I hear you, and that makes sense. It's fun to look at though. Lots of guess work!
These chicks are from a Falb Fee line that is said to hatch 70% true, and from a Scarlet/Range line that can still hatch out Scarlett, Red Range, Range Tuxedo, Scarlett Tuxedo, Egyptian and White.
This is my first ever hatching and it was um, eventful. I ordered the 12 falb fee and 12 scarlet/range eggs, perfectly timed for the start of an unexpected, unprecedented Arctic freeze down in my part of the country.
The breeder recommended Canada Post and I opted for the most expensive, quickest option. You know, nothing but the best for my future line
When the eggs arrived, the box had a white paper "Live Eggs" taped to it. On the back of this paper, kind of hidden, were notes from various Canada Post staff along the way. These notes essentially disclosed that CP elected to send the eggs over freezing high mountain passes by truck rather than flying, and that the temperature in the trailer that housed the eggs was -10C (14F). And one person closed with , "If these are live eggs, they dead now."
I wasn't really sure if I should bother incubating after reading these messages. The breeder said, you will never know until you try. I tried.
I candled the eggs before incubating and that revealed nothing. I guess I won't candle eggs before incubation ever again lol. Two of the 24 eggs had tiny little potential cracks. I put all the eggs in the incubator anyway.
For unknown reasons, I candled on Day 9 and 22/24 were developing! I removed the two that weren't.
Unfortunately, more adventures were in store for these poor eggs.
On day 10, we had a power outage for about an hour and a half. All I could do was fill up a hot water bottle, place it beside the incubator, and bury it all with more blankets and jackets. By this time, the outdoor temperature was even colder than before, and on its way down to -31C (-24F).
On day 11, more fun - my two hygrometers in the incubator (yes two) started disagreeing with each other. One (or both?) were failing, and I just wasn't sure which one. They were suddenly 2 degrees C (4 F) apart.What should I do? Choose one and hope that I'm lucky, or split the difference and hope for the best? Ugh@!
I kind of trusted one unit slightly more than the other, so I split the difference with a little bias toward the one if that makes sense.
I really wasn't sure if they were cooking.
Well, in any case, just for a bit more stress, I then mistakenly put the eggs in lock down early - on day 13! Duh!@
Fast forward to...
Day 16. My first egg hatches! Yes!!! Oh no.... the poor chick couldn't walk! It's little head was twitching as it dragged itself around the incubator, twisting and falling, over and over, and over, for hours. It was so sad to see. My very first poulty hatch-ling!
12 hours later, six more eggs began hatching. So the result of 7/24 may be something, considering the challenges, and the other six seem normal (to me).
I did a lot of research on the first chick's issues. I learned about stargazing and wry neck. Apparently, stargazing presents as a head pointing up, and wry neck presents as a head pointing down. This chick definitely had its head pointing down, so it may have wry neck. It's feet and legs appear normal. It just struggles to use them.
The much more experienced quail people in the web-verse have some differing opinions on what to do, but generally (maybe) it seems that stargazing is a vitamin b1 deficiency, and that wry neck is a vitamin E deficiency.
NutriDense was recommended by many but is not available in my area, so I opted for one available poultry vitamin boost that included b1, E, and selenium. I tried the eye dropper feeding method at first, but then just put the super concentrated vitamin-electrolyte mix in to the brooder water.
The twitching of its head stopped fairly quickly while still in the incubator, but in the brooder, it continued to drag itself around on its belly, front stroke. It really looked exactly like a baby turtle on the beach, fumbling to the water.
Two days after introducing the vitamin water, the chick was walking. Well, I say "walking." Standing and moving on its feet. I don't know how much of a role the vitamin water played, but I'm pleased that the chick is improving.
On the positive side, when placed in the brooder, this chick immediately found the water and food without any difficulty (swimming around on its belly), and continues to have a great appetite just like the others. It fits in with the rest 100%, but it has a funny walk and a low profile (doesn't seem able to stand up tall at times like the others).
I also tried to use the dropper to feed the chick a blended mixture of organic chicken egg yolk and a bit of kelp. Just once, but that possibly could helped as well.
Sorry, I didn't intend to write a novel here haha. It's just very interesting to me!
I candled the eggs before incubating and that revealed nothing. I guess I won't candle eggs before incubation ever again lol.
Yes, do candle before setting the eggs. You will be able to determine if they have invisible cracks, not seen until candling, whether the eggs got scrambled during shipping, or if they have detached membrane.
