sad day ... 2 weeks on now

S

serama1

New member
Joined
Sep 5, 2011
Messages
73
Reaction score
0
I had a one of my pekin hens on some eggs, today was day21 ... sadly this morning I found the hen dead on the eggs with one chick hatched overnight but also nearly dead. I quicky put the chick under heat and it started to respond. Also found 2 eggs with chicks started to hatch, and two further eggs where I could hear the chicks still alive inside. I have a old unrealiable incubator that i have put these eggs in, thus far, no progress but I still hear the chicks inside, I hope these will hatch.

The other chick has recovered and for now looks like it will be fine. As for the eggs in the incubator, not too sure as i don't see any further progress, not sure if the incubator is still good or not.

Just wondered if anyone on this forum can advise what i may be able to do in case the incubator is indeed faulty, anything else I can do. e.g. live eggs near a gas fire or similar?
 
If the incubator is warm, there's not a lot you can do but continue as it will be more reliable than anything else I can think of to try. If the eggs got cold, they may well hatch late 24 hours or more so don't give up. Don't open it at all !
Alterantives - borrow an incubator, borrow a broody.
 
I have a RCOM Mini, it does have temp guage but seems to go up to 40 degrees (however, when i open the incubator it feels much cooler) and I am not sure how to keep it to maintain at 37 degrees or indeed the temp guage is correct. When I open the incubator the air flow seems cooler than I expected.

I am in Reading
 
Chuck said:
If the incubator is warm, there's not a lot you can do but continue as it will be more reliable than anything else I can think of to try. If the eggs got cold, they may well hatch late 24 hours or more so don't give up. Don't open it at all !
Alterantives - borrow an incubator, borrow a broody.
Click to expand...

Managed to get a thermometer, it seems that the temp is being maintained at 30degrees ... not sure what to do next.
 
I didn't realise how much it took out of a hen until we had one die at four days in recently. It does take the hens a long time to recover when they have reared I had noticed. So sorry for your loss Serama.

30 degrees is too low obviously. You are the ideal temperature but keep moving about. Hot water bottle is no good. How low will your oven go if it is electric? Alternatively an area of constant temperature with a lamp over it and a ground temperature of 37 degrees -like a small lamp over a well insulated box? You have time to set something up with the eggs currently held at 30 degrees -12 hours or longer perhaps.
 
Quick update, my flakey incubator went up a few degrees in temprature, especially after keeping it near the gas fire, and I am happy report that one of the chicks hatched successfully a few minutes ago and now with its elder sibling under a heat lamp. Three more to go, i hope this will also be good news ....

I hadn't realised how bad the impact of brooding is on the hen, I noticed her comb and wattle had turned dull and off-colour last evening but I didn't realise how serious this was. I wish i had lifted her out and ensured she had water and pellets etc. A hard lesson learnt.

My kids are very upset, and it was my youngest who is the first to check on the chooks before she goes to school, and thus, discovered the dead hen.
The new chicks have softened the blow a little ...
 
Loulou also had a pale comb Serama. In our case it definately was not red mite and she was moved to feed and water regularly. It was if the cold nights and the effort to raise her underbelly temperature was just too much for her system. We bought her inside and gave her Cod Liver Oil with multivitamins, an antibiotic shot and lots of favourite food but to no avail. She was only 3.

Good news on the hatching front and best of luck with the remaining three. Difficult for kids to deal with the loss of a pet but I'm sure when the chicks are all bouncing around together and names are going into a hat...?
 
You might want to check her nest for redmite. I remember with one of my broodies years ago, I had her in a brand new ark which I forgot to treat for mite, although I did lightly dust the nest. 2 weeks later I needed to move her and her nest, it was only then I spotted the redmite, I felt absolutely awful for her.
 
You are right, I found some redmite on the chick that had hatched under the broody. I always treat the coops with redmite powder every week when cleaning but hadn't cleaned out the nest or treated the nest for the last three weeks, thinking not to disturb the broodng hen. i have not had any issues with redmite before and always treated the coops and the chooks with redmite power ... a little surprised where these mites may have come from, especially as I have not introduced any new chooks.

I am not worried for my other hens, will powder all the chooks first thing tomorrow. Unfortunately this was the last of my pekin hens, lost most previously to Mr Fox.

As for the remaining eggs, so far so good, the chicks are still chirping in the eggs and one other has started to hatch.
 
Glad the chicks are doing well serama1! :-)17

Pale combs are a classic sign of redmite, the mite cause anaemia by feeding on the birds blood at night. Maybe check your redmite powder? Some of the powders available are "repellents" and with an infestation may prove to be inaffective, e.g Barrier redmite powder.

Poultry shield would be a good start to clean and remove any traces of redmite. Then a spray with an insecticide designed for redmite, a light dusting of a diatom powder in the nest boxes will also help,depending on the level of infestation. The recent warm weather followed by a damp spell has brought these little blighters out a little earlier this season!

Chickenvet have a good selection of effective products.

http://www.chickenvet.co.uk/shop/products/index.aspx/category/mitelice-treatments-7
 
I use Barrier and redmite control from poultrykeeper range. Will get diatom and try it, thanks for the advise foxy.

Overnight one more chick hatched and another in last few minutes this morning. I can hear the he chick scratching and chirping in the remaining egg, but as yet no sign of hatching.
 
Be prepared to give some assistance if it goes quiet for any length of time. But it's a fine balance as too early and it bleeds to death, too late and it dies of exhaustion. Some just leave them alone and let nature decide Serama.
 
Agree, although so tempting to try to help it is best left to nature ... as i type this i see first sign of hatching with the chick now pipping.

Thanks all for the support.
 
Pic of one of the chicks.
 

Attachments

  • 1335612446847.jpg
    1335612446847.jpg
    18.6 KB · Views: 3,202
Very happy to report that the last of the chicks hatched successfully at 21:25, so glad i had kept my 'faulty' RCOM-3, it came in very handy and definitely helped to save these little miracles of life.

Indeed very sad about Boots (hen) and the other eggs which i could not save.

Once again, thanks to all for the advise and support.
 
A quick update: the chicks doing very well. Based on the wing feathering it seems like 2 definite hens and 2 definite cockerels. Had issue with feet on one which is on the mend ... this one is tricky to sex just yet as the feathers are not yet developed.
 
Two weeks on and the chicks are doing well. Seem to have developed a combination of colours, will be interesting to see how the colours develop as they grow. Initial flight feathers are white followed by black features, and some grey/blue. Their father was a white splash and mother a black mottled.
 

Attachments

  • Pic2.jpg
    Pic2.jpg
    46.8 KB · Views: 3,148
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Back
Top