It’s the season where nearly a quarter of my flock starts wanting to be a mom. My makeshift barn is now a nursery with irritable hens sitting on eggs. As if that weren’t enough, I’ve been hatching eggs in the incubator. It’s an addiction, people.
Most of the time the chicks hatch without an issue but occasionally they hatch with problems that need to be addressed quickly. Many of these issues can be fixed with assistance, such as splayed legs, curled toes, wry neck or just failure to thrive in general.
Yesterday 8 out of 9 eggs hatched in the incubator. Prior to hatch, chicks tend to turn to the large end of their egg and “unzip” themselves. One chick decided to hatch lengthwise from the small end of the shell. Sometimes this can indicate trouble so I watched as this chick struggle to get out. It’s very important to let them hatch on their own if possible. Their struggle within the shell helps strengthen their little legs.
Sure enough when she finally popped out she only had strength on one side of her body and was unable to stand on her own. She did not appear to have curled toes or splay legs.
I removed the fluffed, active chicks and gave the newbie time to rest and dry in the incubator with another drying chick. You can see in the picture below how she’s laying on her weak side – this is how she was positioned in the egg.
Fortunately, this can be an easy fix. After giving the baby a drink of vitamin water I place babies like this inside an “exercise bowl” with a paper towel. The paper towel provides traction and absorbs any excrement. The bowl I use is simply a plastic bowl with fairly high edges that encourage the baby to use their legs to peek over the top. Without something to provide traction they will just slip around so make sure there’s something for traction.
It won’t take long to see improvement. Within an hour she was using her weak side to balance herself and look around at her environment.
Once she realized there was a whole big world around her she used her legs more and more until she was able to stand for longer periods. Soon she was able to watch me while I cleaned the kitchen.
Once she was able to control herself fairly well I wanted to get her with the others quickly. Sometimes chicks can pick on a newbie and I wanted to try and alleviate that behavior. Keeping the weaker baby in her exercise bowl I placed her in the brooder with the others. Fortunately, they greeted her and gathered around her. A couple tried to pick on her a little so I sprinkled food around the brooder to give them a bit of distraction. It worked like a charm. After watching for awhile I left them alone for longer periods of time with the baby still in the bowl.
In less than four hours she was strong enough to be freed from the bowl. It’s a good sign if they continuously try to escape the bowl. Their jumping and climbing efforts go a long way towards providing the exercise they need. I’m happy to say this little girl is now exploring on her own with her hatch mates.