The road less traveled...back to good health! They have lice, mites, scale mites, worms, anemia, gl

[Leahs Mom]

Eggs will be here for my broody tomorrow. After she's been on them for a several days do you all candle them to be sure they're developing? I've read that's wise so that you don't end up with a rotten egg bursting and contaminating the nest.

If yes, do I need a special light or just a smallish flashlight with a good beam?
Do you think I'll be able to tell the diff since I haven't done it before?

 

[Leahs Mom]

Ready and waiting.

You better hurry - I have guinea in the oven - LOL!!!

I'm leaving the grocery store in the next 5 min....

(Then I can't get back on again until early tomorrow morning at work! I'm going through evening internet withdrawal!)

 

[aoxa]

Eggs will be here for my broody tomorrow.  After she's been on them for a several days do you all candle them to be sure they're developing?  I've read that's wise so that you don't end up with a rotten egg  bursting and contaminating the nest.

If yes, do I need a special light or just a smallish flashlight with a good beam? 
Do you think I'll be able to tell the diff since I haven't done it before?

 

You're asking if you should candle the eggs before you set them under her? Confused.. No you couldn't tell beforehand. 3 days after for white eggs, and 5-7 days after for brown/green. Never can tell before. It would be so helpful if you could. Then I wouldn't waste the infertile eggs by incubating lol.

Usually it's the ones that die that are the issue, not the infertile ones.

 

[delisha]

Eggs will be here for my broody tomorrow. After she's been on them for a several days do you all candle them to be sure they're developing? I've read that's wise so that you don't end up with a rotten egg bursting and contaminating the nest.

If yes, do I need a special light or just a smallish flashlight with a good beam?
Do you think I'll be able to tell the diff since I haven't done it before?

The hen will kick out all the ones that are bad. You might want to set the eggs pointy end down for at least 12 hours before giving them to her. Eggs that are shipped can have detached cells and she might not like that and kick them all out. Chickens are pretty smart and they can tell a bad egg better than we can.

 

[colburg]

Alright folks, it is time for the cull pics if anyone is interested. Miss Ruby broke a personal record of mine, had some weird little surprises in her innards and some very odd body features that accounts for her odd looking conformation when you look at her pics.

Anyone wanna see? I also have pics of Toby's gnarly scale mite infested scales, an impacted foot gland on Katie and all pics promise to be interesting, if graphic.

 

[delisha]

I am sorry to hear about the fire..

I must of missed something on the third video. I saw very healthy loved hens.

 

[maryhysong]

Eggs will be here for my broody tomorrow. After she's been on them for a several days do you all candle them to be sure they're developing? I've read that's wise so that you don't end up with a rotten egg bursting and contaminating the nest.

If yes, do I need a special light or just a smallish flashlight with a good beam?
Do you think I'll be able to tell the diff since I haven't done it before?

wait about 10 days then do it after dark. I found a little flashlight with real bright LED light so it doesn't get hot. Also it has a rubber rim around the edges of the lens so sort of cushions the egg. You can google pics of developing eggs and get a good idea of what you are looking for. Also check out the hatching threads here on BYC. Around 10 days you should be able to see a network of veins and a little guy jumping around in there. The air cell should be pretty well developed and at the big end of the eggs. I am still pretty new to candling so err on the side of caution and tend to leave the ones I"m not sure of for awhile longer.

Shipped eggs should be set in a carton big end up at room temp for 24 hours or so to let them 'settle' In an incubator even keep them in the carton as the air cells are often dislodged by shipping.

 

[Beekissed]

Well? Get with it! I'm at the grocery store using wifi cuz our phone line is out and I don't have all day you know!

I just love you, you know that?

Here goes...hold on to yer panties.



Toby's scale mites and uplifted scales....the milky stuff is the NS I put on about 2 wks ago. This was just about all cleared up when I noticed it was all gnarly again and that's how quick it happens, folks, cause you know how much I look at these birds.


Impacted gland on Katie...getting smaller but still big enough to hold debris. That golden color of her feet is caused by the new whole grain mix I added to the FF recently~my very first bag of "scratch" that I've ever bought. Y'all proud of me? Anyhoo, too much corn in the mix and I would never mix mine with that much corn content unless it was for meaties. Oh, well...it was cheep.

This is the total reproductive tract of Miss Ruby and you can see that she was a better layer than Speckled Suzy...bigger and more fertile ovary. BUT..still something amiss here. Just wait and see...



Here is a pic of the absolute FATTEST chicken I've ever processed in all my 46 years. I can honestly say that I've never seen any chicken, layer or meaty, home grown or store bought, with this much stored fat. Remember all the fat inside of Speckled Suzy? Ruby had twice as much and also had fat around all her organs~huge amounts. My hands were greasy after this gutting and I can truly say that has never happened before. We'll get to the conclusions on the reason for this later and what I plan to do about it.



Remember that cushion of feathers at the top of Ruby's tail that I said I had never seen before on a chicken? This is the cutaway of the reason why...a good 1/2 in. of fat was under that bustle and again...never saw this before~EVER. I cut away half of it so you could see just how deep a layer of fat was on this gal's back. Guess Toby was having a soft, cushy ride on this gal...Baby's got BACK!

Ruby and her trunk full of junk.




EVEN had fat on her NECK. I know you all are about tired of the never saw this before line but I have never.....


On top of her thighs where most chickens will have a little fat that needs trimmed off....this gal had thunder thighs. And she even had a huge pad of fat under each wing as you can see here.

Found this egg next in line to come out and the sac next to it and containing it had the egg white...this egg is not an egg. It is an egg tumor that feels like it is hard boiled. Up above it is a fatty tumor I found in the lining of the oviduct.


Here is the egg tumor cut open to show the concentric layers. I had killed an old white leghorn hen due to non lay once and found one like this inside her that was big enough to fill the palm of my hand and it was pale, cottage cheesy in texture but it had layers upon layers of egg material. She hadn't shown any sign of discomfort or illness but was carrying that big thing in her small body.



This is the tumor removed from the wall of the oviduct and what it contained. Just gristly, fatty tumor material...pretty much the equivalent to cysts within a uterus wall.

I'll give the summed up thoughts about these pics and answer any questions after I post these pics. If I don't get them posted soon LM will pee her pants!!

 

[aoxa]

I am sorry to hear about the fire..

I must of missed something on the third video. I saw very healthy loved hens.

What's the third video?

Also sorry to hear about the fire That is a nightmare! My fiancé is severely OCD when it comes to lights and ways things can start fires. Always making sure.. Though we do have lights at the barn when brooding chicks. No way around it. I always uses chains or frames with chains hanging the lamps.

It's a scary thought..

Maybe the Brinsea warmer for chicks would work in instances where a heat lamp could pose a danger?
Thing is mighty expensive, but everyone who has them swears by them.

 

[aoxa]

LOL

That is one fat old hen! Wow.

You definitely needed to cull her. Seeing the egg tumour is reason enough, but all that fat..

I like your comment "Baby got back"

Nothing wrong with some junk in the trunk. She takes it a little far though.