I’m not Mother Nature, but..... My journey hatching broody and bator chicks

[Mimi13]

P.S. -- A chick is not dead until it is "warm and dead". When they get cold, they slow their own heartrate, and can sometimes be slowly warmed with our hands or body heat, and surprisingly snap out of what seems like death. I've had it happen several times.

Well this is definitely good to know. And I really think I was only minutes too late.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Chick Alert and Update

Good news and bad news this morning.

Bad news first -
I went up to the coop way before sunrise, but I wasn’t quite early enough. One of the chicks had gotten over the side of the box and of course couldn’t get back. Totally my rookie fault and it definitely could have been avoided. In my estimation the chick hadn’t been out long, but 20-30 minutes was too long for his little body to withstand the cold temps. (Probably why it’s best not to do this in the winter, you reckon?) The temps got down into the mid 20’s last night, but it was in the mid 30’s in the coop. Still, way too cold for a chick.


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For future reference, it is sometimes possible to bring a seemingly dead chick back to life. I've done it more than once.
Last winter I had a bunch of 6-10 week old chicks in a coop that foraged during the day.
I had 2 more chicks inside that were 3 and 5 weeks. I put those two in the coop at night so they could huddle with the olders for warmth. I opened the coop and left home to run errands. I expected them all to come out together. That was my mistake. It was in the 20s F.
When I got home, the 5 week old was still in the coop. I found the youngest chick partially buried in bedding. It was lifeless and starting to stiffen up. I brought it in the house and put a hair dryer on it on low heat. About 15 minutes later I nudged it a little and one of the legs contracted slightly. I thought that it was just a nerve reaction as the chick had no signs of life. About 20 minutes later there was some movement. 2 hours later it was standing up. Another 2 hours and it was perfectly normal. I brought its older buddy into the house to be with it and waited till the weather stabilized a bit before putting them back outside again.

 

[Mimi13]

For future reference, it is sometimes possible to bring a seemingly dead chick back to life. I've done it more than once.
Last winter I had a bunch of 6-10 week old chicks in a coop that foraged during the day.
I had 2 more chicks inside that were 3 and 5 weeks. I put those two in the coop at night so they could huddle with the olders for warmth. I opened the coop and left home to run errands. I expected them all to come out together. That was my mistake. It was in the 20s F.
When I got home, the 5 week old was still in the coop. I found the youngest chick partially buried in bedding. It was lifeless and starting to stiffen up. I brought it in the house and put a hair dryer on it on low heat. About 15 minutes later I nudged it a little and one of the legs contracted slightly. I thought that it was just a nerve reaction as the chick had no signs of life. About 20 minutes later there was some movement. 2 hours later it was standing up. Another 2 hours and it was perfectly normal. I brought its older buddy into the house to be with it and waited till the weather stabilized a bit before putting them back outside again.

You know, if I had known that it is a possibility to “bring them back” I believe that would have been a great possibility this morning. But, unfortunately, when I saw it laying there I just picked it up and layed it to the side while I feverishly tried to get the crate fixed so this didn’t happen to another little one. When I picked it up it was still very limber and maybe a tad bit warm, but it definitely wasn’t cold. I could just kick myself now. But I will know from here on out. I just hate the thought that a little one didn’t make it because of my negligence. Dang it.

I thank you and @WVduckchick for sharing this info. I’m sure I will have more instances in the future where I can put this to use.

 

[aart]

Hard lessons.
Congrats on the remaining chicks!

 

[Mimi13]

Hard lessons.
Congrats on the remaining chicks!

You ain’t lying. Unfortunately I’ll probably have even more when the bator chicks start hatching next week.

And I was wrong about their ETA. The bator eggs are only one week behind the broody, not two. I don’t know where I stated they were two wks behind, but I was wrong.

I am going to assume (yep, I can do that cause I am an a$$) that I will have more problems with the bator eggs simply because everything about them is human controlled. Oh boy, do I ever dread it. I will candle them tonight. It’s their Day 14, whatever that means. Boy were you correct when you said it’s not that exact. Fo real!

 

[aart]

21 days is about what they take but give or take a day or two is common.
Even more so with an incubator but even with a broody.

 

[Mimi13]

21 days is about what they take but give or take a day or two is common.
Even more so with an incubator but even with a broody.

I’d better suit up and be ready for these little bator birds. They’re not gonna sneak up on me like the broody’s did! WTH!

 

[aart]

I once had a 'wrong end' pip when I was moving eggs out of turner for lockdown on 'day 18'. Egg was stuck to turner, had to take turner apart to get that egg off with a combo of 'soaking' and picking. It hatched just fine tho, ended up being my persistent broody.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

You know, if I had known that it is a possibility to “bring them back” I believe that would have been a great possibility this morning. But, unfortunately, when I saw it laying there I just picked it up and layed it to the side while I feverishly tried to get the crate fixed so this didn’t happen to another little one. When I picked it up it was still very limber and maybe a tad bit warm, but it definitely wasn’t cold. I could just kick myself now. But I will know from here on out. I just hate the thought that a little one didn’t make it because of my negligence. Dang it.

I thank you and @WVduckchick for sharing this info. I’m sure I will have more instances in the future where I can put this to use.

Definitely don't kick yourself. I was 90% sure it was gone. I thought I had nothing to lose trying to warm it up.

My story was just a heads up for future reference.

I revived a whole batch of chicks that had gotten lost in the mail the same way. Perhaps I'll tell the whole story some time.
I was over lucky.

 

[Mimi13]

I once had a 'wrong end' pip when I was moving eggs out of turner for lockdown on 'day 18'. Egg was stuck to turner, had to take turner apart to get that egg off with a combo of 'soaking' and picking. It hatched just fine tho, ended up being my persistent broody.
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Oh my stars and garters. Who even would have thought that would/could happen. I am amazed that everything turned out just fine.