I'm a little worried about something I've noticed with my littlest chicks.
It started with one of them dying last Sunday. Well, maybe it started a little before then. Wriggle had clubfeet but they were actually getting a little better - they may have healed completely but she died at four days old. Anyway we noticed that all Saturday and maybe Friday afternoon, she was cheeping very loudly and very constantly, over and over and over, even in her sleep. My mother threatened her with the stewpot and my sister claims to have prayed for her to shut up.
Apart from the feet problem, Wriggle seemed a perfectly healthy chick - willing to hobble after the others as fast as she could, eating and cheeping and pooping just as she should be. Until we got home early Sunday afternoon after church and found her lying prone under the heat lamp, on her side, lethargic and mostly unresponsive.
When I picked her up, she cheeped plainitively a little but could barely raise her head. She seemed to be struggling to breathe and after a while, she would stop breathing for a bit and then have a seizure or something, trying to suck in air. She also brought back up sticky plegm for a bit. None of us were very surprised by the time she died late Sunday night.
As sad as I was, I managed to convince myself that Wriggle's untimely death was because of something she was born with - after all, she'd had bad feet all along.
Now I'm not so sure. I have another chick, this time eight-day-old Worm, presenting with scarily similar symptoms. For a start, for the past day or two she has been cheeping very loudly and very constantly, just as Wriggle had been doing. But Wriggle and Worm were the only two to hatch from their clutch of eggs... so Worm was just missing her friend, right?
Then, in the space of about half an hour earlier this evening, she went from lively and active and running around with the other chicks, to sitting pitifullly under the heat lamp, her cheeps softer and pained. Her position was odd - leaning so far back as to be almost on her back - and my immediate thought was that something was wrong with her legs, which were in an odd position. I picked her up and tested the theory by gently moving her legs, and then by letting her legs dangle and tapping the pads of her feet - the legs didn't seem stiff or mishappen, and her reflexes seemed fine as she pulled her legs against her stomach as I tapped her feet.
When placed on a flat surface, it's noticable that Worm has little to no motor control or balance - she's wobbling about concerningly, barely able to stay upright, and she can't walk at all - almost like she's drunk! She's still leaning back and ending up on her back, bit more recently on her side, too - just as Wriggle had been. I've seperated her from the others and placed her under a heat lamp.
I'm trying to work out what could be causing all this, whether the two incidents might be related and how. Neither of the chicks have/had sores or wounds, so I know it can't be bullying happening. This chicks were also completely unrelated, the eggs having come from different farms, although they're both ISA Brown crosses.
My best guess at the moment is that they picked something up from the six new chicks I purchased early on Saturday to keep them company (I had a very poor hatch and the two chicks seemed lonely). None of the new chicks are presenting with any of the symptoms -- but I'm wondering whether they might have been vaccinated against something they could be carrying, and passed it on to my chicks, neither of whom have been vaccinated against anything having been hatched at home. Wriggle's first symptom - the loud cheeping - began around the same time.
My mother suggests that it might have something to do with an egg exploding during incubation - it was quite rotten and stunk the house out, and even with the smell aired out of the house, it remained in the incubator for some time. It's the only irregularity I can remember during incubation. The hatch rate was very poor - of 48 eggs, only 13 made it to lockdown (I candled before locking down), only 4 pipped, and only 1 hatched on it's own (Worm). 1 died half-out of the egg, and the other had to be helped out after having been half-zipped for 36 hours (Wriggle).
Any ideas or advice would be good and very much appreciated. This is my first time trying to hatch chicks on my own - my family hatched some when I was about 7 but apart from that I've always purchased day old chicks. I was hoping to hatch my own chicks in future but am beginning to wonder if I did something terribly wrong, as many of the chicks I've had recently seem to die.
from Rachel.
It started with one of them dying last Sunday. Well, maybe it started a little before then. Wriggle had clubfeet but they were actually getting a little better - they may have healed completely but she died at four days old. Anyway we noticed that all Saturday and maybe Friday afternoon, she was cheeping very loudly and very constantly, over and over and over, even in her sleep. My mother threatened her with the stewpot and my sister claims to have prayed for her to shut up.
Apart from the feet problem, Wriggle seemed a perfectly healthy chick - willing to hobble after the others as fast as she could, eating and cheeping and pooping just as she should be. Until we got home early Sunday afternoon after church and found her lying prone under the heat lamp, on her side, lethargic and mostly unresponsive.
When I picked her up, she cheeped plainitively a little but could barely raise her head. She seemed to be struggling to breathe and after a while, she would stop breathing for a bit and then have a seizure or something, trying to suck in air. She also brought back up sticky plegm for a bit. None of us were very surprised by the time she died late Sunday night.
As sad as I was, I managed to convince myself that Wriggle's untimely death was because of something she was born with - after all, she'd had bad feet all along.
Now I'm not so sure. I have another chick, this time eight-day-old Worm, presenting with scarily similar symptoms. For a start, for the past day or two she has been cheeping very loudly and very constantly, just as Wriggle had been doing. But Wriggle and Worm were the only two to hatch from their clutch of eggs... so Worm was just missing her friend, right?
Then, in the space of about half an hour earlier this evening, she went from lively and active and running around with the other chicks, to sitting pitifullly under the heat lamp, her cheeps softer and pained. Her position was odd - leaning so far back as to be almost on her back - and my immediate thought was that something was wrong with her legs, which were in an odd position. I picked her up and tested the theory by gently moving her legs, and then by letting her legs dangle and tapping the pads of her feet - the legs didn't seem stiff or mishappen, and her reflexes seemed fine as she pulled her legs against her stomach as I tapped her feet.
When placed on a flat surface, it's noticable that Worm has little to no motor control or balance - she's wobbling about concerningly, barely able to stay upright, and she can't walk at all - almost like she's drunk! She's still leaning back and ending up on her back, bit more recently on her side, too - just as Wriggle had been. I've seperated her from the others and placed her under a heat lamp.
I'm trying to work out what could be causing all this, whether the two incidents might be related and how. Neither of the chicks have/had sores or wounds, so I know it can't be bullying happening. This chicks were also completely unrelated, the eggs having come from different farms, although they're both ISA Brown crosses.
My best guess at the moment is that they picked something up from the six new chicks I purchased early on Saturday to keep them company (I had a very poor hatch and the two chicks seemed lonely). None of the new chicks are presenting with any of the symptoms -- but I'm wondering whether they might have been vaccinated against something they could be carrying, and passed it on to my chicks, neither of whom have been vaccinated against anything having been hatched at home. Wriggle's first symptom - the loud cheeping - began around the same time.
My mother suggests that it might have something to do with an egg exploding during incubation - it was quite rotten and stunk the house out, and even with the smell aired out of the house, it remained in the incubator for some time. It's the only irregularity I can remember during incubation. The hatch rate was very poor - of 48 eggs, only 13 made it to lockdown (I candled before locking down), only 4 pipped, and only 1 hatched on it's own (Worm). 1 died half-out of the egg, and the other had to be helped out after having been half-zipped for 36 hours (Wriggle).
Any ideas or advice would be good and very much appreciated. This is my first time trying to hatch chicks on my own - my family hatched some when I was about 7 but apart from that I've always purchased day old chicks. I was hoping to hatch my own chicks in future but am beginning to wonder if I did something terribly wrong, as many of the chicks I've had recently seem to die.
from Rachel.
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