I have 17 Bresse and 5 Light Sussex chicks who will all be 5 weeks old tomorrow. I hatched them all from my own birds with no losses in the hatch and perfect health so far. One chick had mild splayed leg when it hatched and was in hobbles for 2 days but was fine. I never noticed any other leg, foot or toe issues until yesterday. It really seems like it happened overnight, although maybe it was there but just more subtle before.
It seems to be the same toe on all of the affected chicks. The innermost one on either foot is bent to the side. Some are worse than others and the worst ones have more than one crooked toe.
This is a bit of a breakdown:
5 Light Sussex - all seem to be unaffected (so far)
17 Bresse:
4 seem ok so far
8 are only mildly affected (I probably wouldn't have even noticed them if I hadn't inspected them all after seeing the worst ones)
2 are moderate, with a bit of a bend
3 are really quite badly bent
This is one of the milder ones.
And these are some of the worse ones:
They were in an indoor brooder with non slip bedding for two and a half weeks. Then they were moved to an outdoor brooder with deep litter and access to a run on grass. I have oilcloth fabric under the deep litter, as I do in all my coops to protect the plywood floor. I'm not sure if that could be a problem? They only had a very small run for the first few days outside and then I changed it for a bigger one (1.5m x 3m). About a week ago I started letting them out into the main area with the adults, which is about 150m2 of grass within an electric fence. Their brooder is low to the ground and has a gently sloping ramp. They are outgrowing their brooder fast so I know I will need to do something about that soon.
They are eating 25% protein chick starter. The only other food they've ever had is scrambled egg and whatever they have foraged since moving out. When I noticed this yesterday, I added a chick multivitamin to their water. So far, they've had the same multivitamin just once before when they were about 2 weeks old.
1. My biggest question is, can this be Marek's disease? As far as I can tell from reading and looking though many other threads, these look like crooked toes and not curled toes as you would expect with Marek's. However, I have come across at least one thread where the toes were crooked and Marek's was suspected. The main reason I'm concerned is because I have an 11 month old cockerel who suddenly went lame two months ago. His thread is here.
2. If not Marek's, what can have caused this? Despite a huge amount of reading, I haven't come across anything very conclusive about crooked toes but maybe I've missed something?
3. And then importantly, what can I do for them?
I also have 15 other chicks who are almost 2 weeks old and all seem fine so far. None have any signs of leg, foot or toe issues. They have only briefly been on the grass so far. If it's something unavoidable and horrific like Marek's then there's nothing I can do. But if there's something I've done wrong with the older ones to cause it, I'd really like to make sure I prevent it happening with the little ones. And if there's anything I can change to help the 5 weeks olds at this stage, I'd really love to know.
It seems to be the same toe on all of the affected chicks. The innermost one on either foot is bent to the side. Some are worse than others and the worst ones have more than one crooked toe.
This is a bit of a breakdown:
5 Light Sussex - all seem to be unaffected (so far)
17 Bresse:
4 seem ok so far
8 are only mildly affected (I probably wouldn't have even noticed them if I hadn't inspected them all after seeing the worst ones)
2 are moderate, with a bit of a bend
3 are really quite badly bent
This is one of the milder ones.
And these are some of the worse ones:
They were in an indoor brooder with non slip bedding for two and a half weeks. Then they were moved to an outdoor brooder with deep litter and access to a run on grass. I have oilcloth fabric under the deep litter, as I do in all my coops to protect the plywood floor. I'm not sure if that could be a problem? They only had a very small run for the first few days outside and then I changed it for a bigger one (1.5m x 3m). About a week ago I started letting them out into the main area with the adults, which is about 150m2 of grass within an electric fence. Their brooder is low to the ground and has a gently sloping ramp. They are outgrowing their brooder fast so I know I will need to do something about that soon.
They are eating 25% protein chick starter. The only other food they've ever had is scrambled egg and whatever they have foraged since moving out. When I noticed this yesterday, I added a chick multivitamin to their water. So far, they've had the same multivitamin just once before when they were about 2 weeks old.
1. My biggest question is, can this be Marek's disease? As far as I can tell from reading and looking though many other threads, these look like crooked toes and not curled toes as you would expect with Marek's. However, I have come across at least one thread where the toes were crooked and Marek's was suspected. The main reason I'm concerned is because I have an 11 month old cockerel who suddenly went lame two months ago. His thread is here.
2. If not Marek's, what can have caused this? Despite a huge amount of reading, I haven't come across anything very conclusive about crooked toes but maybe I've missed something?
3. And then importantly, what can I do for them?
I also have 15 other chicks who are almost 2 weeks old and all seem fine so far. None have any signs of leg, foot or toe issues. They have only briefly been on the grass so far. If it's something unavoidable and horrific like Marek's then there's nothing I can do. But if there's something I've done wrong with the older ones to cause it, I'd really like to make sure I prevent it happening with the little ones. And if there's anything I can change to help the 5 weeks olds at this stage, I'd really love to know.
