I have a baby that can't sit upright! (pics)

[dianneS]

I have an EE chick that just hatched a few hours ago. She's almost dry and still in the bator. The poor thing has been on her back for hours! She can't seem to sit upright so I did reach in and sat her up. She just falls over again! Its almost like her head is too big for her body and she can't hold it up! She's just on her back all the time! What should I do??

 

[Kittymomma]

Hopefully someone with more hatching experience will chime in soon, but for now....I'd advice sitting on your hands and letting her be. You don't want to be opening and closing the bator while other chicks are still trying/getting ready to hatch. It will mess up the humidity and temp. and could jepordize the rest of your potential chicks. Often times these little glitches work themselves out anyhow so as hard as it is, just leave it be until the hatch is done. If it hasn't resolved itself by then you can post back here with some pictures and I'm sure someone will be able to tell you what is going on with your little one. Happy hatching!!

 

[dianneS]

She hatched this morning at 9 am and its now 2 in the afternoon and she's still on her back!

I'm going to have to take some of the other chicks out soon anyway, should I take this one out too and put her in the brooder? She's completely dry now.

 

[Kittymomma]

Why are you taking them out? I think it's reccomended to just leave them all be until the hatch is done so you don't cause problems for the still unhatched chicks. The chicks don't need any food/water for a few days because they're living off of the yolk reserves. If you're going to open the bator anyhow to take the others out I'd probably grab the one on it's back too, but I think it would be better to just leave them all alone until the hatch is done.

 

[dianneS]

Quote:
The rest hatched yesterday and the day before. I'm thinking that the other eggs in there may not hatch anyway. I've tried to hatch eggs from this one particular hen before and only got one chick from her eggs. She's really old, could that have something to do with her lousy hatch rate?

 

[Kittymomma]

Ok, that makes more sense. I wouldn't be surprised, just like us the viability decreases with age. Can you post a picture of the chick?

 

[Partyfowl]

I not a export AT ALL. But Ive hatch a good share of chicks. IF, IF the chicks is already out of the bator, I would add some antibiotics to its H2O. If your hatch is that spread out you could have humidity problems. It might have " squishy chick" I've had this. I hate the idea of antibiotics, but with newborns you need to give it a fighting chance, it can only help, if its going to die, at least you tried.

That is what I would do anyway! Hope that helped!

 

[luvzmychickens]

I'v never hatched chicks before, but mabey the one that is on its back was hatched like that because the momma chicken is old.

 

[dianneS]

Quote:
This one didn't come from an egg laid by the old hen.

 

[dianneS]

Here is a pic of her. She seems healthy otherwise. I'm thinking that it was her position inside the egg. She pipped the shell more than 24 hours before hatching and it seemed to take forever for her to zip and hatch. Her head is cocked to one side, like she had been in that position too long and now her neck is a little crooked

She did manage to get herself upright for a little while, but then those little OEGB chicks in the bator with her start harassing her and she falls over again!

Her feet are a little curled when she does get upright. I've had this with chicks that I've had to help out of the shell, and it usually straightens itself out pretty quickly. I'm thinking her sitting up issue may be the same. I think if I just let her keep working at it, she'll build up those muscles and get that neck straightened out too!
The more she struggles to get up, the stronger she gets, but then she has to stop and rest for a while.