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all dead, all dead
Jul. 22nd, 2007 11:46 pm(Well, not all, not yet at any rate.)
The silkie's eggs eggs hatched today, but... When![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
lyonesse checked them at 7:30? this evening, two of them had already hatched, but were dead; the third was still hatching. I was still driving home from Baitcon, and instructed her to remove the two, but leave the one. I was so distracted by the whole thing that I got off the Pike at 495 instead of 95, which added a good (or bad) unnecessary time and mileage to the trip. When we finally got home shortly after 9:00, the egg was cold, and collapsed (to the extent possible) on the body of the chick, still inside.
I honestly don't know what happened. Perhaps the chicks got cold; this was Francie's worry, and she bought a heat lamp before she left for England, but I hadn't set it up, because I didn't want the hens to die of heat (not to mention packing and prep for Baitcon). Perhaps the hen didn't know what to make of little things squirming under her, and attacked them. This is not inconceivable, given the clear head trauma on one of them. But the other doesn't show any obvious wounds, and the third never made it out of the egg.
Silkies are supposed to make good mothers, and this one was certainly devoted to sitting on her eggs, and she might still be good with self-mobile chicks, but I can't help thinking she failed the test of actually hatching her chicks.
( -- Pictures of neonatal mortality behind the cut -- )
As soon as we got home, I did what I probably should have hadlyonesse do, and set up the incubator in the kitchen. The two remaining eggs were under the d'Uccle, a much less devoted broody, and consequently were much less far along in their development. I candled both of them, and at least thought I saw signs of life, albeit much further along than the sikie's. If they hatch, it won't be for another week or so, which is incredibly late (standard gestation for Bobwite Quail is 23 days).
7 eggs ordered, 10 shipped and arrived intact, 3 broke subsequently, 1 either infertile or failed to develop, 1 more either broke and I forgot, or was snatched. Two hatched, 1 almost hatched. Two left, and god only knows whether they'll survive.
The silkie's eggs eggs hatched today, but... When
lyonesse checked them at 7:30? this evening, two of them had already hatched, but were dead; the third was still hatching. I was still driving home from Baitcon, and instructed her to remove the two, but leave the one. I was so distracted by the whole thing that I got off the Pike at 495 instead of 95, which added a good (or bad) unnecessary time and mileage to the trip. When we finally got home shortly after 9:00, the egg was cold, and collapsed (to the extent possible) on the body of the chick, still inside.I honestly don't know what happened. Perhaps the chicks got cold; this was Francie's worry, and she bought a heat lamp before she left for England, but I hadn't set it up, because I didn't want the hens to die of heat (not to mention packing and prep for Baitcon). Perhaps the hen didn't know what to make of little things squirming under her, and attacked them. This is not inconceivable, given the clear head trauma on one of them. But the other doesn't show any obvious wounds, and the third never made it out of the egg.
Silkies are supposed to make good mothers, and this one was certainly devoted to sitting on her eggs, and she might still be good with self-mobile chicks, but I can't help thinking she failed the test of actually hatching her chicks.
( -- Pictures of neonatal mortality behind the cut -- )
As soon as we got home, I did what I probably should have had
lyonesse do, and set up the incubator in the kitchen. The two remaining eggs were under the d'Uccle, a much less devoted broody, and consequently were much less far along in their development. I candled both of them, and at least thought I saw signs of life, albeit much further along than the sikie's. If they hatch, it won't be for another week or so, which is incredibly late (standard gestation for Bobwite Quail is 23 days).
7 eggs ordered, 10 shipped and arrived intact, 3 broke subsequently, 1 either infertile or failed to develop, 1 more either broke and I forgot, or was snatched. Two hatched, 1 almost hatched. Two left, and god only knows whether they'll survive.
