TeaChick's Chicks

[TeaChick]

Okay, now. I'm having a problem. Technically two, but....

1. Snoodle seems to have lost control of her legs and vent muscle(s). She seems to be able to use her tail, but nothing south of that. Her crop is HUGE!!! And it feels like there's something in her abdomen, feels like it could be an egg but it might be something else. HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I gave her two warm baths this afternoon; one to lose all the poo and stuff stuck to her feathers, and another a little warmer to try to help move things along.

2. My Buff Orpington cockerel (8 wks old Saturday): both legs were swollen yesterday morning, when I put him out to free range with his girl friend. One leg started seeping and it's gone down completely. The other one started seeping a few hours later, but it hasn't gone down really and it doesn't seem to be seeping anymore. He's not acting sick, he's acting like he's in pain and feeling miserable (and his girl friend said that he's complaining like a baby like all the time), but he's up to chasing her around for worms.

Any and all advice, input, experience, etc. would be greatly appreciated!!!

 

[TeaChick]

I lost Snoodle.

I lost the Buff girl.

The Buff boy is doing well free ranging as a bachelor.

I just got chicks!!! 16 New Hampshire Reds (12 pullets + 4 cockerels) + an extra chick. IDK what breed the extra chick is, but I called and they said that it's definitely a pullet. =D

 

[Mr MKK FARMS]

Sorry for your losses. Snoodle was awesome.

 

[TeaChick]

Sorry for your losses.

Snoodle was awesome.

Thanks.

 

[TeaChick]

My incubating history and lessons I've learned using cardboard boxes and Styrofoam coolers for incubation:

My incubating history is long and has a few chicks sprinkled in there with all the eggs I've had to toss:
1. 12 cooked eggs (lesson: don't use a crock pot, it's for cooking, duh)
2. 1 lone survivor (lesson: check your thermometer against a thermometer you know is accurate at the temps you're using, not just accurate at room temp, duh again) (Ironically, I lost that chick to heat this summer, she hatched in April, she's the one on my wallpaper.)
3. 12 eggs, 0 chicks (lesson: separate the eggs from the heat source, duh some more)
4. 3 eggs, 3 chicks (lesson: hatch in small batches, forget hatching a dozen eggs at a time to get half a dozen chicks; somehow chickens and eggs just don't understand math, duh should go without saying by now, but I'm going to keep putting it b/c I feel like an idiot and I hope that others can learn from my mistakes/stupidity) (also, I subsequently lost these and I don't know why; this spring was a bad time to be a chick is the only explanation I can come up with.)
5. current hatch 5 eggs to start and 4 eggs left (lesson: don't turn/candle w/ a zillion children around; that's literally impossible at my house, but hopefully others can avoid this)
I think I probably missed one in there, but the results were the same: no chicks.
-Keep temp consistent (within 2 degrees or less of where you're aiming)
-Turn an odd number of times a day so the eggs aren't on the same side for two extended periods of time in a row.
-Rotate, every incubator (no matter how good) has cool spots and hot spots.
-Hands off during lockdown; there's a reason they call it "lock down"!!!
If I build an incubator, I'll install a thermostat and a fan. I like turning, so I won't put in a turner. I also want to put a plexiglass viewing window in the top; I like being able to watch them hatch and I want to be able to check the temp during lockdown w/o having to open the 'bator, but mostly b/c I like watching them hatch.

 

[TeaChick]

I've lost so many chicks to Coccidiosis this year...
I started a thread:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/918652/the-coccidiosis-in-chicks-thread#post_13976963

 

[TeaChick]

Okay, as of my last updates, I had lost Snoodle and I had a batch of eggs in the little cooler-bator.

I lost all those eggs, most of them were malpositioned. That was probably b/c I switched them from the box as an incubator to the cooler-bator as a hatcher and the temperature fluctuations in the cooler-bator did them in.

I figured out how to adjust my cooler-bator (until I can make the appropriate modifications) so that it keeps temperature better. Right now we don't have the eggs to set, but in the next couple of days, I'm going to be able to set some. I think I just want to set some of Chocolate's and Sandy's; Caramel and Goldie have blood in their eggs sometimes (Caramel more than Goldie, but still), and my only other hen is Cottontail (white Leghorn), but I don't want anymore white Leghorn-mixed chicks right now.

DH ordered me some chicks. I lost one to pasty butt a few days after they arrived. Tuesday, I lost five, and this morning I found a sixth one dead in the coop. I was down to eleven.
So, being such a sweet hubby to me, DH ordered another two dozen chicks to replace the half a dozen that I had lost.

I'm so glad he's learning how to do chicken math too.

Anyway, they're due to arrive in a couple of weeks.

Meanwhile, there was another chick I was worried about yesterday. Sure enough, this morning, I found her (I think) in the corner of the coop, dead. So, now I'm down to ten.

I hate to keep exact count of my chickens, but I also can't help it.

I did some math today and I found out that I have gotten 66 chickens since March of 2013 (including purchasing, ordering, receiving from breeder, hatching myself, and my friend hatching for me).
I have butchered or had to dispatch (not due to illness) 9; leaving me 57 chickens to count toward my attrition rate.
I have 25 chickens (hens, roosters, chicks, cockerels, mascots, etc.) currently, so....
57 minus 25: I've lost 32 (to illness or predation) of the 66 chickens I've gotten. So, my attrition rate is right around half (48.484848...%)

 

[Mr MKK FARMS]

Okay, as of my last updates, I had lost Snoodle and I had a batch of eggs in the little cooler-bator.

I lost all those eggs, most of them were malpositioned.  That was probably b/c I switched them from the box as an incubator to the cooler-bator as a hatcher and the temperature fluctuations in the cooler-bator did them in.

I figured out how to adjust my cooler-bator (until I can make the appropriate modifications) so that it keeps temperature better.  Right now we don't have the eggs to set, but in the next couple of days, I'm going to be able to set some.  I think I just want to set some of Chocolate's and Sandy's; Caramel and Goldie have blood in their eggs sometimes (Caramel more than Goldie, but still), and my only other hen is Cottontail (white Leghorn), but I don't want anymore white Leghorn-mixed chicks right now.

DH ordered me some chicks.  I lost one to pasty butt a few days after they arrived.  Tuesday, I lost five, and this morning I found a sixth one dead in the coop.  I was down to eleven.
So, being such a sweet hubby to me, DH ordered another two dozen chicks to replace the half a dozen that I had lost.   I'm so glad he's learning how to do chicken math too.
Anyway, they're due to arrive in a couple of weeks.

Meanwhile, there was another chick I was worried about yesterday.  Sure enough, this morning, I found her (I think) in the corner of the coop, dead.  So, now I'm down to ten.

I hate to keep exact count of my chickens, but I also can't help it.
I did some math today and I found out that I have gotten 66 chickens since March of 2013 (including purchasing, ordering, receiving from breeder, hatching myself, and my friend hatching for me).
I have butchered or had to dispatch (not due to illness) 9; leaving me 57 chickens to count toward my attrition rate.
I have 25 chickens (hens, roosters, chicks, cockerels, mascots, etc.) currently, so....
57 minus 25: I've lost 32 (to illness or predation) of the 66 chickens I've gotten.  So, my attrition rate is right around half (48.484848...%)

Dreadful. We lost many chicks this year too.

 

[TeaChick]

Dreadful. We lost many chicks this year too.

Thanks.

 

[TeaChick]

I just wanted to share

I'm thinking about making this my avatar. What do you think?