Tuesday I helped a chick hatch out after nearly a day and a half being pipped on the wrong end. She came out healthy and fabulous, and is thriving with her adopted mommy and hatch mate. I was checking them for pasty butt yesterday evening and realized the chick only had one eye. By one eye, I mean its eyelids are sealed shut and sunk into it's face. The little gal looks like her eye never formed, and the only time it's noticable is when it turns it's head to look and see where Mom is.
I promise I will get pictures up of it ASAP. I guess he was born to be different. This chick hatched from the same parents who, last hatch, had only one make it to full development and hatch out. That chick never fully absorbed the yolk and at two weeks was put out of it's misery when the yolk turned into bad pasty butt and the chick went septic and lost it's will to live.
I'm hoping that these wierd traits are linked to the parents missing malnutrition for so long [I rescued them] and I've just been hatching her eggs to test and see if it does. So far, my theory has proved correct. Out of 20 set eggs with this hen, only two have hatched and both of those two had something wrong with them. They also both pipped at the wrong end and needed help out. The others: 5 pipped internally but never made it out due to not being able to breath, horrible air cells, and the rest died at various times during incubation.
I am going to set one more batch [of four] under my spangled hen if her threats to go broody come true and see how it goes.
Has anyone else ever tested this? The parents health affecting the growth of the egg and the chicks developments? If this next hatch goes badly [it will be eight weeks since I got her when I set them] then I know the genetics are just wrong. But the people I got her from had several successful hatches out of this hen, with two or three chicks at a time, so I don't know why Pricilla's eggs are suddenly not hatching. Or maybe this was false information? I don't know. We'll see!
I promise I will get pictures up of it ASAP. I guess he was born to be different. This chick hatched from the same parents who, last hatch, had only one make it to full development and hatch out. That chick never fully absorbed the yolk and at two weeks was put out of it's misery when the yolk turned into bad pasty butt and the chick went septic and lost it's will to live.
I'm hoping that these wierd traits are linked to the parents missing malnutrition for so long [I rescued them] and I've just been hatching her eggs to test and see if it does. So far, my theory has proved correct. Out of 20 set eggs with this hen, only two have hatched and both of those two had something wrong with them. They also both pipped at the wrong end and needed help out. The others: 5 pipped internally but never made it out due to not being able to breath, horrible air cells, and the rest died at various times during incubation.
I am going to set one more batch [of four] under my spangled hen if her threats to go broody come true and see how it goes.
Has anyone else ever tested this? The parents health affecting the growth of the egg and the chicks developments? If this next hatch goes badly [it will be eight weeks since I got her when I set them] then I know the genetics are just wrong. But the people I got her from had several successful hatches out of this hen, with two or three chicks at a time, so I don't know why Pricilla's eggs are suddenly not hatching. Or maybe this was false information? I don't know. We'll see!
