Avoiding Hatching Peachicks With Bawled Up or Curled Feet

[MinxFox]

I searched the UPA website but I couldn't find this in the hatching problems article.

My first peachick I hatched out, Peep, had his feet all curled up. I figured 1. This is how they keep their feet in the shell and 2. Since we had to help him out of his egg he was probably in there too long so that is why I had to hold him and mess with his feet to help him straighten the toes by laying his feet flat on my hand. Last year I hatched 5 or so peachicks, and these I did not have to help out of the shell, but some of them couldn't straighten their toes, one could not even uncurl his feet and because they hatched at night when I was sleeping, by morning some of their feet had hardened and it was very hard to fix. One I couldn't fix and their feet were just very bad. Yet another chick still kept a crooked toe but as it got older the toe fixed by itself. I also sometimes notice people who get a bird a little cheaper because it has crooked toes. So is this common? I just don't see how it can be I mean it would be impossible to be a large breeder and personally care for each chick's feet individually? This is a main reason I am shying away from incubators...

What causes this? Too much humidity (or too little)? Too much heat (or too little)? Are they not hatching fast enough? I do think the ones that hatched later were the ones with the worst feet. I feel like fixing peachick feet comes up fairly often so is this just something that happens? Does it happen with natural peahen incubation?

I am just making sure because while I am not using my incubator this year, my boyfriend is going to try and hatch out a peachick and I don't want him to have to deal with fixing a peachick's foot when this will be his first time hatching something.

 

[AngieO]

I usually figure if they have problems with their feet it is a genetic problem, but I could be wrong.

 

[frenchblackcopper]

Minx,if any peachick takes longer than 24 hrs from pip to out I bet over 50% of them will have feet-toes curled.Those that pip-zip and are out in a few hours seems to have little if any toe problems from my experience.And if toes aren't taped witin 24 hours on some birds they are almost impossible to try and straighten. I had a Midnight B/S chick hatch last year that had crooked toes but I couldn't adress his toes with tape until the third day.Although I could get them properly positioned before taping them under and on top,once I removed the tape the toes went back as before.Weaker chicks takes longer to hatch.I up humidity levels to 60% the last two days before hatch,and any higher I think they would drown.Their toes are curled up while inside the egg prior to hatch as I've helped peel many an egg shell off to see their toes in the natural position inside the egg.I'm going to up my protein levels this year for all my birds to no less than 26% because this solved quitters in one particular color I was having trouble with last year.I noticed over a 65% increased hatch rate starting with eggs laid 2 days after they began getting the higher protein diet.This must give the chicks more energy or vigor at hatchtime because they all pipped and were out in less than 24 hrs as well.

 

[MinxFox]

Okay thanks I was wondering if it was a time thing. Thanks that is exactly what I needed to know is the 24 hour thing. I will have to tell my boyfriend about that.

It was such a bad time last year because I was sick and they were hatching in the middle of the night and in the morning when I tried putting shoes on them they would jump in the water making the tape get all ruined. One peachick was so messed up that I had to abandon it in the woods. I had to because it had such a hard time at walking that it could hardly eat and it pooped all over itself and every time I would clean its bottom it would get all dirty again so it just would have never made it. I felt bad but I tried all sorts of things to help fix it. I felt really bad abandoning it because my boyfriend was born with a clubbed foot and I felt bad having to give up on a bird with foot problems when my boyfriend knew about it and I didn't know if it was a touchy thing for him or if it made him feel like something with messed up feet are not acceptable. He really liked the other peachick that had a crooked toe. The toe eventually straightened on its own.

So I guess I have never seen a peachick hatch with straight feet? Do they hatch and have their feet curled up then quickly uncurl them? When will I know that they need help? The ones that had good feet last year of course hatched when I was not awake and Peep had to be helped out of his egg so I don't know what they look like when they hatch without a problem with feet. Do they stand fairly quickly?

 

[sandspoultry]

I tend to think it's a genetic issue also, Our white peas we got from Brad Legg and some from a local breeder that uses the "only the strong survive method", I don't know about Brad's method but the pea's we got from him are healthy and strong. From the whites we have very little foot problems. From our IB's the oldest trio we hatch some with curled toes but the younger trio not much at all. The younger trio was hatched from the older but I kept the best and strongest for ourselves. We hatch the eggs all together so I don't really think it's happening in the incubator but I don't help them out of the shell and any that hatch with defects I put down right away. In a natural / wild hatch the ones with defects wouldn't make it anyway, we raise all our birds using the "only the strong survive method" and in the other birds you can tell the difference in a few generations.

 

[zazouse]

I found that when they take to long to hach after pipping they are more prone to curled feet,
Here is my theory
when a chcik hatches on time it stengthens it's feet in an open position learning to stand, but when it has to struglle with it's feet in a curled position for so long the feet have only become strong in that position and spreading them out becomes difficult because they are tired and the feet are fixed.
All chicks have curled feet when they come out of the shell, IMO it is how they are able to strengthen their feet and leggs when the time come to come into the worlk.

Did you know that if you help a butterfly out of a cocoon that 9 times out of 10 it will never fly because it's wings are not straight, helping it hendered their ability to build up their strength.

 

[connerhills]

My thought on this .. When the chick is in the shell it is living off of the egg yoke and what blood is developing. Its bones are flexable and soft.. When it pips the shell and lets oxygen into the system for the first time, the bones start to harden and if it stays in the shell to long with out moving the feet or legs the bones will set or start to. So if it is in too long ,the feet will get set in the position they were in the egg which is curled up. There is a short time frame this can be fixed before the bones ar hard. If the eggs pips and takes 24 hrs to get out there has been a lot of oxygen exposure and will be curled toes or bad legs... I have had prooblems with the greens as in tendons going out ,some ofter 1 yrs old so I do think some of it is due to heridity. ...connerhills

 

[kuntrygirl]

I found that when they take to long to hach after pipping they are more prone to curled feet,
Here is my theory
when a chcik hatches on time it stengthens it's feet in an open position learning to stand, but when it has to struglle with it's feet in a curled position for so long the feet have only become strong in that position and spreading them out becomes difficult because they are tired and the feet are fixed.
All chicks have curled feet when they come out of the shell, IMO it is how they are able to strengthen their feet and leggs when the time come to come into the worlk.

Did you know that if you help a butterfly out of a cocoon that 9 times out of 10 it will never fly because it's wings are not straight, helping it hendered their ability to build up their strength.

I had this same conversation with someone this week about the curled feet. I agree with what you are saying. Great point.

 

[kuntrygirl]

Everyone has pointed out VERY good information.

 

[AugeredIn]

My thought on this .. When the chick is in the shell it is living off of the egg yoke and what blood is developing. Its bones are flexable and soft.. When it pips the shell and lets oxygen into the system for the first time, the bones start to harden and if it stays in the shell to long with out moving the feet or legs the bones will set or start to. So if it is in too long ,the feet will get set in the position they were in the egg which is curled up. There is a short time frame this can be fixed before the bones ar hard. If the eggs pips and takes 24 hrs to get out there has been a lot of oxygen exposure and will be curled toes or bad legs... I have had prooblems with the greens as in tendons going out ,some ofter 1 yrs old so I do think some of it is due to heridity. ...connerhills

I have heard this very same thing from another large breeder. Along the same lines I was told that the lower the heat, the larger the bird and the more deformed development prior to hatch due to too much development in the egg. I was incubating at 99.5 and moved up to 100 and have better hatches of chickens and peafowl. I was also told that too much heat causes early hatching and more quiters due to lack of strength and lung development which occurs late in development.