Bad Bad Day!

[CoraxAurata]

The trip switch in the back room went in the night, my incubator was down to 12C and my 2 tiny ones while perky have blood in their poo - probably been cold for most of the night, hope they are ok - am giving them loads of TLC, but am heart broken about the eggs, am keeping it on for now - a small part of me can't give up on them but my hopes are small, the 2 babies are precious too, (not that all baby chooks aren't) the orpington is the only offspring of a much loved (and good show bird) pet cockeral who had an accident, and the maran is my first homebred hatchling, the more attachment we have for our birds the better the chances of disaster it seems,....

The eggs in the incubator include a set of Dorking eggs that were (are?) to be OHs own,

Oh and its snowing, snowing, snowing.......

[Nicos]

Oh dear....certainly not good news

I don't blame you for continuing with the incubation- how far on are they???

Have to say that my girls leave their eggs for 1/2 hr at a time- and it's 2C outside- so the eggs certainly have a chance to cool down ( part of me hopes that mum knows best and it's not just trial and error of young inexperienced mums....maybe your eggs will be OK?
Little chicks...would they warm up quicker if you put their feet and legs in warm water? ( may sound strange- but it's a thought)- or are they OK already?
( why would cold = blood in poo...just out of interest?)

fingers crossed for you xx

[lynda66]

i would keep going with the incubator you may be lucky, not sure about why the poo would have blood in it though, sounds very strange, i'm sure the littluns will be fine when they have a good warm up, and maybe some warm food??

[MaureenHall]

Oh dear, fingers crossed for the chicks xxx

[CoraxAurata]

Oh dear....certainly not good news

I don't blame you for continuing with the incubation- how far on are they???

Have to say that my girls leave their eggs for 1/2 hr at a time- and it's 2C outside- so the eggs certainly have a chance to cool down ( part of me hopes that mum knows best and it's not just trial and error of young inexperienced mums....maybe your eggs will be OK?
Little chicks...would they warm up quicker if you put their feet and legs in warm water? ( may sound strange- but it's a thought)- or are they OK already?
( why would cold = blood in poo...just out of interest?)

fingers crossed for you xx

When they get cold they are more suceptatble to bugs such as coccidiosis, but other than that I don't really know it just seems to... must investigate this more! all my chicks that survived hatching have to date (touch wood) survived....

My concern is that the box they live in is only just warm enough - I am now going to add extra insulation too, they weren't looking particularly cold when I found the lights out but obviously the poo concerns me, they did appreciate the hair dryer played over them though so must have been feeling chillier than they were letting on!, normally there are more than two in a hatch so they do a better job of keeping each other warm, the tummy prob may even be my fault I think giving them duck egg rather than chook from time to time could be more than their imune system is ready for.... not that I'm a worrier or anything! They really should be protected from Coccidiosis 'cos they are mainly on chick crumbs, in a never been occupied before box, with heat and light and cleaned out daily - if OH gets carried away more often than that!

But if they were fighting off a bug, a night of cold will have given it a toe hold...

Sorry about the rambling..

The eggs are at (without checking the calendar) about 10 days...

[CoraxAurata]

Thanks for the good wishes too folks!

[Nicos]

Well- we can imagine how you feel

2 weeks of egg watching now to see if they hatch...will be sad if they don't.

[Suechooks]

Thanks for the good wishes too folks!

And fingers crossed here in Wales too. Hope all turns out well for you.

[Birdie Wife]

Awww, I hope they are okay. I don't have an incubator but folks on the other Poultry forum I'm on have had incubators off in power cuts for up to 8 hours and eggs make it through to hatching, though a bit delayed on timing. Think of them like little animal seeds - they want to hatch, just like seeds want to grow. Blood in poo not a good sign though fingers crossed for you...

[CoraxAurata]

Awww, I hope they are okay. I don't have an incubator but folks on the other Poultry forum I'm on have had incubators off in power cuts for up to 8 hours and eggs make it through to hatching, though a bit delayed on timing. Think of them like little animal seeds - they want to hatch, just like seeds want to grow. Blood in poo not a good sign though fingers crossed for you...

There is some new healthy poo's in th ebox this afternoon - so perhaps its even more closely tied to being cold than I thought? As they are young they don't have much reserves, so maybe they start to digest the gut lining? Though they have ad-lib food? hmm more though needed...

Anyway they are looking bright and healthy poo's are a good sign, fingers crossed.

[Birdie Wife]

Great news

[frias]

Glad they are OK. Everything crossed.

[Nicos]

Phew!!!....fingers crossed for the eggs now!

[jonny_s_p]

Hope all is well, any chance of an update?

Cheers

Jonny

[Glutton4...]

C'mon you should know by now how impatient we all are...