What Causes Deformed Day-Old Chicks?
Learn what causes deformed day-old chicks, from wrong incubator temperature and poor egg selection to bad breeder feed and disease in the hatchery.
5 Causes of Deformed Day-Old Chicks You Should Know
The poultry business is remarkably broad. It covers not just processed products but the farming side itself. Businesses that grow out of chicken farming include selling high-quality day-old chicks (DOC), selling breeder hens, selling feed, building well-designed chicken coops and much more. For anyone willing to commit, chicken-related businesses offer a wide range of tempting opportunities.
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One business in high demand is selling quality day-old chicks. Why is it so attractive? Because when a new production cycle starts, many poultry farmers need good-quality chicks. Producing quality chicks isn't easy, though. Only experienced farmers can really succeed in this business, since the failure rate among beginners is very high. Many hatched chicks end up deformed and unfit to sell to other farmers. So what causes deformed day-old chicks? Here are some of the main causes:
Wrong Incubator Temperature
The first cause of deformed chicks is an incubator set to the wrong temperature. Fertile eggs containing embryos must be kept in an incubator at the right temperature. Otherwise, the embryo's nervous tissue won't develop properly, which leads to deformities.
Incorrect Egg Position
Producing day-old chicks is demanding because every detail matters, including how the eggs are positioned. Placing eggs in the wrong position can cause the chicks to be deformed when they hatch.
Also read Chicken Farming Tips to Prevent Disease
Poor Egg Selection
Not every chicken egg can be hatched into a healthy chick, so careful egg selection is essential. Mistakes in selecting eggs lead to deformed, low-quality chicks. To produce quality chicks, avoid eggs with imperfect or cracked shells and eggs that are undersized. Hatching eggs like these produces poor results, and deformities become very likely.
Also read Tips for Choosing High-Quality Day-Old Chicks
Poor Feed
Low-quality chicks can also be the result of poor feed. Some farmers give their breeder hens poor feed, which lowers the hens' productivity, including the quality of the eggs they lay. It's no surprise, then, that these hens produce low-quality eggs and chicks.
Disease
The next cause of deformed chicks is disease. Disease in the eggs is a common reason chicks hatched from them are low quality or even deformed. To keep disease out of the eggs, farmers must keep the incubator sterile. Avoid leaving the incubator open for too long, since that lets germs and bacteria in and can trigger a range of diseases.
Types of Deformities in Day-Old Chicks
Poor technique can lead to many kinds of deformities in chicks. Deformed chicks are a costly problem because they drive up operating costs while the returns don't justify the expense. Deformities range from mild to severe. A mild deformity might be sparse down, while the worst cases include curled toes, a swollen belly caused by disease, lameness or even paralysis. Many buyers refuse these chicks because they hurt a farm's results. The more deformed chicks a farmer produces, the bigger the losses.
Because producing quality chicks is so complex, only experienced farmers dare to take on this business. Experienced farmers can usually avoid several causes of deformed chicks thanks to the techniques and experience they have built up over the years, which keeps the number of deformed chicks to a minimum.
