100% hatch rate on shipped eggs!

[casportpony]

Kathy, I just remembered this post, is there any way to reduce the swelling? I just noticed 2 chicks 4 weeks old also have swelling! The weird thing that all the 3 chicks get swelling in their left leg!

You could talk to your vet about anti-inflammatories that are safe to use i birds, like maybe meloxicam?

-Kathy

 

[Peafowlssssssss]

You could leave them taped for more than 12 hrs. but I would not do it for 24 hrs a day. You would probably end up with some sores from the taping, and believe me, your chicks will be very unhappy with being taped, allowing them to have freedom and be with the unaffected chicks will keep them happier. They cannot walk while taped they will fly and hop, but they cannot walk and I think 24 hrs like this would have a neg. affect on them. I saw no improvement in mine until the middle of the third week of taping. But I could see that it was not getting worse, if left untreated the leg will rotate until it is pointed backwards and they cannot walk at all. We had it happen to a guinea chick before I knew about the taping and she was crippled completely, we were going to put her down, but the neighbors chickens did it for us.

I used "Poultry Pack" vitamins and mixed into the water everyday for a week and then one day a week after that.

I just ended taping them so only 27 days left

, That's not easy to do with these spalding chicks

, I will tape them for just 12 hours as you suggested, I have mixed the vitamins into the water and changed the feed to lower protein feed(was 26% now 18%), Thanks again for your help, I hope they will get better soon.

 

[Peafowlssssssss]

You could talk to your vet about anti-inflammatories that are safe to use i birds, like maybe meloxicam?

-Kathy

I will, thanks.

 

[DylansMom]

I just ended taping them so only 27 days left

, That's not easy to do with these spalding chicks

, I will tape them for just 12 hours as you suggested, I have mixed the vitamins into the water and changed the feed to lower protein feed(was 26% now 18%), Thanks again for your help, I hope they will get better soon.

The earlier you catch it the better the chances you can correct it. Mine were 5 1/2, 4 1/2, and 3 1/2 weeks old when I noticed it. I have since watched the growth rates of both my hand reared and hen reared chicks and it is amazing how much bigger the hand reared ones are. The hen reared ones will catch up by the time they are a year old, but from hatch to 12 weeks the difference is huge. The little ones under heat lamps will eat 24 hrs a day, the ones under the hen eat nothing from sundown to sunup and it shows. Once they are a week old I start removing all food overnight, just to try to keep the weight gain and growth rate in check. I have heard it is more common in spaldings although mine were blues. It is a huge problem in Emus, the larger and heavier the bird the more often it occurs.

 

[casportpony]

I've noticed the same thing in the Muscovy ducklings... The ones in the brooder are literally twice as big as the ducklings under ducks.

-Kathy

 

[DylansMom]

I've noticed the same thing in the Muscovy ducklings... The ones in the brooder are literally twice as big as the ducklings under ducks.

-Kathy

Yes, the ones my Cameo hatched almost didn't seem to grow at all the first week, yet I am always amazed at how big the ones in the brooder are after a week. I will have to get a scale and maybe compare weights next year, it would be interesting to see how much difference there actually is.

 

[Peafowlssssssss]

The earlier you catch it the better the chances you can correct it. Mine were 5 1/2, 4 1/2, and 3 1/2 weeks old when I noticed it. I have since watched the growth rates of both my hand reared and hen reared chicks and it is amazing how much bigger the hand reared ones are. The hen reared ones will catch up by the time they are a year old, but from hatch to 12 weeks the difference is huge. The little ones under heat lamps will eat 24 hrs a day, the ones under the hen eat nothing from sundown to sunup and it shows. Once they are a week old I start removing all food overnight, just to try to keep the weight gain and growth rate in check. I have heard it is more common in spaldings although mine were blues. It is a huge problem in Emus, the larger and heavier the bird the more often it occurs.

Mine between 6 to 7 weeks old, I hope it's not late, I noticed one two weeks ago, but all the rest just got it this week!

 

[DylansMom]

Mine between 6 to 7 weeks old, I hope it's not late, I noticed one two weeks ago, but all the rest just got it this week!

How far have the legs rotated?

 

[Peafowlssssssss]

How far have the legs rotated?

They all look like your chick in the first picture, just the one got it two weeks ago looks a little worse but he can still walk almost normally.

 

[DylansMom]

They all look like your chick in the first picture, just the one got it two weeks ago looks a little worse but he can still walk almost normally.

Well then that doesn't sound too bad, so hopefully it will work as well for you as it did for me.