Not an injury; 'Tag' on chick's jaw.

[Granny Hatchet]

 

[Zinjifrah]

Added a photo to that post!

 

[Granny Hatchet]

suits me !

 

[WVduckchick]

The chick is #8 to hatch out of 8, from egg #9 of the original 12 set.
View attachment 1446859 View attachment 1446860
An unusually long egg.
At setting, the egg weighed 54 grams.
On day 11, the egg weighed 48 grams.
On day 18, the egg weighed 42 grams.
Egg hatched on day 21.
On removal to the Brooder, the chick weighed 33 grams.

The tag is 1/8th of an inch in length as of 6/27/18, hatch day.

View attachment 1446900

Currently it is easily manipulated in any direction from the base, but is firm enough that it does not bend.

That enough measurements?

I got 2 little fairy eggs from my silkied serama pen last week. Small pebble sized, no yolk. Then the other day I got a very long egg like that, I know these girls are just starting to lay again since brooding babies, I suspected the one that laid the 2 fairy eggs laid the long one, getting her system back in order.

 

[WVduckchick]

I would also leave the tag, just for curiosity of how it develops, as long as it doesn’t appear to cause any problems.

 

[Granny Hatchet]

They (the powers that be) recommend when hatching eggs pick ones that are to standard for the breed. Incubating this elongated egg may be some of the reasoning behind those suggestions.

 

[Zinjifrah]

They (the powers that be) recommend when hatching eggs pick ones that are to standard for the breed. Incubating this elongated egg may be some of the reasoning behind those suggestions.

Yep, that's why I wanted to be sure to mention the odd shape - these are from a dozen fertile eggs I bought from a local person who sells eating eggs. I've had such terrible luck hatching the shipped Serama eggs that I ordered - so far, seven chicks out of fourty eggs, and my luck: six of those seven are boys - that I wanted to try some local eggs and see just how much of that was the shipping. With 100% fertility, and only a 66% hatch rate, I've determined that I need to work on my incubation process more before I try another batch of eggs. Since they weren't from my own chickens, I incubated what was delivered to me. In all honesty, I was surprised that #8's egg hatched at all. One of the four to fail was a third egg that was also very visually similar to the #8, failed in the first few days of incubation. The other three were the largest eggs I set - 69 grams, failed in the first few days, with bacteria; 69 grams, failed around day ten; and 68 grams, failed in the last few days, correctly positioned but with no internal pip or yolk absorption.

One chick, #3 to hatch, was from a 67 gram egg and pipped at the wrong end. I did assist it, when it made no progress, and it produced a healthy chick. The rest all pipped properly. You can see the full tally here:

Local Egg Experiment

 

[FlyingNunFarm]

The only thing I would keep an eye on is how others react to the tag. It may not bother the chick or hinder it's ability to eat but getting pecked in the face all the time cause your siblings think you have some treat they missed out on would be rather annoying.

 

[Zinjifrah]

The only thing I would keep an eye on is how others react to the tag. It may not bother the chick or hinder it's ability to eat but getting pecked in the face all the time cause your siblings think you have some treat they missed out on would be rather annoying.

I was actually concerned about that! However, with the fluff dried and puffed out, unless you tip its head back and look you can't even see it there, so it should be safe from the other chicks - for now, at least. I'll be keeping an eye on it.

 

[Zinjifrah]

Poor #8 chick is not appreciating all the special attention. Whenever I open the brooder, it looks up and hunkers down behind someone else. However, both it and its probable 'sibling', #5, are walking much, much better; the other one seemed to have trouble grasping the concept of drinking, but would aggressively attack a q-tip soaked in vitamin-laced water. It's now drinking on its own, after adding a wider water dish that it can lean on as it drinks.

I was able to open #8's beak and get a good look down into its mouth and throat just a few minutes ago. Unfortunately, I was not able to take any pictures - one hand holding a squirming chick, the other holding the tweezers to keep its beak open, no hands for a camera! However, everything looked entirely normal inside, with no protrusions into the mouth or throat, a normal tongue, and a healthy looking throat. The inside of the beak shows no irregularities.

There's no visible change in the 'tag'. I anticipate keeping an eye on it, and updating with more photos after a few days. Currently, as strange as it is, it looks like it's just a cosmetic defect.