are: keeping a chart on temps, humidity, and candleing. Also, opening unhatched eggs & noting the progress the chick made before it expired. This may clue you into specific problems you are having.

Remember, it is and ART & SCIENCE.

I am so sorry that you feel so badly about your hatch, but look at it this way, you ARE NOT a hen, and you managed to hatch that many!

DO NOT give up & good luck on future hatches!!

Again:

 

[Sillystunt]

so sorry

this is why i am so scared to hatch. I mean i cry when i loose a plant

By the sound of it you did good but it's never easy to have ones that don't!

 

[Guinea Goonie]

I have given up on hatching. The LG still air is just laying in they nursery now. I really can not afford the incubator that I want, so I am buying day old chicks or using the silkie hens as brooders.

The flock has gotten fairly big now, well over 75.

I am going to have to trim it down come the end of summer.

I find this is a good time to give away a few head as it is not hot and not cold and the chickies do better in their new homes.

Presently though, I have about 20 babies in the nursery. I need to get rid of the roosters. I have speckled sussex, partridge rocks, lakenvelders and red shouldered yokohomas.

If any one is interested in a nice rooster, let me know. They are still pretty young and VERY healthy and VERY well feed. I practice a high level of bio security in the nursery.

I have a good number of Guinea keets, but most that i want to trim down are spoken for by friends. It seems Guineas are becoming a very big deal down here in MO. They are easy to keep and they eat the bad insects.

 

[Mrs. Glassman]

Quote:
If you planted a seed, and it did not grow, would you still cry, or would you assume there was something wrong with the seed/conditions & improve next time?

I only ask, because I grow as well. Hurting a houseplant is punishable in my house. And I cry also.

Please don't think I'm picking! I'm just curious.

 

[astylishgirl]

You can probably fix the chick with the bad leg. I had one and he walks great now.

 

[pax12]