April 2020 Hatch-A-Long! All are welcome!

[kelseyk]

Hello again! The chick in question hatched great and is running around currently, I also had a d’Uccle hatch this morning...Her toes are rather curled in and she sits on her hocks rather than stand up on her feet. I did some research and it seems a boot or a “chicken sandal’’ is in order. But because she isn’t actually standing, should I do something to fix that as well or will that fix itself when the toes are fixed?(side question, their motor control isn’t great yet so they don’t have water in their dish because I don’t want them falling in it..how long can they go before they need to drink?)

I have had chicks with toes curled inward - 2 of them in my latest Appenzeller hatch. I took a bandaid and cut the foam part out of the middle and used the 2 sticky pieces to straighten the toes (put the one on the bottom of their foot and straighten the toes then apply the top one and seal the bandaids together in between the toes). They will stumble around a little at first, but before too long they are running around like the other chicks. I read to leave them on for about 3 days or so - I need to take mine off my chicks tomorrow.

 

[kelseyk]

@FluffyBottomBantams - Here is the site I found that deals with booting curled toes: https://www.mypetchicken.com/backya...-toes-are-all-curled-up-whats-wrong-H293.aspx

 

[FortCluck]

I got a new bator and set more eggs I have lots of eggs on lockdown too. Husband bought me the identical incubator i already have instead of the cheap one. It's all set up and ready to go

I'm getting duck eggs again to hatch for a friend. I should get them sometime this week.

 

[FluffyBottomBantams]

@kelseyk thanks for the link ! It was actually quite helpful, most blogs I’ve seen don’t usually do in depth about the process of making the boot.

 

[kelseyk]

@kelseyk thanks for the link ! It was actually quite helpful, most blogs I’ve seen don’t usually do in depth about the process of making the boot.

Glad it helped! It was the most helpful one I could find too. I went out to go take a pick of one of my chicks that I put the chick boots on and stopped by my chicken run on the way to give them some treats with my kids (leftover strawberry tops and some bananas). By the time I got down to our shop (where my brooder is located), I had forgot about the pictures and proceeded to take off the chick boots (I had recalculated the days and today was 3 days not tomorrow). The bandaids are a little tough to get off. I had to run the chicks feet under water and use fingernail clippers to trim the badaid down close to the toes (small scissors probably would have worked better, but didn't have any down there). Both chicks are walking normally! You would have never known that the one had toes that curled inward and the other had a toe that was misplaced (looked like it had broken it as it started the right way and then kinked off at a 90 degree angle to the outside). Nothing I did - both just hatched that way. The rest of the hatch's feet were fine.

 

[FluffyBottomBantams]

Wow that’s crazy to me how they just hatch like that. I’ve seen articles and whatnot mentioning how fluctuations in heat or humidity could cause wacky toes upon hatching ..how in the heck would that even work?? Over my head anyway I’m glad your chicks came out alright..it’s crazy how resilient they can be.

My mother and I are attempting an alternative method currently that’s surprisingly working quite well so I thought I’d share and see if anyone else has tried this...We pick up the chick and gently extend the toes into its normal position and hold it. It doesn’t seem like it would work but her toes are almost 100% now!!not sure if it would work for chicks who have toes that curl beneath their foot..but the chicks toes curled inward so it wasn’t as dramatic. It’s the same process as the boot would have but not as traumatic in my opinion because she doesn’t have to deal with wearing shoes

 

[ariri30]

Here's the link for May: May Hatch-a-Long

Great my two broody are fo to hatch next week 27-28 and a third one sounds like she’s going to be broody soon. I’m going to be in the May HAL too

 

[Minky]

Yay for good chick podiatry!!
This is better than anything on Netflix.

Never thought I'd be sewing a chicken bra........and reading about chick splints ...☺

 

[FluffyBottomBantams]

A chicken bra?!? Do explain! I’ll have to google it because what I’m imagining probably isn’t accurate

 

[Fatimetta]

How long do you all give your chicks heat for? I usually start at 95 degrees and decrease 5 degrees each week until it matches room temperature, but I would like to get the heat lamp turned off asap as I don't trust heat lamps much and I don't have a brooder plate. My chicks will be 4 weeks on Thursday... so technically week 4 would be 75 degrees.. our house is usually 70 do you think that is okay?