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Perinatal disorders in chicks: causes and signs

Chicken and Castilian with a few hours of life

Chicks Discard:

In the incubation, we are concerned not only with the chicks that failed to hatch but also with those that have hatched but will not survive. Perinatal pathology helps us address this issue.

Low productivity at a hatchery affects you not only because of the chicks that failed to hatch, but also because of those that were born but will not survive on the grow-out farm, which is why they are considered culled.

It also helps us—small-scale poultry farmers or backyard enthusiasts—to identify them after hatching. This type of perinatal condition in chicks can be identified as follows:

Chicks with a swollen navel:

It is caused by temperature fluctuations, most often by very high temperatures, during the stages leading up to birth. It may be omphalitis (Photo No. 50), which is discussed later

Omphalitis in chick photo 50

Chicks with poorly healed navels:

The temperature between the 11th and 18th day of incubation was too high. Alternatively, the humidity was too high, which prevented the membranes from contracting when the yolk was absorbed. Photo No. 48

Navel ill-healed photo 48

Chicks with black spots on their bellies:

This is because part of the yolk sac and extraembryonic tissues were not properly absorbed when the umbilical opening closed.

This is due to faster embryonic development than expected; it can be caused by high incubation temperatures or a higher metabolic rate. Photo No. 49

Black buttons in the navel photo 49

Chicks with an unclosed, congested navel:

This is caused by high temperatures or fluctuations in temperature. It can also be caused by very high humidity in the hatchery. Photo No. 48

Chicks with omphalitis:

The omphalitis It is an infection of the navel, presenting signs of inflammation. It is caused by a combination of two factors: —one is due to incubation problems, specifically issues with both temperature and humidity in the incubator, which lead to poor healing of the navel. Photo No. 50

The other is caused by the presence of pathogenic bacteria that cause an infection at the site; this is controlled by reducing contamination of the eggs and by implementing hygiene practices at the hatchery.

Sticky chicks:

This is mainly due to low average temperatures, high humidity, inadequate ventilation, or eggs exploding in the incubator (due to contamination). Photo No. 53

Chick sticky photo 53

Dried chicks with eggshells still attached:

Due to low humidity in the storage of eggs. Flip inappropriate during the incubation. Low humidity in the hatcher.

Dead chicks in the hatching trays, dehydrated:

Being of a size smaller than normal. Its cause is the loss of moisture beyond what is expected (weight loss over 12 % in the incubation period) in the first eighteen days of incubation.

Chicks gasping for air and fresh droppings in the hatching trays:

Permanence of the chicks for a long time in the hatchers.

Chicks born with defects:

Photos 38, 39, 45, and 46: The causes of malformations are varied and have already been discussed in the previous chapter; here we will focus only on defects in newly hatched chicks.

Both improper turning and inadequate ventilation play a significant role in these conditions. The temperature during the incubation process must be taken into account, since—beyond the physiological zero point of the various tissues—there is a correlation between the timing of the incubator’s temperature failure and the onset of malformations.

Inadequate nutrition can cause certain defects in chicks, such as:

Parrot beak (due to manganese or biotin deficiency).
Skeletal abnormalities (due to vitamin D3, biotin, or calcium deficiency),
Crooked toes (due to riboflavin or vitamin B12 deficiency).
In addition, there are hereditary factors that can cause malformations.

Chicks sprawled out:

This is mainly due to the slippery surface of the hatching trays; it can also be caused by low humidity or nutritional deficiencies. Photo No. 45

Chick despatarrado photo 45

Chicks showing signs of nervousness:

Photo No. 46 shows a wide range of causes; it may be due to genetic, nutritional, or environmental factors (high temperature or low humidity during incubation).

If the percentage of chicks with nervous signs is very high, it can be corrected by increasing the humidity in the incubation, but this is always good for checking the weight loss of the eggs in that period, as explained in: Causes of deviation of the normal values.

Certain diseases can cause neurological signs in chicks, such as cerebral aspergillosis and encephalomyelitis, which are problems that primarily occur during the chick’s first week of life on the broiler farm.

Chick with sign-nervous photo 46

Chicks with brain herniation:

Photo No. 39: This condition is also known as encephalocele; it can have various causes, but it is most commonly associated with high temperatures during the incubation period and, in some cases, improper turning.

Chicks that can't stop:

Inadequate ventilation, overheating, at some point of the twenty-one days of incubation. High humidity during the first nineteen days.

Dried chicks:

Eggs are loaded very early.
Low moisture between twenty and twenty-one days of incubation.
Chicks that have remained in the hatchery for a long time.
A telltale sign of a dehydrated chick is dry skin on its legs and visible veins.

Gout, or uric acid syndrome—which primarily affects chicks during their first week of life—is also linked to severe dehydration caused by low humidity or high temperatures in the hatcher or chick room, or by chicks remaining in the hatchers or on the floor for too long.

Uric acid precipitates as urates, both in the joints—causing what is known as joint gout—and in the internal organs, causing visceral gout. Photo No. 52

Desidratación and drop photo 52

Very small chicks:

Eggs loaded with very little weight and size. Low humidity storage and incubation. High incubation temperature.

Large chicks with swollen, soft abdomens:

Low average temperature. Poor ventilation of the hatchery or incubator. High humidity, especially in the period of the incubator.

Weak chicks:

High temperature in the hatchery. Poor ventilation. Fumigation excessive formalin in the incubator. Poor nutritional status or health of the players.

Chicks with short, dry down and closed eyes:

High temperature, low humidity, excessive ventilation in the hatchery. Photo No. 54

Down the short, eyes glued photo 54

Chicks with bleeding upper beaks and red tarsi:

Moisture loss from the egg during incubation has been low, so the chick has to peck higher up (the air cell is smaller than normal), and the lack of absorption by the yolk sac increases the effort required. Photo No. 47

Peak bleeding photo 47

Premature births:

Due to high temperatures during egg storage. Improper preheating. High incubation temperature or low humidity at hatching.

Late births:

Low temperature during incubation. Lack of warm-up. Storage of eggs for a long time, and at low temperatures. Eggs too large.

Eggshells with bloodstains inside:

The chicks hatched before their navels had healed; this is because the incubators are operating at high temperatures.

Aspergillosis:

It is a disease of newborn chicks caused by a fungus that is widely found in nature:

It is produced by Aspergillus fumigatus. In some cases, very severe symptoms can occur in day-old chicks during the first few weeks of life.

The photo shows a case with nodules in the serous membranes (1), the brain tissue (2), and the lungs (3); caseous plugs may also be found in the bronchi.

Aspergillosis photo 51

Aspergillus fumigatus:

The pollution may come from the egg, of all places with which he had contact and the hatchery. Aspergillosis can occur in different ways:

Aspergillosis bronchial:

It is characterized by respiratory distress, cyanosis of the mucous membranes, nails, and beak. At necropsy, a yellowish, caseous plug is found obstructing the bronchial lumen.

Pulmonary aspergillosis:

Are nodules of yellow in the lung parenchyma, or in the serosa.

In the most severe cases of this disease, lesions may develop in the brain tissue.

Chicks with pericarditis:

Coagulation of the contents of the yolk sac and liver congestion:

This is a bacterial infection, so it is advisable to perform laboratory testing to screen for enterobacteria (Salmonella spp., E. coli, etc.).

Well, now that we’ve covered all this information and looked at the photos that help us better understand the details, let’s move on to the section on the incubation and development of the Castilian Black chick.

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