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Hi guys,
Need a bit of advice for a first time hatcher. Had a very broody hen so, as we got a cockerel when we got the girls with the intention of raising clutches for the table, we thought we'd take advantage of nature and get her to sit on 7 eggs.
Today is day 22, we've had 2 succesful births (yay!!!), 3 complete failures and two somewhere in between. It's these 2 that are giving us some concern.
After the second birth, mum got off the eggs and no matter how many times we put her back on, she moved to a corner where the chicks followed leaving 2 eggs with very cracked shells which got cold. We thought we'd lost them so put them in the airing cupboard on a hot water bottle wrapped in a towel and an hour later, both seemed to be starting up again.
Now they're out, both seem to have bits on their bums that look like the red of a baboons backside. After some blood (other fluid?) loss, they seem solid though I haven't touched because I don't want to cause any pain.
I've done a search here because I thought it could be prolapse. From what we've read here and on other forums (and the pictures on Google should come with a disclaimer!) we don't think it's intenstine.
Can other grapes let me know if this is a problem with new chicks? I know it could part of the egg sac or a sticky mess where they're tried to poo. Is the poo likely for 4 hour old chicks?
They seem rather lively, are moving around and cheeping (still in the airing cupboard so doubt H will get a lot of sleep tonight
) so we are reluctant to cull at this time. At least without getting some advice from people with more experience than us. We have two rather in depth books on chicken keeping bought because they say about raising chicks and neither of them has anything on this!
Need a bit of advice for a first time hatcher. Had a very broody hen so, as we got a cockerel when we got the girls with the intention of raising clutches for the table, we thought we'd take advantage of nature and get her to sit on 7 eggs.
Today is day 22, we've had 2 succesful births (yay!!!), 3 complete failures and two somewhere in between. It's these 2 that are giving us some concern.
After the second birth, mum got off the eggs and no matter how many times we put her back on, she moved to a corner where the chicks followed leaving 2 eggs with very cracked shells which got cold. We thought we'd lost them so put them in the airing cupboard on a hot water bottle wrapped in a towel and an hour later, both seemed to be starting up again.
Now they're out, both seem to have bits on their bums that look like the red of a baboons backside. After some blood (other fluid?) loss, they seem solid though I haven't touched because I don't want to cause any pain.
I've done a search here because I thought it could be prolapse. From what we've read here and on other forums (and the pictures on Google should come with a disclaimer!) we don't think it's intenstine.
Can other grapes let me know if this is a problem with new chicks? I know it could part of the egg sac or a sticky mess where they're tried to poo. Is the poo likely for 4 hour old chicks?
They seem rather lively, are moving around and cheeping (still in the airing cupboard so doubt H will get a lot of sleep tonight
) so we are reluctant to cull at this time. At least without getting some advice from people with more experience than us. We have two rather in depth books on chicken keeping bought because they say about raising chicks and neither of them has anything on this!
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