Intervention: Helping Your Chicks Hatch

[scramble15]

Hi
Thanks so much for your advice and support I was really worried but, the weaker one is still alive and scrabbling around in the brooder with the third egg and its 9am here, so it made it through the night!!

The other one...Benedict afer my daughters favourite Cumberbatch!!... is in the brooder cheeping away and jumping all over the place.

Thank you

 

[RooRidgeFarm]

Hi
Thanks so much for your advice and support I was really worried but, the weaker one is still alive and scrabbling around in the brooder with the third egg and its 9am here, so it made it through the night!!

The other one...Benedict afer my daughters favourite Cumberbatch!!... is in the brooder cheeping away and jumping all over the place.

Thank you

You're very welcome! Sometimes it is a tough decision when or if to help. You did a great job and your little duckling is making a full recovery and soon you won't even be able to tell that he had a harder time than the others getting out

 

[maryjrain]

Helped a chick out who hatched backwards today!!! Breach! Came out with yolk on it's head, feet in the air sac. Here's a pic of the intact air sac!

 

[scramble15]

That's impressive, well done to you and the chick

 

[scramble15]

Thanks again

I have now put duckling number 2 into the brooder ( was 36 hours in the uncubator but seems to have a bad leg? I had the grippy mat in the incubator for their feet but could it be spraddle leg?) with the first one who is being much more friendly now.

I had to help the third one aswell as it had been overnight stuck in the shell and getting weaker again...he had dried shell stuck to his feathers which he couldnt have got off and I had to break it off carefully. This had been very stressful indeed but worth it, I have my fingers crossed for all three.

I will have to make sure the humidity is much higher some how for my next hatch

The 2 in the brooder arent eating or drinking though yet..have dipped their beaks into the water and picked up some food with my fingers but they arent bothered..what should I do?
So sorry for all the questions and thank you

 

[HaplessRunner]

Thanks again

I have now put duckling number 2 into the brooder ( was 36 hours in the uncubator but seems to have a bad leg? I had the grippy mat in the incubator for their feet but could it be spraddle leg?) with the first one who is being much more friendly now.

I had to help the third one aswell as it had been overnight stuck in the shell and getting weaker again...he had dried shell stuck to his feathers which he couldnt have got off and I had to break it off carefully. This had been very stressful indeed but worth it, I have my fingers crossed for all three.

I will have to make sure the humidity is much higher some how for my next hatch

The 2 in the brooder arent eating or drinking though yet..have dipped their beaks into the water and picked up some food with my fingers but they arent bothered..what should I do?
So sorry for all the questions and thank you

I have had chicks that I helped out of the shell have bits of shell and membrane attached to their backs and heads after hatching. Once they are a little bit stronger, I give them a very warm water bath. This removes the adhered debris and cleans them up a bit. After their bath, they are returned to the warm environment of the incubator to dry out. They seem to do well with this and the bath gets rid of the junk that other chicks will peck.

 

[RooRidgeFarm]

Thanks again

I have now put duckling number 2 into the brooder ( was 36 hours in the uncubator but seems to have a bad leg? I had the grippy mat in the incubator for their feet but could it be spraddle leg?) with the first one who is being much more friendly now.

I had to help the third one aswell as it had been overnight stuck in the shell and getting weaker again...he had dried shell stuck to his feathers which he couldnt have got off and I had to break it off carefully. This had been very stressful indeed but worth it, I have my fingers crossed for all three.

I will have to make sure the humidity is much higher some how for my next hatch

The 2 in the brooder arent eating or drinking though yet..have dipped their beaks into the water and picked up some food with my fingers but they arent bothered..what should I do?
So sorry for all the questions and thank you

Ok, as far as spraddle leg...if it does have spraddle, you can make some homemade items to draw the legs together and give support until it gets stronger. I have used the band-aide method before with success. Just google spraddle leg duckling and you should get plenty of ideas for helping. And nutrition is the key. Get some Polyvisol (baby vitamins without iron) and you can drip those into the mouth (once again, google how much a duckling should get). Here is an excellent link for step by step help of spraddle leg:

http://www.2ndchance.info/spraddle.htm


Now, as far as them not eating...here is an almost sure fire way of getting nutrients in them when they are too weak or uninterested in eating: You can make a mixture either of 2 ways... take a couple eggs (if you have available duck eggs, that would be perfect for them) and HARD BOIL the eggs. Use the YOLKS only and mix them in a small bowl with some milk. You want the mixture to be a bit firmer than baby jar food vegetables-not too runny, not too thick. You will take this mixture, make sure it is WARM, not hot, and use a small syringe or medicine dropper and administer it orally to the ducklings. You can do this several times a day. You want them to get nutrients in order to gain strength without drowning them in it and without overfeeding-start with a smaller amount until you can tell how much of this they can take at a time. If they seem to take to it well, you can feed them this way about every three to four hours until they gain their own interest in food. The second way to make a mash for them is to use raw egg YOLK uncooked, and add a little bit of chick feed to it until it is smooth and soft then warm it. I personally have saved MANY chicks and chickens using this method (I use hard boiled egg mix)! I had one that had gotten coccidiosis, was on its back and I thought it was completely dead. I used the boiled egg mixture for a week until it could completely recover. That girl is alive today and healthy.

Just a note: If you want to, and it always helps...you can add a little bit of the polyvisol vitamins (or a good poultry drench/vitamin) to the egg mixture. Adding it straight to the mixture helps you handle the delicate birds less-thereby less stress on them. You can also (highly recommended) add a good probios powder or unflavored yogurt to your egg mix.

I am hoping they get better and more interested in food soon!

 

[scramble15]

Thank you again, Ive sent you an email and the good news is they are both eating and drinking now, I showed them what to do and where it was so that's a relief.
The spraddle legged one, which Im assuming it is although it had the correct flooring in the incubator so could it be something else? I will google and check.
Thank you for the link too, I will let you know how it all goes and again thank you so much

 

[scramble15]

Thanks very much, a warm bath would be a great idea

 

[lisaterrell88]

I just wanted to say thanks to all of yall for helping me save the lives of these little babies if it wasnt for all the useful information on here I wouldnt have know when to help these babies out so they could live and enjoy life. Once again thank yall and I am very bleased to have found such a useful app. I want yall to see a picture of the seven lives that got saved thanks to all the usefull advice.