The 7th Annual BYC Easter Hatch-A-Long!

[mlm Mike]

Panda and 2 of the chicks that hatched. I'm thinking mom is my Partridge Rock, which would make dad Blizzard the White Chantecler.

So cute!

My final hatch numbers. 8/9 BYM, 3/5 Black Eng Orp, 5 BBS Eng Orp, 5 BBS Frizzle Eng Orp, for a total of 21. One mid term quitter and one pipped then died. Over all i'm happy with my hatch. 21/23

Awesome congratulations!

 

[wicket 07]

Happy Easter !!

 

[wicket 07]

Opions please my hatch wasn't the greatest so I look at my mini advance closely after hatch and discover this

See the metal showing where the rubber seal is missing.

 

[Happy Chooks]

Help, so I hatched two chicks and I am scared to give them food/water until tomorrow morning (they are only 6-7 hours old)?

No need to worry, they will eat when they are ready.

Momentary panic!!! Just checked my incubator and the set temp was at 101.5!??? And my thermometers read 102 and rising!!! Humidity was thankfully at 70% so cracked the lid a bit while I figured out that the set temp was way higher than it should be lowered it and closed the lid. Humidity didn't drop much a few % it's back up now and the temp is normal. SO GLAD I checked it when I did. I was only like that for about 10 mins. What would cause my hova bator 1588 to randomly spike the set temperature like that?

The eggs themselves generate heat in the end. You could be just a little time away from the chicks popping out. I am so glad I went down to check mine just now. One of the bulbs burnt out but the temp had only dropped to 89˚.

If the outside temperature changes dramatically, it can affect the incubator also.

Anyone know what's going on here? It can hold its head up some, but it starts to drift until it's completely upside down. Got it in a cup with its head supported and gave it some Nutri-Drench.

As others said, it's wry neck.

Been very busy had a colt born unfortunately mare didn't make it. I was shocked to no end. I was out there checking on the mare at 3 AM she was cleaning up the last of her dinner. At foxtime (sunrise) 630 am 7 am some where just light enough to see. The other mares were up waiting for me as they normally are. I glanced out in the pasture 1/2 way out I saw her laying out there Lifeless. Took a deep breath and walked out there. She was gone. but she had the foal but the foal wasn't there either. I found all the after birth but no foal. My fences are all wire and panels I am trying to figure this out. Walk that pasture 3 times. No baby. went back to house to get something to cover the mare up . had a cup of coffee and a phone call. Totally puzzled. Started feeding my chicken when I thought I saw that dread fox out behind the shed on the opposite side of the field. Another mare was watching very carefully. I thought the horses aren't afraid of Mr Fox. What over there. I walked over there that colt was inside a fence area around the pump behind the shed. There is about a 1 foot space there. How he got in there I have no idea. Totally Totally a nightmare. He is fine No cuts or bruises. Lots of sleepless nights, and hours trying to keep him alive. just came in from feeding 3 AM meal. He almost has the bucket training down.. checked incubators another turkey pipping and some eggs.....Lots of unfirtile eggs. Especially the wheaten marans. Picture chicks and turkeys later today

Handsome colt, but I'm so sorry the mare didn't make it. How sad.

How do you give a baby chick ab bath. I know not to soak them so do I run a drizzle of warm water on them? Thanks for any advise!

Warm water, and have a slow trickle on the faucet. Don't get their head wet, you risk drowning them. The most important part is to get them dry so they are not chilled. Watch for pasty butt.

 

[Happy Chooks]

Raz, see here:
http://www.theeggfarm.com/blog/2011/11/02/wry-neck-in-baby-chick-video/

 

[Happy Chooks]

Happy Easter everyone!

 

[CGilbert]

What would be average behaver for 6 hour old chicks?

Resting

 

[ronott1]

I'm really sorry to hear it's one of your Chanteclers!

I'm the other side of the coin and I realize what I'm going to say is harsh, but I'm just putting it out there anyway for everyone to think about.
(And even when I told myself no more early am posting

)

I have a line of 10 (originally 11; 6 hens, 5 roosters) Silkie crosses that we got as week old chicks from one farm. I had one chick show a tilted head late last summer. I did get chicky vitamins from the vet but before I gave them the tilted head disappeared.

Fast forward to December, I think that's when I mentioned the wry neck Silkie X rooster I had. He'd respond to larger doses of vitamins, but would regress if put back into general population. He lost weight, continued regressing and I finally put him down when it was clear he wasn't getting any better. I had one chick from one of the Silkie cross females (sister sibling) hatch in the NYE HAL that showed wry neck. (I put it down) I now have two Silkie cross roosters showing clear signs of wry neck after being stressed when I had them penned separately in a smaller coop by themselves before we got the coop renovations done.

So as I suspected in December, I would consider these Silkies to have a heritable genetic defect, possibly with in the utilization of vitamins/minerals which predisposes them to getting wry neck. I've been reading as much as I can about wry neck; I don't have any evidence of injury or otherwise. I don't believe they have vaulted skulls...they're crossed birds and not bred for the poof.
I also have 4 purebred non-related Silkies who have not shown anything.

Anyone who has followed the HALS since December has read that I have not given my birds a balanced diet this winter. Every other bird has performed beautifully, which is what I want to see. My roosters maintained great fertility. The hens began laying young (5 months, both EE's & OEGBs) and the older girls through molt, with only short amounts of daylight on an unbalanced diet when I didn't even want them laying...lol. The chickens haven't eaten each other or developed any other problems...other than these Silkie x's who were showing signs when they were on a balanced diet last year.

If you are a breeder, even though you may feed a balanced diet...the people you sell chicks to may not feed a balanced diet. The very last thing you want is people having issues with your chicks if problems show up down the road.

A quick story: I cannot convey to you as a livestock breeder how many people keep progeny from animals who have problems, like vaginal prolapse (a heritable trait.) I've been a breeder of Katahdin sheep for 16 years and I've had extensive experience correcting (culling) other breeders very poor choices in keeping stock. I started with 4 unrelated lines; one line of females (IGB), 4 out of 10 females prolapsed. The females from the other 3 lines did not prolapse at all. I took the entire IGB line of females, plus the ram I never got to use, out of purebred production and raised slaughter stock lambs only that were shipped straight to slaughter. I had another "breeder" contact me to buy this line of females because she wanted to outcross with another sheep breed. Of course I refused as any reputable breeder would. A neighbor of ours purchased about 20 females from this breeder 3 years down the road and ended up giving everything away because EVERY female prolapsed. I've corrected prolapsing with calcium/vitamin injections (helps with muscle tone/strength) if a ewe has issues with prolapsing. But that female is no good to me as a breeding animal if she can't properly utilize what she needs on her own.

My idea is cull the problem and you won't have problems.(survival of the fittest genetics) If it's a pet for yourself, it's a different story.
But if this chick wouldn't survive without your help, it probably shouldn't survive to carry on those genetics. There are exceptions of course.

But this is just food for thought.

(And I don't mean to sound SO serious...lol)

I understand culling for genetic issues but you are culling for feeding poor nutrition.

That seems to need more thought. On the surface it does not sound like the correct approach.

Another thing is that silkies and other breeds with vaulted skulls can have a problem with brain injury. Sometimes star gazing is a brain injury and not a nutrition issue. In those cases time will help heal the injury and the vitamins help grow the nerves.

Thanks for posting your thoughts!

 

[tiedyechick]

Panic!!!!
Half my chicks have hatched. Some are zipping some are pipped and my 1588 suddenly shut off!!! ???

 

[generaldsherman]

I noticed that 3/4 of my ameraucana chicks have leg issues. These were all ones that were late hatching. Wonder why? Temp's been steady as a rock. These are all from the same breeder. I wonder if it could be genetic?