Weak, small chicks - what do I do??

[MamaFox78]

Ok so I'm having a helluva time with my first hatching experience. My incubator went dry on days 21-22 (I know - I feel horrible), I lost 10 eggs, it was awful!

The first 5 chicks that hatched before the incubator went dry were perfectly fine, healthy and thriving. But I had to put one of them down because it somehow managed to fracture its skull in the incubator, its head was crushed and upper beak was completely sideways, I knew there was no fixing that and she was just suffering. My whole family was heartbroken. But at least the other 4 are doing great, so that's a blessing!

The last 3 that hatched in dry conditions were super weak, and we lost 1 mysteriously overnight on day 3. It seemed like its neck was broken, maybe the same way the other chick broke its skull?? The remaining 2 weak ones are definitely not doing well...

The little 5 day old Silkie has a club foot (which I've splinted with tape several times but it keeps coming off), and struggles to do anything but is at least drinking and eating a little. The littlest one (not sure of the breed, possibly a bantam cochin or mixed breed?) is 6 days old, I can see an umbilical stump, she's just super weak and lethargic, isn't eating, she can barely walk. I don't know what to do for them - my heart can't take losing any more chicks, but I'm afraid they may not make it. I can't leave them in the brooder with the 4 healthy chicks, because they get trampled and they're so small and weak they can't get to the feed & water, so I've got them in the incubator for safety.

What's the best thing to do for these two? I've heard of molasses water, but how much do I use? Anything else to try??

 

[nuthatched]

I'm sorrt your'e having a tough time.
Try some save a chick vitamins or poultry nutridrench. If you can't get those, try some warm water with sugar, a pinch of salt and some eggs yolk mixed in.
What type of incubator and was it calibrated? Where did you get your eggs?
It sounds like either genetic issues or too high of humidity for most of incubation. Unfortunately, If they need put down, it's the kindest thing you can do. The dry ice method or starting fluid (ether) is preferred by me.

 

[EggSighted4Life]

Ok so I'm having a helluva time with my first hatching experience.

Sorry for your heartache.

Chicks don't crush their skulls in the incubator, period.

What you're describing is caused by genetics or poor breeder nutrition, or poor incubation parameters earlier on than hatch day.

My favorite incubation resource includes possible cause of specific issues starting around page 52..

https://www.hubbardbreeders.com/media/incubation_guideen__053407700_1525_26062017.pdf

Poultry nutri drench if you're in the us and have access to it is highly recommended. Taping may fix the appearance but isn't addressing the cause.

 

[MamaFox78]

I'm sorrt your'e having a tough time.
Try some save a chick vitamins or poultry nutridrench. If you can't get those, try some warm water with sugar, a pinch of salt and some eggs yolk mixed in.
What type of incubator and was it calibrated? Where did you get your eggs?
It sounds like either genetic issues or too high of humidity for most of incubation. Unfortunately, If they need put down, it's the kindest thing you can do. The dry ice method or starting fluid (ether) is preferred by me.

So I tried a recipe I found online with warm water, sugar, and a pinch of salt... the little Silkie perked up right away, and started eating. She seems to be doing much better now, and I've got her in the brooder at 95 degrees with the other 4 chicks with a small dish of food & electrolyte water since she's too small to access the feed troughs. Her splint is working well to straighten out her club foot.

Sadly, it was too late for the other little girl...I fed her some of the electrolyte water, as much as she would drink every 10-15 minutes, but she didn't perk up at all, and she passed away within an hour of my first post.

I got the eggs and incubators from a local organic farm, they seem very reputable but it's possible there may have been some inbreeding or something?? The incubators are Janoel 12 self-turning, they have a water reservoir under the trays and a digital thermostat, so they seemed pretty foolproof, except for my goof when they went dry on hatch day. I don't see a humidity readout on the incubator, just temperature, so it's possible they could have had incorrect humidity sooner than hatch day. Either way, it sucks to lose so many chicks for any reason!!

 

[MamaFox78]

Sorry for your heartache.

Chicks don't crush their skulls in the incubator, period.

What you're describing is caused by genetics or poor breeder nutrition, or poor incubation parameters earlier on than hatch day.

My favorite incubation resource includes possible cause of specific issues starting around page 52..

https://www.hubbardbreeders.com/media/incubation_guideen__053407700_1525_26062017.pdf

Poultry nutri drench if you're in the us and have access to it is highly recommended. Taping may fix the appearance but isn't addressing the cause.

Thanks for the resource, this is great! Other than the incubators going dry on hatch day, it's possible the humidity could have been too high earlier (see my reply to nuthatched above) - but I really don't know what else it could have been. I do wonder now about poor breeder nutrition or genetics, one of the healthy chicks (light Brahma) has a deformed toe that looks like it was broken or dislocated sideways, and I can't figure out how that would have happened either. I've splinted her foot with tape too, but it's not helping fix the toe, it just keeps turning sideways. I don't know what to do about that.

I can only hope the 5 surviving chicks and the other 12 chicks I got (who are now a little over 6 weeks old) don't have genetic issues, and with good nutrition and care, will grow up to be healthy layers & breeders. I'll try the poultry nutri-drench and see what happens!

 

[MamaFox78]

Oh, and I should add that I only opened the incubator a couple times, once at about day 10 when I quickly checked 3-4 eggs to let the kids see if they had growing embryos, and I candled all of them as quickly as possible at day 18 when I took them out of the turning trays, and they all had large embryos. They weren't out for very long, maybe 30 seconds in my hand, and I closed the incubator in between removing each egg. So they didn't get messed with much.