Help - can anyone ID this wound on new chick?

[BUFFS]

When you can tell the eggs apart you know you are moving into anorak territory .......... I'm sorry to say I can tell virtually all of mine apart (among the large fowl - the bantams are a little trickier) and I keep a daily laying record so I can look back and see who has been performing well or otherwise over the course of the year. Sad or what?

i know the feeling,my wife was holding an egg she had just collected,and she said it was from the light sussex,but sadly,i looked at it and told her which bird it was from,i hadnt realised i knew them all by their eggs...what a change,two years ago i didnt know one type of chook from another,didnt laugh as much either...

[jessmorris]

I've had this with a couple of hatchlings. 1 was really wonky too with splayed legs so it was pts. The other is now a beautiful young hen, you wouldn't know anything had ever been wrong with her It's a case of "wait and see" I think.

Strangely enough, they were both from Ebay sellers too! I wonder if the transporting through the post has anything to do with it? None of the eggs from my own hens that I've hatched have ever had any problems (so far )

I've hatched nearly all eggs from the post this year, 'cept one batch. Fertility and vigour of hatchers was much better from the local eggs so I've decided to take the plunge and let Biek the broody hatch her own eggs next year!! (I'll have to borrow a dandy cockerel though - any offers of a pretty banty roo for loan gratefully received next April/May!)

JM

[Scarlet]

BUT..they were the clutch which were sat on, abandoned, sat on abandoned and sat on again on and off for a week. I didn't think they'd even hatch after that sort of start. They eventually hatched a week later than their siblings in the other clutch. All of them were fine!

I know twsty beak is genetic but no idea whether the spraddle leg and hernia are.

Often the usual cause of bloody navels and small weak chicks is too high a temp or fluctuations in temperature. I learnt my lesson when I used my incubator in the kitchen near a window that got too much sun once. Post and storage can also cause the same problems.

Crippled chicks can be hereditry but is often caused by improper incubation. I think your strain must be fighters Nicos, I'd have another go!

[jessmorris]

Often the usual cause of bloody navels and small weak chicks is too high a temp or fluctuations in temperature. I learnt my lesson when I used my incubator in the kitchen near a window that got too much sun once. Post and storage can also cause the same problems.

..interesting..it might have been fluctuations in temperature with mine perhaps, though the broody is pretty sound...

[Scarlet]

....interesting..it might have been fluctuations in temperature with mine perhaps, though the broody is pretty sound...

Have you had any other problems with previous hatches? If so, when you set your next eggs put your incy in an unheated room or room that has a constant temp - no sunny window sill, hot oven in the kitchen, rads turning on and off and also no kids taking lid off every five mins!!!

[jessmorris]

Hello Scarlet, not sure if you are asking me about the incubator situation - but just to let you know that I don't use one, only broodies, and have had wildly different success rates!
The strongest chicks are from local eggs that haven't been through the post. Even postal eggs can have good hatch rates, or very poor. Some of my broodies are a bit useless so I won't be using them again, its been a very steep learning curve this year. But at least now I know who my broodies are - two birds out of nine, and who to avoid on ebay!!

JM

[Scarlet]

Hi Jess -yes, I thought you were using an incubator - but the same can apply when you have a broody that abandons! I've also had hit and miss with ebay eggs and have learnt my lesson - I don't bother looking anymore as it is so tempting to just try it again.

[Glutton4...]

I purposely bought my eBay eggs from someone local, so I could collect them, and not risk them being scrambled in the post. I was also lucky enough to get them under my Broody on the day they were laid! I think that must have helped with the success rate, unless it was just beginner's luck!

[Scarlet]

I admit I did that myself last year and had good results - I think the time they are in the post and settling time after adds to the problem besides the scrambling!

[jessmorris]

Good idea!

[Hilary B]

If your failed broody is young, she may do better next year. Some of them need a bit more time for their instincts to get sorted out.
If, after letting her sit the year after her failure, she is no better, THEN you can be pretty sure she's never going to be very good at it.
You need some 'don't mind too much if it goes wrong' eggs to test her with.....