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

[Mimi13]

A little after lunch today I did an eggtopsy on both my quitters, a 7 day and an 18 day.

At least I now know why the chick didn’t hatch. For whatever reason, the chick was incorrectly positioned and its head was too low in the shell. It could not have pipped in the air sac. I feel bad and wish I could have done something, but I didn’t know. It had absorbed all the blood and the yolk and it was ready. It was also a very pretty chick.

Here are a few interesting pictures showing how it was positioned.

I chipped the shell away that was within the air sac line. Chick still within the inner membrane.

I peeled the inner membrane away exposing the chick. The lower left shows a leg.

I picked the shell off exposing the outer membrane that was below the air sac.

Peeled the membranes on down.

The chick is completely free of shell and membrane, but still compact and in the shape of the egg. You can see both feet.

I rolled the chick over showing its head and beak.

Rolled it over a bit more. You can see its head and beak tucked under its right wing, just like it was supposed to be.

Just another shot.

Pretty colors. I only had one egg from my Buckeye and this was it.

Yep, I had to dry it to see what it would have looked like.

 

[Mimi13]

My husband is fed and out the door, the dogs have been out, and now I’m sitting in here with hot coffee, the inside chicks, and BYC.

It’s 21* outside. Our coldest yet. I’ll bet my little outside chicks are snuggled tightly under momma. I’ve got about 10 more minutes inside before I go out to slop the chickens.

I haven’t posted a picture of my outside babies in a while. I keep forgetting to. This one is from Sunday. It was cold and blustery yesterday too. Zoom in to see them sitting on the run threshold. They are so cute and are for real baby chicks in the big chicken world.

 

[aart]

Lots of great pics!
Kudos on the eggtopsy...always stinks to have a fully formed chick unable to pip.
Glad they have more room, that plate was too tight in that tote!
-15°F here this morning.

 

[Mimi13]

Lots of great pics!
Kudos on the eggtopsy...always stinks to have a fully formed chick unable to pip.
Glad they have more room, that plate was too tight in that tote!
-15°F here this morning.

Oh, I know. The poor babies were beginning to want to run and play and they couldn’t. Everybody finally got completely moved out of my house yesterday and I didn’t waste a minute getting the chicks set up in one of the vacated bedrooms. Woo Hoo! And the chicks are ecstatic! The only drawback is the ambient temp in the bedroom is not as toasty as it was in the bathroom. I kept the bathroom door shut and with both the heat plate and the incubator going the temp was around 73*. The chicks are staying under the heat plate for the most part so far. With the little bit cooler temps they should start feathering our quicker. (And I’ve gotta make pics of their baby bodies before they do!)

I felt so bad for the unhatched chick. It looked like it was ready to hatch. From the pictures, did it look to you as though its head/beak was a little too far down?

I don’t envy y’all and your cold weather. We will get just a bit of really cold weather (just enough to have heated waters for all the animals), but thankfully it doesn’t last long. Believe it or not, this morning was the very first time the chicken poop was frozen and stuck to the poop board. I lived in Alaska and Massachusetts when I was a kid (Army brat), but as a kid I had no responsibilities. IMO, it’s those responsibilities that make cold weather so bad.

 

[aart]

Don't worry about the ambient temp in spare room....
....better that it's cooler, and I'll bet it's not that cold(got a number?).

Some chicks can't turn to pip, looks like what happened there,
or it died before it could turn, hard to say.
Have had more than a few.

Not enjoying it being this cold and damn glad it will soon pass....
....and the sun is out which is soul warming if not really physically warming.

 

[Mimi13]

Don't worry about the ambient temp in spare room....
....better that it's cooler, and I'll bet it's not that cold(got a number?).

Some chicks can't turn to pip, looks like what happened there,
or it died before it could turn, hard to say.
Have had more than a few.

Not enjoying it being this cold and damn glad it will soon pass....
....and the sun is out which is soul warming if not really physically warming.

This morning when I got up it was 63 in here. I’ve been in here taking wall paper down and wanted a bit of heat, so I got one of the small heaters. Down on the chick level it’s 65.2. Up on my level it’s 66.9. (I snagged the extra thermometer I purchased for the bator and dropped it down on their level.)

 

[aart]

This morning when I got up it was 63 in here. I’ve been in here taking wall paper down and wanted a bit of heat, so I got one of the small heaters. Down on the chick level it’s 65.2. Up on my level it’s 66.9. (I snagged the extra thermometer I purchased for the bator and dropped it down on their level.)

That temp should be fine for them......but I hope you're not using any chemicals to remove the paper, their delicate respiratory systems are pretty sensitive to fumes.

 

[Mimi13]

That temp should be fine for them......but I hope you're not using any chemicals to remove the paper, their delicate respiratory systems are pretty sensitive to fumes.

I’m sorry. I just saw this.

Luckily, the wall paper was just a border strip around the middle of the wall and came off like a charm with water misted on it. I was lucky with this one.

 

[Mimi13]

My inside chicks are enjoying the indoors for a few more days. I plan on putting them in the coop this weekend once these frigid temps have passed. They will have a good week of decent weather to get accustomed to the cooler weather.

Until then they’ll continue being “kept” chicks, in a bedroom of their own.

They use their little mini roost on occasion for little cat naps.

They love to gather in the sunshine and will follow it as it moves in the shavings.

The little goons began dust bathing on the carpet when I let them out. (Thankfully no dirt came up.)

So, I went to the chicken run and scooped up some dirt, shavings, leaves and who knows what else. I sifted it down to the fine stuff, mixed in a little sand from the coop and put it in a planter bottom. Good stuff I thought.

The little turkeys just looked at it. They said, “Thanks, but no big bird pathogens for us!” It took them a couple of days and finally they tried it and liked it.

 

[aart]

Was going to suggest putting dust bath....but in the pen, not on the carpet