Silence Is Not Golden Here

[Zinjifrah]

Fair enough. I tend to think that if people aren’t prepared to lose a lot of birds, then they shouldn’t free range in the first place.

I fully expect to end up losing my Sebrights. They're not tame at all... despite being hand raised. Hawk flew overhead, everybody screamed alarm, flying bodies into the run and coop, or under a bush... Sebrights standing out in the open, looking around blankly wondering what all the fuss was about... My Aussie mix ran over and stood by them, staring at the hawk. She has a hatred for large birds, especially crows and ravens... I have no idea why. The hawk didn't come back for a second look.

 

[Cyprus]

Two eggs unzipping, no other pips yet, but hatch day is tomorrow. I'm hoping for a couple more, but I won't hold my breath, considering all the complications that have happened.

Dude I started with 42 eggs, had temp spike to 103 for hours. I thought everything was dead. I had two chicks hatch.

 

[Zinjifrah]

Dude I started with 42 eggs, had temp spike to 103 for hours. I thought everything was dead. I had two chicks hatch.

One chick hatched, the chick from the broken egg is still working on it, but close. Lesson; Don't throw away broken eggs! This is the second time I've had a cracked/broken egg, put tape on the crack, and gotten a chick. Assuming it hatches healthy.

Unfortunately, I suspect the temperature was a lot higher than 103. That's about how hot it was outside. I walked into an oven - I figure it was at least 120 or so in the house. My incubator heats.... but it doesn't cool.

 

[Cyprus]

One chick hatched, the chick from the broken egg is still working on it, but close. Lesson; Don't throw away broken eggs! This is the second time I've had a cracked/broken egg, put tape on the crack, and gotten a chick. Assuming it hatches healthy.

Unfortunately, I suspect the temperature was a lot higher than 103. That's about how hot it was outside. I walked into an oven - I figure it was at least 120 or so in the house. My incubator heats.... but it doesn't cool.

Expect deformities. My two to hatch are both deformed.

 

[Zinjifrah]

Expect deformities. My two to hatch are both deformed.

I read about that. My condolences to you - it's a possibility, I know. So far I've had three chicks hatch with leg problems, and been able to remedy them with just vitamins, but I've also had to cull one of my Sebrights due to scissor-beak, where the upper beak was growing sideways rather than the lower - that was a hatchery chick, rather than one I hatched. It was starting to have trouble breathing, so I made the call and decapitated.

Two chicks hatched now. So far, both looking healthy, with nicely sealed bellies.

 

[Cyprus]

I read about that. My condolences to you - it's a possibility, I know. So far I've had three chicks hatch with leg problems, and been able to remedy them with just vitamins, but I've also had to cull one of my Sebrights due to scissor-beak, where the upper beak was growing sideways rather than the lower - that was a hatchery chick, rather than one I hatched. It was starting to have trouble breathing, so I made the call and decapitated.

Two chicks hatched now. So far, both looking healthy, with nicely sealed bellies.

Could you expand on the leg deformities and cure? I'm curious.

 

[Zinjifrah]

Could you expand on the leg deformities and cure? I'm curious.

It was less a matter of deformities than it was of disability. In my second batch of Serama chicks, the smallest one ran out of room to grow in its egg. That egg was half the size of the others. The chick is still much smaller than the other two, but thriving.

That chick's legs stuck straight forward. He didn't flip over on his back - he just scooted around on his butt and belly, kicking his feet in front of himself and using his wings to 'swim'. I use a vitamin powder that's all-stock, but has a very good array of vitamins in it, and electrolytes.

This stuff; https://www.agrilabs.com/products/vitamins-electrolytes-plus

The key ingredient there that was looking for is something that Nutridrench does not appear to have, which is why I haven't bothered to get any. Namely, Vitamin B2: Riboflavin. From what I've read - I'm no expert! - a Riboflavin deficiency can result in leg problems in newly hatched chicks.

I used a q-tip to the side of the beak soaked in the vitamin-infused water - I just add it to their waterer, so everyone gets it - to get the vitamins into the chick and be sure it was eating. That Serama chick, I also would put in a saki cup for about fifteen minutes at a time, a few times a day, to make him hold his legs underneath his body - he was so small that he had to stand up to see out, and of course, chicks always want to see out. Within a couple days, he was upright on stiff legs, and the next day he was running around normally.

The last batch of eggs, the muttly chicks, I had two chicks who kept their feet curled up. They were unable to effectively walk, and sort of hobbled around on their hocks. Imagine trying to walk only on the sides of your feet - that's what they were doing, with the outside toe curled in and under. Both of those chicks came from similar eggs, and have similar coloration/markings, leading me to think they were probably laid by the same hen.

A few days of vitamin water with riboflavin in it, and they were both walking normally. I put them outside at three days old, with heat at night (too hot during the day for additional heat). I noticed that the smaller of the two was seeking warmth faster than the rest, and huddling when it started to cool off, so I added the vitamins back to their water until they were two weeks old.

They are currently - as of today - four weeks old, fully integrated into the flock, no longer in the chick pen - I have my injured one isolated inside it, where the rest can't pick on her - and doing wonderfully.


Edit to add - a third egg has pipped.

 

[Zinjifrah]

So far, so good. Decided to pull the two hatched chicks, since they were dry and I didn't want to end up leaving them in the incubator for who knows how long.

Not fully fluffed yet, but much happier now that they're in a small, dark, secure, warm place than they were flopping around inside the incubator.

 

[Cyprus]

So far, so good. Decided to pull the two hatched chicks, since they were dry and I didn't want to end up leaving them in the incubator for who knows how long.

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Not fully fluffed yet, but much happier now that they're in a small, dark, secure, warm place than they were flopping around inside the incubator.

They're soooo pretty!!

 

[Zinjifrah]

They're soooo pretty!!

They are! I didn't expect them to be so silvery, right out of the egg! I THINK the one on the left in the pictures is the one from the broken egg - it was broken when it got here, but I taped it up and set it anyway. By tomorrow, I anticipate there being no way to tell one from the other.

The chicks are happy. They were screaming loud, distressed, "WHERE ARE YOU MAMA!!!" cheeps in the incubator. Put them in their warm cave, and that immediately changed to quiet, happy trills before going quiet. Ever so often there's a little peep.