She said/He said Who's right? Who's wrong? No one!

[WalnutHill]

So my styro hatch resulted in ~60% live hatches...but since being put into the brooder, 8 have died. All failed to thrive. All had leg issues.

I hate young chicks, they are so uncaring. They sit on non-thriving chicks to get warmth...its a very pathetic site. Please appreciate my chicks are not my pets, they are for food or sale, so I live by the creed they thrive or they die. But it sure sucks to see so many die. Out of the 21 who hatched, I have 13 that are healthy...they still haven't figured out how to eat from a bowl yet (they are 4 days old), but at least they are drinking and very able to move about. Right now there are 4 who are simply lying on their sides, being flattened by everyone else...and slowly dieing. I know, I could do something with electrolytes, but honestly, these chicks won't open their mouth for me. I tried an egg yolk but all that seemed to do was actually seal their beaks closed...

All of these birds were intended to be meat, hens at 10 weeks, roos later...so their genetics doesn't matter...but all that have failed are also chicks that hatched on day 23...I ran this styro hatch as close to 100.5F as possible, low humidity but not below 25%, and it has sucked. No egg was older than 8 days when put into the bator, and all had been turned regularly before being set.

IMO, nobody should try a hatch in a stryo bator, it can't give you better than 50%. And seeing this chicks with all these leg/foot problems, ****. And fwiw, adding electrolytes to water only helps if they can stand and drink, and all that have died couldn't...they stood with their heads held up, never thinking to lower their beak into anything until they fell over, at which point their only goal was to stand again, not drink, or eat, or peck, or anything. This electrolyte idea may work for pets, but it doesn't work for chicks expected to work for themselves.

I didn't take pics of the foot/leg issues. I checked, its not anything that was pictured on BYC when you search for foot problems, or leg problems....but it did sound like what people say when they aren't thriving.

I so wish I was not inspired to keep the styro bator running. I wish, when I got my brinsea, people had been adamant that I move my styro eggs into it. Since I have not had a hatch in it, I am only presuming it will do so much better, but I know styro hatching sucks for me.

For a styro, that's about a normal rate of hatch. However, the post-hatch results indicate a bigger issue.

Knowing what kind of leg issues, such as neurological (both legs physically normal but don't work equally), deformed (visible physical deformity), physiological (slipped tendons, red hocks, displaced hips) it's hard to know what is going on with your hatch.

What is your brooder temp at? While chicks and poults do tend to huddle on top of a flock member making distress calls, they should not do that for warmth. A brooder temp of 95-100 for starters will ensure that they spread out comfortably.

I've hatched a couple hundred chicks and poults this year in styro, redwood, and homemade foam incubators and have not had a single leg deformity from shipped eggs, from bought eggs, or from eggs from my flock. While the issues you are facing MAY be caused by incubator deficiencies, they may also be caused by brooding deficiencies, like not enough traction at hatch and during brooding to enable the chicks to get traction. The Brinsea hatch will help determine if it may be an incubation/brooding issue, or a parent flock issue.

When I raise birds for meat or eggs, every bird I bring to maturity or to market reflects a cash value. It's in my best interest to help them survive whether it means flipping them onto their bellies so they can get up, or giving them corrugated paper for the first couple of days so they can easily find food and get traction. For breeders, I do try to select birds that have no issues at hatch, but the cross I am making now is physically unable to hatch without issue. As long as they are on their feet in 24 hours and acting normally it's a success...weeding out will take place in gen 2. I need to build a big enough gen 1 pool to have a gen 2. Gen 2 will be a cross of like-sized birds so hatching should not be so much of an issue.

I do hope the Brinsea provides a better hatch rate, and the brooding success is in your hands. A mother hen will beckon her babies to food and water after a couple of days, once they are active just splashing in the water with your fingertip and tapping the loose feed on the floor paper should get them going. Once one gets it, the rest will follow.

 

[dan26552]

He'll make you red with dis:

He likes me too much for that

 

[silkiecuddles]

He likes me too much for that

haha I turned it into a hug.

If he slaps you, I'm going to say "told you so".

 

[dan26552]

haha I turned it into a hug.

If he slaps you, I'm going to say "told you so".

 

[WVduckchick]

For a styro, that's about a normal rate of hatch.  However, the post-hatch results indicate a bigger issue.  

Knowing what kind of leg issues, such as neurological (both legs physically normal but don't work equally), deformed (visible physical deformity), physiological (slipped tendons, red hocks, displaced hips) it's hard to know what is going on with your hatch.

What is your brooder temp at?  While chicks and poults do tend to huddle on top of a flock member making distress calls, they should not do that for warmth.  A brooder temp of 95-100 for starters will ensure that they spread out comfortably.

I've hatched a couple hundred chicks and poults this year in styro, redwood, and homemade foam incubators and have not had a single leg deformity from shipped eggs, from bought eggs, or from eggs from my flock.  While the issues you are facing MAY be caused by incubator deficiencies, they may also be caused by brooding deficiencies, like not enough traction at hatch and during brooding to enable the chicks to get traction.  The Brinsea hatch will help determine if it may be an incubation/brooding issue, or a parent flock issue.

When I raise birds for meat or eggs, every bird I bring to maturity or to market reflects a cash value.  It's in my best interest to help them survive whether it means flipping them onto their bellies so they can get up, or giving them corrugated paper for the first couple of days so they can easily find food and get traction.  For breeders, I do try to select birds that have no issues at hatch, but the cross I am making now is physically unable to hatch without issue.  As long as they are on their feet in 24 hours and acting normally it's a success...weeding out will take place in gen 2.  I need to build a big enough gen 1 pool to have a gen 2.  Gen 2 will be a cross of like-sized birds so hatching should not be so much of an issue.

I do hope the Brinsea provides a better hatch rate, and the brooding success is in  your hands.  A mother hen will beckon her babies to food and water after a couple of days, once they are active just splashing in the water with your fingertip and tapping the loose feed on the floor paper should get them going.  Once one gets it, the rest will follow.

 

[BYC910]

I don't understand not fighting to save something you have put so much time and effort into. to stick a chick's peak in food and water takes very little effort. I may not be able to get them to hatch but I don't lose many after they do . the ones I lose are the ones I should not have helped in the first place. this is the first weekend In I don't know how many That I have not hatched a chick. put down 16 none hatched . I have to tell you guys about this. Last weekend I locked down all the eggs dated 6/13 or so I thought. I had one hatch on the 20th day my wife and I were looking at it in the old bower we could hear it peeping like crazy but it's peak was not moving so I turned the top looking for another but there wasn't one in there .I had forgotten one when I took them out of the other incubator with the turner .It had hatched in the turner that had been turning the whole time. It is the biggest one. I think I might be working to much . so let me see WV hot chick your going to be 25 soon . let me wish you a happy birthday now cause I might forget got half timers you know.

 

[AmyLynn2374]

Life is too short to fret about some chain smoking canuck

In other news: scflock is back in the game! 24 BCM set. I'll give you guys an update in 21 days

Finally!! Yay!!! This is going to be a hard 3 weeks.....

even if you catch up you will still be behind .It's a constant chase. kinda like a dog chasing it's tail you never quit get there.you get close just can't catch up to it.

LOL

I don't understand not fighting to save something you have put so much time and effort into. to stick a chick's peak in food and water takes very little effort. I may not be able to get them to hatch but I don't lose many after they do . the ones I lose are the ones I should not have helped in the first place. this is the first weekend In I don't know how many That I have not hatched a chick. put down 16 none hatched . I have to tell you guys about this. Last weekend I locked down all the eggs dated 6/13 or so I thought. I had one hatch on the 20th day my wife and I were looking at it in the old bower we could hear it peeping like crazy but it's peak was not moving so I turned the top looking for another but there wasn't one in there .I had forgotten one when I took them out of the other incubator with the turner .It had hatched in the turner that had been turning the whole time. It is the biggest one. I think I might be working to much . so let me see WV hot chick your going to be 25 soon . let me wish you a happy birthday now cause I might forget got half timers you know.

xs 2

 

[BYC910]

Hi, I was able to get 2 thermometers steady for two days. Put eggs in and now the one that came with incubator reads 100 and 2nd reads 106. What should I do? Still air incubator LG9300

I'm always behind Its not uncommon for a still air to read higher on the onboard thermometer it is at the top of the incubator where the heating element is which gets hotter than the middle or the bottom of the incubator. and there is no fan to move the air down .I.E. heat rises take your temp at the top of your eggs .

 

[chicapee]

It has taken me a few days to catch up on this thread. I have been awol for a few as my oldest daughter got married yesterday. Even though I am biased she was absolutely stunning.

It was a beautiful wedding. In chicken news I am on day 14, and the 1 egg of the 14 set was definitely not fertile and was removed. The egg that both ends were fat and was placed with the air cell down for the first 7 days and has been the correct way for the last 7 days looks peculiar. They all have beautiful veining and moving around. My youngest daughter is over from England for the wedding and filmed one of them. She really enjoyed it. My air cells are a bit on the small side and I have barely added any water this hatch, humidity is very high down here on the gulf coast so I probably won't add any water until lock down on Thursday night.
Edited to add pic of my 3 babies and myself.

 

[BYC910]

let me guess she's the one in the white dress right .congratulations .She's a very lovely Bride . I've been fighting the humidity too. I run dry until lockdown then go up 65-75%. without a drop of water I'm at 55-60% every day. Good luck wit the hatch .