Should I help this chick hatch or it is ok?

[evers310]

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Amen!!

I would have only had 4 chicks had I not intervened when I saw that they were in trouble. Because of that I now have like 17!! and they are ALL doing great! I lost one and that one I did not intervene because I thought she was doing a great job zippin right out of there but I had no idea her leg would go thru her yolk sac while in the shell and aspirate her like it did. She was my only casualty. And I still have 3 to go!

 

[yinepu]

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Amen!!

I would have only had 4 chicks had I not intervened when I saw that they were in trouble. Because of that I now have like 17!! and they are ALL doing great! I lost one and that one I did not intervene because I thought she was doing a great job zippin right out of there but I had no idea her leg would go thru her yolk sac while in the shell and aspirate her like it did. She was my only casualty. And I still have 3 to go!

ya know.. my husband made a good point earlier.. he said that when we incubate an egg in an incubator.. we are messing with nature.. because an incubator is NOT a natural environment for hatching an egg .. that if we were to leave hatching eggs to nature.. shouldn't we just leave all the eggs with a broody hen and hope for the best?.. needless to say.. he did make an interesting point..

 

[MommaB]

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I'm glad you could at least save one.. just be sure to keep an eye on him in case of an infection.. but I'll keep my fingers crossed that he's going to be ok
and glad to hear he's up and walking around and drinking!.. (you may want to find him a little buddy)...
at least now you have an idea of what to do should the need ever arise again.. and with all of the assisted hatches.. if you know what to do and when to do it .. their chance of survival goes way up

Thanks! I've already placed an ad for one or two buddies for him!

 

[evers310]

My egg that was internally pipped last night should be externally pipping any minute now.. i hope! (so I dont have to start worrying about it!) One of the other eggs was working on internally pipping.. when i candled them this morning (well yesterday morning) i could see the other one pushing at the membrane The 3rd one is still rockin but no pippin!


I thought I was going to lose a chick today :-( I lost one several weeks ago and this one started acting like it too.. First of all it is a "cry-baby" peeps all the time and so did the other one. (I always check the temperature, water, food, etc but never really a reason for it to cry and stops when I hold it..) Also I found it getting trampled on this morning. they werent intentionally stomping it it would just get knocked down and walked over and just lay there all spread out and not even bother to try to get up or even flinch. When I would set it upright it would just sway back and forth totally unsteady on its feet. The 3rd time I noticed this happening I decided to put it in a separate area and when i picked it up it just laid there totally limp. totally. Then I noticed it breathing really slowly like the other one did.. sort of gasping if you will.. I was like "Oh No. I'm not gonna lose you too!" I also noticed that both of them had big black hard things on their bellys where the yolk sac absorbs. So my 1st thought was well perhaps they both got some sort of bacteria infection or something so I gave it the antibiotic that I have lil man on. I also fed it some boiled egg yolk. A few hours later I fed it some yogurt and little after that, more antibiotic. It isnt acting anything like it was. Its eating the starter just fine and drinking and isnt laying around anymore. There isnt anything wrong with its actual belly but just appears that it may have had something still dangling from after the yolk sac was absorbed and it just got other things stuck to it maybe? its just a pretty good sized black "ball". I'm going to try to soften it up tomorrow and see if i cant get it off to get a better look. Its been thru a lot today so I'll let it rest tonight. I have another lil one in there with it now and I think it appreciates the company!

Speaking of.... So you know I have almost 40 chicks in the same brooder area as my 2 lil turkeys around the same age.. Well one of them is named Tommy, cas he's a lil tom.. and anyways he was the one I was telling you would come up to each new chick put in that area and teach it how to eat and drink. Amazing huh! Well up until today he has just been a gentle giant and would occasionally walk right over a chick but other than that never harmed them. Anyways, I heard a lil chick scream and ran in there and he had picked it up by one of its ankles and had it dangling upside down! I was like "NO Tommy! You be nice!!" Then about 10 seconds later he was sneaking up behind another one lowering his head to get its ankle and did the same thing with that one before I could stop him. I decided that perhaps that area is getting too crowded because they're all getting bigger and their personal space is shrinking.. So I set up a whole other area and put all of the chicks in there and just left the 2 turkeys in that one. Well apparently that isnt what he wanted.. He and the other turkey just paced back and forth for hours and did their chriping constantly. I realized that he missed his friends and decided to give him 1 more try. But I only put the largest chicks back in with him (they are like 3 or 4 weeks old now and so is he) Once they were back in there both turkeys started eating and drinking and acting like themselves again and I havent seen or heard him try that again. He seems content with them in there I just have no other explanation for his behavior except that maybe it was just a bit too crowded...? Have you ever seen or heard of behavior like that?

And lets not forget lil curly toes! She is doing great and her feet are looking fantastic!! I have the tape off one foot but still on the other one. I'll remove it tomorrow and take a picture of her pretty straight toes Its probably the very best thing 2 tiny pieces of scotch tape will ever do!!


Lil man is a mess. You would never guess anything was ever wrong with him! I am so amazed that he is the way he is having had all that go wrong with him! I mean his intestines were on the OUTSIDE of his body at one time and we just closed up his tummy with string! Not to mention all that green liquid that came out of his ruptured yolk sac! That was a really bad infection! He is my sweetheart! All of my babies are getting the starts of tiny feathers on their wings So freakin adorable!!

Well I'm gonna get off here for a bit and go administer the antibiotics Ya'll have a good night!

 

[evers310]

Curly Toes???? What's Curly Toes??!!!

... A thing of the past, thats what it is!!

I was gonna leave the tape on another day but I went in there and she had already taken it off... I think they look great!!! Definite progress!!!


BEFORE:

After straightening them out & taping them up...

And TWO days later....!

Like I said in my previous post... BEST THING 2 LIL PIECES OF SCOTCH TAPE EVER DID!!!

 

[evers310]

........ I was thinking of naming her "Star" cause her feet look like lil stars in that pic.. then that led to "Star Fleet" (kinda like Star Feet lol.....hubby is a star trek fan so he will love that!) ok yep! im gettin silly and its way past my bedtime!

 

[evers310]

.... yeah right, like i could sleep!!

I remembered that I saw a nest of eggs today in my husbands lawnmower trailer. I have asked him several times to PLS move it out of the chicken pen and anything else in there where they can hide a nest from me because we have more than enough chickens now! Well he either forgot to or just never got around to moving it and guess what... a nest! Well because of some of the hatch problems with this last batch of eggs with bacteria possibly being one of the culprits.. I decided to go outside (at 2am!) with a flashlight and see if there is a hen actually setting on them. Yep! Great. My husband is probably gonna wanna ring my neck but really, this isnt my fault... sigh.. anyways, so I know she has to be moved because the front of the trailer is tilted up in the air and she made her nest in the back of it so any rain will get all over the eggs and possibly stay there on them for a while till it drains. I have no idea how long they have been there but im sure theyve been rained on already unless she was on them. Anyway I decided that they needed to be moved and I guessed I had better do it right then in the dark so that I could hopefully move her with her eggs and she would wake up there in the morning, know where her eggs are and return back to keep setting on them. Well I put a towel over her so I could lift her without her freaking out on me. That worked like a charm. I just tucked her under one arm and got to moving the eggs... THERE ARE 17!!!! I moved them to a dry spot where another mama had hatched out all 17 of her eggs with absolutely no issues and she didnt lose even one of them! Then came the hard part.. I had to get that mama on the eggs and hope she stayed there. Well once I placed her there and took the towel off she was going bazerk trying to get away. I managed to keep her there and re-toweled her. Then placed her on the eggs again and this time i left the towel over her. I waited till she settled down then I took the towel off. In the meantime I was the main course for every freakin mosquito in the county!!!!!!! dang it! and im allergic to mosquito bites!!! I wish I could have just left the towel on her but i was afraid #1 that she would get too hot.. #2 if she did stay and return to the nest tomorrow that the towel might cover some of her eggs up and she wouldnt set on them and theyd get too cold.. Well when I removed the towel i saw that she wasnt covering all of her eggs :-( I can only hope that she realizes she is with her babies and she will move them under her but what if she doesnt? I did this about 2am and it isnt gonna get light outside for another 4 hours so itll be like 5 hours total if she doesnt adjust them under her. its 73 degrees outside right now. If they stay out from under her that long, will they still be okay?

I didnt want to mess with them. Believe me. But it wasnt a good place for her eggs. all the rain water drains out the back of the trailer which is where the eggs are and they will get soaked in the rain. Plus theres more rain run-off above it from the roof of the barn. I can only hope they will be ok. Im going to go see if she is still there in a sec. Wish I could just scoot them all under her but I dont want her to try and run away again.. :-/ If she was gonna have a nest out there I just wish she wouldve chosen a better, safer spot!

Ok its 3:30 and I just went to check and she was off the nest and made her way back over to the lawnmower trailer in the dark. So I just put them back under her and tomorrow I will go out and fix up the outdoor chainlink dog kennel for her. I think I will wait till dark again and place all of her eggs in a pet carrier I have, place her on them and then lock her in there for for a while and put that inside that pen. She should be use to her eggs by then and I'll open the door but she will still be confined to that area in the chainlink pen so she should be ok then i would think. Unfortunately one of the eggs got cracked so I took that one inside and put a piece of tape over that area and stuck it in the incubator. It doesnt look like it broke the membrane under the shell. Also I candled some of them as I was putting them back under her and Im *guessing * that theyre probably like 1/3 of the way into their incubation cycle.. guessing cause all this is new to me. The egg I taped up and placed in the incubator has movement inside but i dont see like definite features or recognizable body parts.. The poor little thing is very much alive in there and it makes me sad that its shell is cracked now. Way to go ME!! If by some miracle this egg makes it (and doesnt get some sort of bacteria infection because of the sticky stuff on the tape..) i will most definitely have to externally pip this one when it internally pips because it wont be able to get out of the shell. My goodness... I guess god has a reason for showing me all of this at once and keeping me totally consumed with my eggs!! Because this adventure Ive gotten myself into doesnt seem to have a final destination anywhere in sight! ok well maybe if nothing else goes wrong.. it shouldnt be more than 21 days lol I love my babies but I am so done with eggs for a while! hubby wil be so pleased lol

In all seriousness, how likely is it that the chick in the cracked egg might survive?

 

[yinepu]

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I'm glad you could at least save one.. just be sure to keep an eye on him in case of an infection.. but I'll keep my fingers crossed that he's going to be ok
and glad to hear he's up and walking around and drinking!.. (you may want to find him a little buddy)...
at least now you have an idea of what to do should the need ever arise again.. and with all of the assisted hatches.. if you know what to do and when to do it .. their chance of survival goes way up

Thanks! I've already placed an ad for one or two buddies for him!

oh.. get two.. remember chicken math!

 

[yinepu]

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yeah.. i love my turkeys.. but they can become evil lil heathens when the mood strikes and they need more room

 

[yinepu]

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by the way.. i love the name.. and you know she will end up being your hubby's chick if you go that route with her name!