Early Hatch Quail Chick - Curled Toes and Slipped Tendon?

[Somewhere_In_The_Clouds]

I managed to get a bit of tape around baby no. 1 leg last night, it fell of this morning but this is him now!

This baby no. 2, does appear curled toes.

 

[Somewhere_In_The_Clouds]

How high was your humidity? In my experience, higher humidity has given me more curled toes. I've had my best hatches at about 30% humidity, and raising it to 50-60% at lockdown.

Your second chick may start off with curled toes that will straighten out in less than a day on their own. Don't mess with them unless they still look like little fists after a few hours.

Sorry, I meant to reply to this!
Humidity was about 40%, I've been having a hard time keeping a consistent humidity during the last few day it's been between 35% - 50%

 

[Nabiki]

That's great that chick #1 has improved so much! I would go ahead and tape the toes of chick #2. It probably won't need the tape for more than a day to correct those toes.

 

[AGDependentFarm]

Gotta love new babies. you want them all to live and get strong. But its tough raising baby animals. We have had a few come out with deformed legs or feet. The humane thing is probably to go ahead and cull. If you let it grow and it survives you dont want it passing any bad genes to your next set. So you would end up culling it anyway.

We never want to hurt the babies. I never tape mine or do anything special. I make sure when they get to the brooder they get water and feed. If they cant get around the strong babies will trample it. Its a hard choice to make, but it happens to everyone who incubates eggs...

You will make the right choice and be glad you did. Or you'll learn a valuable lesson and chose differently in the future.

Happy Farming..

 

[Somewhere_In_The_Clouds]

Gotta love new babies. you want them all to live and get strong. But its tough raising baby animals. We have had a few come out with deformed legs or feet. The humane thing is probably to go ahead and cull. If you let it grow and it survives you dont want it passing any bad genes to your next set. So you would end up culling it anyway.

We never want to hurt the babies. I never tape mine or do anything special. I make sure when they get to the brooder they get water and feed. If they cant get around the strong babies will trample it. Its a hard choice to make, but it happens to everyone who incubates eggs...

You will make the right choice and be glad you did. Or you'll learn a valuable lesson and chose differently in the future.

Happy Farming..

Thank you for the reply.
I certainly understand that view, I've already decided that if I continue with these two (which I am for now) they will stay with me as non breeders (I technically keep these guys for pets anyway) or I will find them a non breeding home.

I would like some confirmation that I am still dealing with curled toes?? I've never had experience with curled toes, but this is after more then 24hrs taped. Do I retape them?

Baby no. 1

Baby no. 2

Baby 1 at front in both pictures.

And I know it's a bit quick to assume after my first hatch of only two babies, but at what point do you begin to consider if it's genetic

 

[007Sean]

Thank you for the reply.
I certainly understand that view, I've already decided that if I continue with these two (which I am for now) they will stay with me as non breeders (I technically keep these guys for pets anyway) or I will find them a non breeding home.

I would like some confirmation that I am still dealing with curled toes?? I've never had experience with curled toes, but this is after more then 24hrs taped. Do I retape them?

Baby no. 1
View attachment 3371566 View attachment 3371567 View attachment 3371568 View attachment 3371571

Baby no. 2
View attachment 3371565 View attachment 3371569
Baby 1 at front in both pictures.
View attachment 3371572
View attachment 3371570

And I know it's a bit quick to assume after my first hatch of only two babies, but at what point do you begin to consider if it's genetic

I'd re-tape them while they are still pliable. You can't say it's genetics with only 2 chicks, with the humidity issues you had/have. Fix you're issues with the humidity and if any, temperature issues, before hatching anymore.
The amount of time it takes for them to exit the shell also plays a part in whether or not they will have curled toes.
Not all defects are genetical, some are introduced by poor incubation processes.

 

[Somewhere_In_The_Clouds]

I'd re-tape them while they are still pliable. You can't say it's genetics with only 2 chicks, with the humidity issues you had/have. Fix you're issues with the humidity and if any, temperature issues, before hatching anymore.
The amount of time it takes for them to exit the shell also plays a part in whether or not they will have curled toes.
Not all defects are genetical, some are introduced by poor incubation processes.

I'll re-tape them then.
I will definitely be fixing everything before hatching more, the thing that bugs me is I wasn't having much issue with humidity till after the first chick hatched. But I guess he might have hatched with too low humidity because he only hatched the day after lockdown.

 

[007Sean]

I'll re-tape them then.
I will definitely be fixing everything before hatching more, the thing that bugs me is I wasn't having much issue with humidity till after the first chick hatched. But I guess he might have hatched with too low humidity because he only hatched the day after lockdown.

Are you using accurate, calibrated thermometer(s) and hygrometer? The OEM sensors on the cheaper foam and plastic incubators are notoriously inaccurate and unreliable.
Coturnix tend to develop and have better hatch rates if a 30 to 35% Rh is held during incubation. At 'lockdown' ( I dislike that term but anyway) or the last 3 to 4 days of the incubation process, you should raise the Rh to 50 - 60% Rh.
Higher %Rh causes problems with the chicks being able to hatch and take longer to hatch, 'stuck chick' syndrome. It also in my experiences causes the chicks to have deformed toes and legs???( not scientic but just my observations).

 

[AGDependentFarm]

'll re-tape them then.
I will definitely be fixing everything before hatching more, the thing that bugs me is I wasn't having much issue with humidity till after the first chick hatched. But I guess he might have hatched with too low humidity because he only hatched the day after lockdown.

We use the Farm Innovators incubator and incubate 120 eggs at a time. I have 2 govee digital thermometers to show the temp and humidity. 1 in the middle and one in a corner. none of the numbers match. the machine shows 2 degrees hotter in the middle than the govee reads. the corner one will be a full degree cooler. we try to keep it at 99.5 but the incubator is inconsistent. We run 35% humidity the first 14 days then bring it up to 50% at lockdown. once they start hatching it will jump to 75% due to the eggs moisture and wet birds.
We hatched 83 birds this weekend out of 118 embryos. I know we are still learning and will keep trying to improve to get a better hatch rate.
There is a science to it all but its trial and error to a normal person trying to get into raising birds.

 

[Somewhere_In_The_Clouds]

Are you using accurate, calibrated thermometer(s) and hygrometer? The OEM sensors on the cheaper foam and plastic incubators are notoriously inaccurate and unreliable.
Coturnix tend to develop and have better hatch rates if a 30 to 35% Rh is held during incubation. At 'lockdown' ( I dislike that term but anyway) or the last 3 to 4 days of the incubation process, you should raise the Rh to 50 - 60% Rh.
Higher %Rh causes problems with the chicks being able to hatch and take longer to hatch, 'stuck chick' syndrome. It also in my experiences causes the chicks to have deformed toes and legs???( not scientic but just my observations).

The incubator has a thermometer (It's not a cheap one, but I still know not to fully trust it), and I had an independent thermometer/hygrometer. Before hatching anymore I will get maybe two more? And test and calibrate them before setting the eggs.

The two babies are being very active today, I'll share pictures of their feet a little later when I take the tape off to redo if necessary.