Because we hatch 3 times a month, loosing a chick now does not devastate me like it did in the beginning. I am not a monster.. just I have excepted the fact that death is in the deck of cards. It is easy to become desensitized when you run a small farm because death is an inherited factor.
We had another real successful hatch this past weekend. Day 21 was textbook perfect. Confetti and balloons galore! Happy Birthday.. (As frosty the snowman says!)
Then day 22. Time for the slower/weaker ones to finish. 2 or 3 unzipped and naturally did their cheeping (calling for mama) scenario. BUT 3 eggs had signs of life and had weak and tired babies. We are hands on Hatchers so we sprung into action when it was late in the day of 22.
We carefully unzipped the shells one by one and placed them back in the bator. That evening all 3 were out completely but had their umbilical cords still attached to the half shells. Thick and gooey. We crumbled the shells to lighten their loads so to speak. We have cut them before and they have bled, so we cut no more.
All 3 had leg splay. We braced their legs with our trusty correction method https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/how-we-correct-splayed-legs-on-new-chicks.72873/, segregated them from the rambunctious ones and nursed them and pampered them.
2 of them only took a couple of days for leg splay correction. We put them in population with their incubation mates. One is still hospitalized today but in a whole lot better condition.
That was the story leading up to today's tragedy.
This little fella made it thru a rough hatch, splayed legs correction and was beating the odds, until this morning..
He was one of the quick recovery ones from leg splay. I thought we were out of the dark..
I found her off to the side in the brooder life less this morning. My eyes watered. Her cord is still attached and a dried poo hanging as well.
Perhaps I should of cut off the cord and used a powder coagulation treatment. Poor thing cheated death but in the end death caught up.
It very well may have been other complications or neurological related.
I am at a loss.
Like I said in the beginning of my post about becoming desensitized from death on the farm, But it is not always the case. The ones I nurture, are the ones that get to me.
Just getting this off of my chest for a little closure I suppose. I shouldn't let it get to me but I suppose that's just human nature. The little dude would have just died in the shell if we didn't intervene. And it would have been easier just to discard of an egg with a peep hole. Doesn't mean I won't rescue in the future. I'll just be more aware that the odds of survival will be much lower than previous expectations.
Thanks for reading my stuff.
FC
We had another real successful hatch this past weekend. Day 21 was textbook perfect. Confetti and balloons galore! Happy Birthday.. (As frosty the snowman says!)
Then day 22. Time for the slower/weaker ones to finish. 2 or 3 unzipped and naturally did their cheeping (calling for mama) scenario. BUT 3 eggs had signs of life and had weak and tired babies. We are hands on Hatchers so we sprung into action when it was late in the day of 22.
We carefully unzipped the shells one by one and placed them back in the bator. That evening all 3 were out completely but had their umbilical cords still attached to the half shells. Thick and gooey. We crumbled the shells to lighten their loads so to speak. We have cut them before and they have bled, so we cut no more.
All 3 had leg splay. We braced their legs with our trusty correction method https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/how-we-correct-splayed-legs-on-new-chicks.72873/, segregated them from the rambunctious ones and nursed them and pampered them.
2 of them only took a couple of days for leg splay correction. We put them in population with their incubation mates. One is still hospitalized today but in a whole lot better condition.
That was the story leading up to today's tragedy.
This little fella made it thru a rough hatch, splayed legs correction and was beating the odds, until this morning..
He was one of the quick recovery ones from leg splay. I thought we were out of the dark..I found her off to the side in the brooder life less this morning. My eyes watered. Her cord is still attached and a dried poo hanging as well.
It very well may have been other complications or neurological related.
I am at a loss.
Like I said in the beginning of my post about becoming desensitized from death on the farm, But it is not always the case. The ones I nurture, are the ones that get to me.
Just getting this off of my chest for a little closure I suppose. I shouldn't let it get to me but I suppose that's just human nature. The little dude would have just died in the shell if we didn't intervene. And it would have been easier just to discard of an egg with a peep hole. Doesn't mean I won't rescue in the future. I'll just be more aware that the odds of survival will be much lower than previous expectations.
Thanks for reading my stuff.
FC
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