Duckling with curled up foot

[Niss]

My first duckling hatched last night about 8pm. Just now I moved the chicken mother, ducklings, and unhatched eggs to a nest on the floor and I noticed the first little duck's one foot is tightly curled under, and using light pressure I could not straiten it out.

Can anything be done for him?
Might he live if it can't be corrected?

Thank you!

 

[teach1rusl]

Sure he could live with a deformed foot. It'd have a harder time in the wild of course, but should be fine as a fed/cared for pet.
If you're not squeamish, you might try a little more pressure to uncurl it??? I've read of folks cutting a "shoe" outline from lightweight card cardboard and either taping (with bandaid) or supergluing the foot to the "shoe." In the case of superglue, they said the glue would wear off, releasing the cardboard. This was for chickens, but I'd think it could work for ducklings too if you can straighten the foot enough to set it. It helped to correct the foot in every example I've read of...