Cream Legbar & Vorwerk hatching update

Cream Legbar Chick 1 day old

I had hoped to be bringing some positive news tonight with the first hatching of the Cream Legbar yesterday at around 8am and the beginning of pipping of the Volwerk egg.

Sadly the Volwerk chick struggled to hatch and after 24 hours needed assistance. It went to plan fortunately as the best advice in this situation appears to be leave well alone.  However, after a few hours of hatching it became clear that the chick could not walk properly. After a few tweets, splayed leg was suggested and it made total sense, and I have no idea why I did not see it earlier.

This is when the chicks legs spread apart a bit like they are dancing on ice, badly. So I recalled reading some time ago that the best thing to use is a plaster as the non sticky part is just the right width apart for the legs. So with the legs taped together, I hoped the chick would start standing.

Sadly it was lying down and shutting its eyes, almost giving up. Now I'm quite stubborn when I want to be and whether this is the right thing to do or not is debatable. I decided to try and feed a piece of crumb to the chick to give it some energy.

Cream legbar bottom, Vorwerk top not standing

It would not open it's beak, so I pried it open gently and popped the crumb in. It took it fortunately and has been taking quite a few, but I can't get it to peck off the floor or food dish.

I guess I'm giving it the best chance possible, but over night, it will have to fend for itself.
Fingers crossed.


Thanks for reading.