anxious and knowledge seeking new hen!

[herdofnoni]

hi there. ok we had chickens when i was little but now memory fails me...we just got 6 loverly little balls of fluff from my sons class at school. 4 are doing great, 2 are a little lethargic, they are smaller and different in colouring, actually they look exactly like the picture of the chicks in the raising chicks 101 section of the site. (greyish with dark brown markings on their heads and backs)
well what i am worried about is their leg strength, they botth seem to have one foot that the toes stay curled and reaaly don't walk about like the other four it is more of a stumble. they are mind you a day younger.
i have them in a seperate box inside the main box with their own food and water though we had to show them where the water was by dipping thier beaks in it they don't seem to go to it by themselves
but i am also wondering how i can tell what breed they are?
the oder stronger chicks .. lets see two are solid in colour one being yellow the other a caramel colour.. 2 have slight markings , a darker strip down thier backs or just on the head , and the little ones i already described.
the teacher didn't know he gets them from a friend for a class project, the eggs were brown and some were greenish blue
any way any tips and tidbits are greatly welcomed cause i am very new to this game!

 

[Cetawin]

You may want to do a search of the forum here for spraddle leg and bandaging the legs...there is a way that the folks here use to fix that problem using band-aids.

 

[herdofnoni]

thanks so much.

. i realy am worried about this one. his well sibling i guess is doing much better, drinking and eating where as (milo is the name) is not really doing much but sleeping and you have to put milo by the water to get her to drink. .. i still have the tow of them seperate from the other chicks as they are 2 -3 days younger. they hatched on friday the 16th and the others were on either wed 14th or thurs the 15th..
one of them took quite awhile to detach from the egg sac and the other bled quite a bit from teh unbilical site.. probably why theya re weaker??
any whay i will look for what you mentioned, i feel really bad for the little guy/gal...

 

[herdofnoni]

alright .,two chicks are bandaided.. and flopping all over the place. gave them a worm each and they ate them up.. the 4 stronger chicks were hilarious to watch fighting over a worm .(definatly need a bigger box). that is once they wern't afraid of it anymore!! haahahha god certainly does have a great sence of humour


any way the two little ones are still very sleepy, the one has quite bent toes and walks about well very clumsily on his hocks,, the other stands better i think because of the bandaids we will see in the next few days if it improves his/her walking

i will post pics ones i figure out how to do it..
thanks for the tips hopefully itisn't something more serious caue i would hate to loose the little ones.

 

[herdofnoni]

here are the pics of the chicks

the 4 big ones.. daisy,meme,popcorn and caramel

this one has really crooked toes and walks on his hocks

the 2 little ones.. milo and tiger

 

[herdofnoni]

i know they are on newsprint in the box pictures. now they are on an old rag, i gottta go buy paper towel..never use it always use cloth napkins etc. any way .. hubby feels we shoudl put the one darker little guy out of "his misery" as he says .. the feet are definately not uncurling.. i say give it a bit. started them on baby vitimins, in thier water, and one drop a day.. baby chicks sure are hard to force feed!.. welll. that is all, ttfn

 

[chickflick]

I hope someone comes along quick to help the poor lil chick out! I know people have made "boots" for chicks with bad feet. Made out of cardboard, cut out little circles and straighten out the toes and tape the boots to them. Think there may be another problem with the chick tho, since it's weaker. I know someone will come along that knows more than I do...... good luck

 

[herdofnoni]

my hubby thinks i fuss to much.. "they're just chickens for goodness sake" he says... boots eh.. hmmm. i was thinking last night that the one really might not make it.. i am not sure but one of them when hatched bled quite a bit from teh umbilicus site.. the other took quite awhilt to detach from teh yolk sac. but i think that was one of teh biger chicks..
they were hatched in an incubator in my sons class at school. maybe there was a porblem earler on.. ahhhh .. i am sad now.. i don't want the poor littel thing to die.
i am such a suck! but i really wan tot do all i can for them .. culling really is a last resort. i'd much rather if she were to go her to go on her own , at least them i woudl know i did all i could.
thanks

 

[Shaun Hagan]

I saw someone who streched the toes out and used a larger band-aid to hold the toes flat. If you do some looking in the Emergencies section you ought to find pics of it.

 

[herdofnoni]

well the one dark chick on the right is now dead. he died over hte weekend. the other i put the booties on and now his toes are straight but his ankle is turned under,,,, he still walks on his hocks. i don't know what to do. i don't think he is goign to make it. breathing sounds bubbly. well that is the update in my chicken saga...