How come everyone else has fluffy chicks and mine are ugly? :)

[CluckyCharms]

Thanks for the replies, everyone. It's definitely not the breeding stock. I do have some "less than desirable" chicks...but I also have some very nice ones from a reputable breeder here on the forum, and those hatched out the same.

They all look beautiful by day 3ish...nice and fluffy...but it's days 1-2 that are what I call their "fugly firsts". I mean they're just horribly sticky looking, but completely dry.

I'll try a few of the tips listed here for sure though.

In regard to humidity it's at 40% day 1 through 18 and then it goes to 60-64% for lockdown, and by the time one externally pips, that one chick raises the humidity to 70 and so forth.

Temp is 98 on lockdown day.

I do take them out a bit early (I don't leave them in there for a day)...might try it I guess, but they look like they're too hot in there by the way they've acted when I leave them in there for a long time.

Thanks for the replies!!

 

[JodiLynn]

I have had this problem to. Humidity was not high enough for long enough during lockdown. I have my humidity between 60 -70 on day 18-21 but I also do a the dry hatching method which requires I only add water if the humidity drops below 25% during day 1 -18. Once I increased humidity my chicks no longer had the sticky membrane and dry off by 12 hours after hatching!

 

[aoxa]

I have had this problem to. Humidity was not high enough for long enough during lockdown. I have my humidity between 60 -70 on day 18-21 but I also do a the dry hatching method which requires I only add water if the humidity drops below 25% during day 1 -18. Once I increased humidity my chicks no longer had the sticky membrane and dry off by 12 hours after hatching!

What do you keep your humidity at now after you tried the dry hatching?

I'll add a cup of water maybe through the days 1-18. On day 18 I fill up all reservoirs and plug the vent, as it makes my temp too variable. It's a forced air, so they get oxygen anyway. With the plug out my humidity drops as does my temp.

In the summer I leave my plug out though. Not during the fall/winter.

OP: Are you absolutely certain on your temps?

Do your chicks hatch early, on time or late?

 

[CluckyCharms]

I've had up to three thermometers in there at a time (some are digital and some are mercury) and they all read within a half degree of each other normally. The bantam breeds and Silkies tend to hatch out on day 20 and the large fowls hatch on 21-22.

Temperature in the bator is 101 on days 1-18 because it's a still-air, non-fanned, no forced air bator and that's the temp the makers of the bator and several other people say to place that type of bator at, rather than the 99.5 for the fanned ones. They seem to be fine with regard to temps and I've had at least a 60% hatch with shipped eggs and 90% hatch with local eggs (with the exception of this last time which was only because we had a nasty temp spike one day).

When the chicks hatch they are just always wet and slimy, and I recently read a post here on BYC that showed a chick freshly hatched (still laying by the eggshell) and it wasn't slimy at all..just a bit disheveled looking.

My husband is getting me an RCOM and a camera as Christmas presents this year so I'm pretty excited, and looking forward to sharing pictures with all of you like you have done with the rest of us...and I'm definitely looking forward to not turning 50 eggs by hand, too.

 

[aoxa]

I've had up to three thermometers in there at a time (some are digital and some are mercury) and they all read within a half degree of each other normally.  The bantam breeds and Silkies tend to hatch out on day 20 and the large fowls hatch on 21-22.

Temperature in the bator is 101 on days 1-18 because it's a still-air, non-fanned, no forced air bator and that's the temp the makers of the bator and several other people say to place that type of bator at, rather than the 99.5 for the fanned ones.  They seem to be fine with regard to temps and I've had at least a 60% hatch with shipped eggs and 90% hatch with local eggs (with the exception of this last time which was only because we had a nasty temp spike one day).

When the chicks hatch they are just always wet and slimy, and I recently read a post here on BYC that showed a chick freshly hatched (still laying by the eggshell) and it wasn't slimy at all..just a bit disheveled looking.

 

Here is one of mine just hatched.

But I have had a silkie exactly as you are describing, and at 4 weeks it still looked slimy!

 

[CluckyCharms]

I get one or two of these a hatch. Never any more.
How long do you leave them in the incubator? I find if you take them out after 24 hours, they dry better under a heat lamp.
I do think slimy chicks results from them not eating all the albumen before hatching. That seems to be what's making them gross.

Here is a day old NN that was the only chick like this last hatch.

This silkie had a bit of it on it's crest.

But this barred rock was perfectly fluffy after a day.

Beautiful little babies!! Mine look nothing like those until day 3ish. They have slime dried on them every time, and don't fluff out until they're old enough to run around in the brooder and roll in the bedding and kick around, that's what fluffs mine out. The head on the one in your first photograph is the way the whole bodies look on mine, dried up slimy stuff.

 

[CluckyCharms]

Here is one of mine just hatched.
But I have had a silkie exactly as you are describing, and at 4 weeks it still looked slimy!

This one - the yellow one, is how mine look in regard to the head and part of the back...only they look like that all over and it dries like that...without fluffing out.

 

[stevetone]

Perhaps it could also be do to the quality of the breeding stock

Although this has already been discounted, I agree that this could be a likely cause. The genetics of individuals in a hatch are not identical. I would imagine that the ability to hatch "well" is one of the things influenced by individual genetics, among other things.

 

[CluckyCharms]

Although this has already been discounted, I agree that this could be a likely cause. The genetics of individuals in a hatch are not identical. I would imagine that the ability to hatch "well" is one of the things influenced by individual genetics, among other things.

I see where you're coming from, and while most of the hatching eggs we have had were from "unknown" or very little known sources - two shipments were not. Two clutches of hatching eggs were from folks right here on the forum, and I've seen their chicks from the same strain hatch out by other forum members - looking nothing like the chicks I hatched out (with regard to the sliminess). My chicks are identical to theirs by day 3 but they are slimy on day 1 and hardened slime on day 2. After being in the brooder for a while they begin to fuzz out and they're lovely...but it seems to me that everyone else on the board has their chicks fluffed out by the end of day 1 of hatching. I'm leaning more toward humidity. I do live in a state that is rather humid, but not as humid as some other states people live in and hatch eggs in. I just don't know. =/

 

[CelticOaksFarm]

the slim is from improper humidity during incubation. If the eggs are not allowed to loose enough moisture weight the chicks can come out sticky covered in slimy goop. we are in FL, all bators regardless of brand are kept 30% or less during incubation and bumped to 70% at lockdown. It can be done, and requires some work. Also if you have never calibrated your hygrometer you wont know where your humidity is really running at.