Thanks Mary. I've helped chicks before, but never force hatched chicks who hadn't even pipped yet. This one had internally pipped but was shrink-wrapped tight. The other one had a rough first couple of days, & was splay legged too. She's got her rubber band off now though and is doing great
That makes me a little mad. The way I "decorate" the box, if it was a little crushed you have to wonder if it was deliberate. Glad they all made it intact. (Did you candle? How were the air cells?)
Sorry your post was overlooked. You could have asked again?
You know what? Since the weather is too nice & lovely (sarcasm) to spend any time outside, I've been reasearching split wing this morning. Again. Because this was a major issue that cropped up in Silkies on BYC & the Facebook lists I'm on just a few weeks ago, and I paid attention.
Cowgirlgrace, your question about split wing was discussed on this thread, in detail, for several pages, in August 2011.
I'm going to copy/paste perhaps the best post here:
Well, I spent a good chunk of the day yesterday researching slit wing.
And some of it makes me more confused.
Most all on BYC is about silkies. Hattricksilkies has a good website that talks about it, but the photos are of silkie wings - and they just look nothing like my birds wings.
Most recommend not to cull early, as molting birds can appear to have split wing. What is a good age then to judge this for culling? I know large fowl take 18 to 24 months before they are fully grown. How long for our bantams?
It is recessive, so both parents have to carry at least one gene for it (so a parent can have a split wing gene and not show it), so what I read was to cull the offspring AND parents who might be carry it. Plus birds can have one wing split or both.
I do not think my birds have it.
My wings look like this - with the natural break between primary and secondary feathers and the shorter axial feather:
Not like this - taken from a Marans site that was translated to english:
http://www.marans.eu/genetiqa.htm
Nor like this drawing:
And also:
I am gonna hop in here on this discussion, as this is something I was working on in my Mille's.. (thanks CGG, for pointing me over here!)
let me first point out that I don't have the Mille's anymore -- boohoo-- BUT it is also something I have to watch for in my White's, and am pretty familiar with. The top picture is what i would call a 'weak wing', it isn't really split, but it isn't like the wing in the lower picture either. (I talked at length about this with a judge, as one of my very good white pullets has this type of wing, she is GORGEOUS in every other way except for that dratted weak wing) It's not a DQ, but is definitely a fault .. BUT you can put your hen (or rooster) with a mate that has a nice strong wing and you would probably be ok. It's like in my whites, some of my breeders have a bit of a lighter eye than I am looking for, if they have other very good qualities i am looking for--wide head, nice cushion, feet color etc.. then I make sure their mate has nice dark eyes. Does that make sense?? when your breeders have faults (and most do!) you just have to be careful to put them with a mate that has the opposite of their fault.... And make sure not to breed brother/sister otherwise that locks in the faults. I hope not having been following along on the discussion I haven't jumped in with bad timing ('cause I am super good at that! lol!) and that I am not already telling you stuff you know! Also.. this has been my approach because I have to work with what I have, and don't have a lot of room to keep a lot of breeding pens... For the young hen in the upper picture, I would hang onto her, especially if she has other qualities that you are breeding for, just make sure her roo has excellent excellent wings. Sometimes as they are growing and molting (and first molt happens at about 18 mos), the wings go through some weird feathering.
Now I, too, went out, again, in my barns and spread a lot of wings. Cochins and Silkies. I found some weak wings - I knew they were there. There are a couple of cockerels I'm going to be keeping my eye on, but I'm not ready to cull them just yet! If they are indeed split at maturity then they will be culled. Right now they look like weak wings.
You know, like Dave said and Karen reiterated, good breeding means good management. Right now in MFs I have 4 different bloodlines, and there are a couple of other breeders who I am hoping to get birds from in the Spring. Some of my birds have weak wings and some of them have excellent wings. Obviously if a bird has weak wings it needs to have some other redeeming, desirable trait or there isn't any reason to keep it. It's a balancing act.
(edited to redo bold font)
I am sure this will be helpful to many.
