My Chicks!! Happy and Healthy! Update!

[earthnut]

My chicks hatched on Wed!!! Too bad I had to work I have two white leghorns (hope at least one is a hen

) in a LG bator.

They were cramming themselves into one corner of the bator and cheeping quite a lot. Mostly just little peeps, but sometimes some loud cheeps! The humidity was 75% and the temperature was 96'F. Both vents were closed. One looked very healthy and was almost dry. The other was about half dry, was pasty, and walked funny. I opened the vents and they got quiet.

Both of the chicks are dry now, but one of the chicks has feathers that are glued together, so that they lay flat on the chick's body. Evidently it's just fluffing out slowly. OK, I'll be patient.

It is getting fluffier...

According to my attempt at sexing them, the fluffy one is a male (

) and the sticky one is a female (

). See

at 3:20 for how to sex day-old chicks. Note to self: don't get attached to Mr. Fluffy...

Little Missy had some dark green globs of pasty stuff stuck to her side and back. Mean Mr. Fluffy is pecking at the gobs on Pitiful Little Missy, making Missy quite anxious and high-strung. I removed one near her leg which I was afraid might impair her walking. She seems unsteady on her feet. I cut half of it with scissors, and dissolved the rest with water. I also dissolved the one on her back (the one labeled "more gobs"), it turned out to be pasty butt after all.

So poor little Missy was born small and pale, has stickiness, pasty butt, bloody navel, and unsteadiness. The male is totally healthy. Why did the female have to have all the problems?

At least she's acting pretty healthy.

blood spots:

original gobs:

Here's some pics!
Brooder:

Little Missy getting some alone time in the heat pad away from her big brother bully:

Mr. Fluffy:

 

[LUVMYCHICKS]

IDK, but mine has had a bloody navel. I left in alone and it healed. It's crazy how some hatch out perfect and some are a little slow. Yeah, and mine has had the "sticky" stuff" on in. I got a little off, but then left it alone and by a week..all gone. You are doing great, MOMMY!

 

[earthnut]

Thanks! My first babies of any species - it's nerve-wracking!

I'm going to leave them alone for a while while I go to work - I hope Mr. Fluffy doesn't pick on her too much while I'm gone. I think I've done all I can for now. She's unsteady, but starting to preen herself, so the eggy bits are slowly disappearing.

 

[earthnut]

The little female is doing very well. She's pretty much all fluffed out, and starting to grow wing feathers (actually more developed than her brother). She's definitely smaller and paler than the male, but is very active and chipper. She's going to town scratching up the brooder bedding! She's going to be an excellent forager, I'm sure. The male just follows her around and gets into whatever she scratched up.

The male is pretty silent, but the female makes little peeps constantly, is that normal? They don't seem distressed, so I'm not worried about it, but there's such a contrast between the two!

They're so sweet - when I answer their chirps, they immediately get quiet and calm. They don't like me picking them up, but once they're held close, they fall right to sleep. The female will even burrow into me.

2 days old (female, male):

4 days old (female, male):

 

[chickenranchwife]

They are cute, and look good. Sorry that you had problems with her to begin with, but she looks like she's come outta it pretty good.

 

[LUVMYCHICKS]

Cute