March Hatch-A-Long.( How is it gettting here so quick ? LOL )

[sonderah]

Well. Looks like my last 5 eggs aren't going to do anything! Poo!! So set 22, 1 quitter, 21 into lockdown, 1 drowned, 5 idk, and 15 live hatches (including the 1 I helped). Not quite the hatch rate I had in mind. :/ But still a lot better than the last. Live & learn

 

[DiamondDust]

All day long waiting to see someone hatch...so far I have 8 pipped and not one zipped! This is going to make me crazy!

DD

 

[nana74331]

My second batch of eggs that the hens quit sitting on didn't make it. I took 10 of my babies out a couple of days ago, then put them out in the sunshine today. Have 2 little ones that are to small to go out yet. So far the bigger hens are keeping an eye on them. I think I have 3 baby roosters and 9 hens. Found out that my little Chihuahuas are full blood and are really growing. Been busy taking care of all my little ones.

 

[sonderah]

The chick that I had to assist is walking better, but still having toe issues, which is better than the previous leg and feet issues. However! I cannot get it to eat or drink. I'm giving it fluids, but it will not take any food! Tonight I had it out doing "PT" on its feet & it pooped this awful green gooey liquidy stuff with just a touch of solid white in it. Idk if that's normal! :/

 

[Farmer Viola]

The chick that I had to assist is walking better, but still having toe issues, which is better than the previous leg and feet issues. However! I cannot get it to eat or drink. I'm giving it fluids, but it will not take any food! Tonight I had it out doing "PT" on its feet & it pooped this awful green gooey liquidy stuff with just a touch of solid white in it. Idk if that's normal!

The first poo they take after hatch is usually green. so, I'd say that's normal! now that it's passed, she might eat in the next day or so. after absorbing the yolk at hatch, chicks survive on the yolk nutrients for ~3 days before they "need" food.

on the foot, you can fix the toes with a chick sandal (not sure if you have done so already). I have used band-aids to make sandals, or electrical tape. stuck to the foot, with cardboard as the base/sole of the shoe. then I trim it up with baby scissors very close to the toes. it is important that the toes be "set" perfectly straight when you do this, I use tweezers to pull them straight and stick them down. you will need a helper/2nd pair of hands

here is a pic of a sandal I made for a shipped chick. his foot was twisted upside down and crushed, extremely swollen when he arrived - he walked on the ankle like a peg with the foot limp. I think the middle toe was also broken. I re-set it in this cast every day for a week and it healed perfectly healthy! couldn't even tell the difference from a normal foot.


link - poultry podiatry https://sites.google.com/a/larsencreek.com/chicken-orthopedics/leg-braces

 

[sonderah]

Awesome! Thanks for the info.

 

[DiamondDust]

Well I think this hatch is winding down. I have 13 out of the incubator and a couple more eggs that have pipped but I had a couple that quit after pipping so I don't know if these are going to make it. Of the 13 Barnevelder eggs in the brooder now 12 are male! ARGH!! It's been that kind of year. The first hatch was 15, 5 were female. Second hatch was 8, 2 were female, this hatch so far is 13 and only 1 is female!

Well, I will be putting a few more eggs in the hatcher tomorrow and then I think it's a week or more before the next ones go in. Not sure where I'm going to put all the half grown chicks as they grow up. Once they no longer need heat there's no issue but I have 8 still under heat in the hay barn and this new hatch...in a week they need to go out. Well, I'll figure something out, lol.

DD

 

[sonderah]

My little handicap chick started drinking on its own last night!!!!! I got just a little food in it, very little, moistened & fed by hand, but still better than the none. It's been peeping at the top of its lungs all night!! Seems to just be lonely, so I gave in this morning and put my smallest & calmest 3 week old Sizzle chick in there. Now the sizzle is having a fit cause I took it from its buddies. Grrrr. I am concerned about a yolk infection possibility, but its just so pitiful!!

 

[DiamondDust]

I had the strangest thing last night. I had one chick who seemed stuck at pipping but had pipped a really big hole it is egg. I noticed that it seemed to be in distress, gasping, and there seemed to be liquid in the shell with it. I quickly opened the hatcher window and took out this egg to drain out the liquid before it drowned and out spilled what looked like yolk! There was a LOT of it too! The chick was peeping away but seemed weak and the membrane was not bloody at all so I thought I would help him out a little by popping the top of the shell off partway. This poor chick had his insides on the outside! I could see his intestines. I've never seen that before. It would have drowned in its own yolk if I had not assisted but it was going to die anyway, poor little mite. Has anyone else seen that?

DD

 

[Farmer Viola]

I had the strangest thing last night. I had one chick who seemed stuck at pipping but had pipped a really big hole it is egg. I noticed that it seemed to be in distress, gasping, and there seemed to be liquid in the shell with it. I quickly opened the hatcher window and took out this egg to drain out the liquid before it drowned and out spilled what looked like yolk! There was a LOT of it too! The chick was peeping away but seemed weak and the membrane was not bloody at all so I thought I would help him out a little by popping the top of the shell off partway. This poor chick had his insides on the outside! I could see his intestines. I've never seen that before. It would have drowned in its own yolk if I had not assisted but it was going to die anyway, poor little mite. Has anyone else seen that?

DD

oh wow, no, I have only seen that in eggtopsy never a live chick. it sounds like the yolk sack ruptured if you were able to "pour" it out?

My little handicap chick started drinking on its own last night!!!!! I got just a little food in it, very little, moistened & fed by hand, but still better than the none. It's been peeping at the top of its lungs all night!! Seems to just be lonely, so I gave in this morning and put my smallest & calmest 3 week old Sizzle chick in there. Now the sizzle is having a fit cause I took it from its buddies. Grrrr. I am concerned about a yolk infection possibility, but its just so pitiful!!

awww! good idea with the sizzle friend.. some people also use a mirror in the brooder with lone chicks.
on the peeping all night - do you have a small stuffed animal you could give her? she wants to get "under" something, like another chick, or her mama. they like the feeling of the stuffed animal pressing down on them, they'll get all snuggly and quiet under there