Show off your Red sex-links!! [[pictures included]] !! (:

[Peep-Chicken]

Gosh I sure hope she's a girl, I've only got 6 chicks and one of those six is an Easter Egger with a crossed beak that I don't expect to make it. I'd be down to just an Australorp, BCMarans, Welsummer and a Wyandotte. The sexlink was supposed to be my egg machine. I guess we'll have to wait and see! I'll post another pic when s(he) hits 2 weeks. CMom, your chicks sure are cute! What a fun project.

I hope your EE ends up okay. I would totally take her Good luck

 

[WashingtonWino]

I also wanted to say,

I agree, that is going to be a colorful basket of eggs. I really hope I'm wrong, it could be a she.
These are female Red Sex-Links.

Thanks for the welcome cmom! A colorful basket was the goal, but if 1/3 of my chicks are roosters or dead that really isn't encouraging, I feel like I got dealt a bad hand on this one. Here's the little EE with the beak problem, I've been trying to read up on it and it's looking grim.

Three days ago (chicks 6 days old) I noticed a slight crossing that has gotten progressively worse. Here's a picture taken two days ago, it is worse now.
It's hard to tell if she's getting any food down, she spends a good amount of time pecking at the feeder. I weighed everyone today and she's almost a half ounce lighter than the next chick, almost a full ounce lighter than the biggest two chicks. It is hard to say if that's because she's just a smaller breed or what. She's not showing much interest in treats and doesn't run around the way she used to. She was the most high-energy chick of the bunch before. I don't think she's long for this world. If she really starts to look terrible I'll cull her.

 

[bamachicks8]

g

 

[WashingtonWino]

Thanks. Poor thing.

 

[cmom]

Quote:
The beak looks like it is too crossed to fix. Sometimes if it is slightly crossed it can be filed to improve it. The chick probably isn't able to really eat too well. It may be best to cull her. You could try some mash but that may not work too well either. If she isn't able to eat enough she will probably die anyway. Even if you hatch your own chicks you can get chicks with various problems. Since these are hatchery chicks you may want to contact the hatchery they came from. The chick in question that may be a male the hatchery probably won't do anything about because most do state that they have a 90% guarantee, but again it may not be a male, it just looks like one from the picture. You can always try. Did you get any extra chicks with your order? Usually in the winter months if you order less than 25 chicks most hatcheries add extra males for warmth. Sometimes they put a heat pack in the box the chicks come in too to help keep them warm.

 

[Peep-Chicken]

Thanks for the welcome cmom! A colorful basket was the goal, but if 1/3 of my chicks are roosters or dead that really isn't encouraging, I feel like I got dealt a bad hand on this one. Here's the little EE with the beak problem, I've been trying to read up on it and it's looking grim. Three days ago (chicks 6 days old) I noticed a slight crossing that has gotten progressively worse. Here's a picture taken two days ago, it is worse now. It's hard to tell if she's getting any food down, she spends a good amount of time pecking at the feeder. I weighed everyone today and she's almost a half ounce lighter than the next chick, almost a full ounce lighter than the biggest two chicks. It is hard to say if that's because she's just a smaller breed or what. She's not showing much interest in treats and doesn't run around the way she used to. She was the most high-energy chick of the bunch before. I don't think she's long for this world. If she really starts to look terrible I'll cull her.

I have correct a few bad beaks before. It depends on the chick really. I do hope this chick does okay! Good luck with her and your others.

 

[cmom]

Quote:
I have had a few chicks over the years that have had crossed beaks. I'm not going to sugar coat this, honestly most didn't make it because it was so hard for them to feed properly and they starve. I have fed some with tweezers but in the end they had to be culled. I hope I'm wrong about this cute little EE. Good luck...

 

[WashingtonWino]

Little Easter Egger spent all night yelling at the top of her little lungs, poor thing sounded miserable, probably hungry. I weighed everyone again today and all the other chicks had gained weight, she had lost weight and the beak looked worse every day. She also seemed to have lost the ability to open and close the beak. Needless to say she went to chickie heaven this morning, I've slaughtered a few ducks and a chicken as part of my culinary training but I hadn't ever culled a chick. I feel relieved and actually very OK about the decision.

Sorry to distract from the RSL-ish-ness of this thread with my sad little easter egger saga, please go back to your regularly scheduled programming

If my (hopefully NOT a rooster) RSL sprouts any ginger feathers you'll be the first to know!

 

[bamachicks8]

Little Easter Egger spent all night yelling at the top of her little lungs, poor thing sounded miserable, probably hungry. I weighed everyone again today and all the other chicks had gained weight, she had lost weight and the beak looked worse every day. She also seemed to have lost the ability to open and close the beak. Needless to say she went to chickie heaven this morning, I've slaughtered a few ducks and a chicken as part of my culinary training but I hadn't ever culled a chick. I feel relieved and actually very OK about the decision.

Sorry to distract from the RSL-ish-ness of this thread with my sad little easter egger saga, please go back to your regularly scheduled programming :/  If my (hopefully NOT a rooster) RSL sprouts any ginger feathers you'll be the first to know! 

 

[bamachicks8]

Sorry about your loss but you did the right thing