Baby chick born with wonky feet.

[featheredfriends22]

Hi everyone. New to the forum, and could use some help.

I’m watching over newly hatched babies (born yesterday) while friends are out of town (I’ve had my own flock of ~20 for going on 4-5 years. We have raised many babies.
The problem is one baby had trouble getting out of its egg, apparently stuck upside down and had to be removed by hand. We have them in a tank, but this one baby that had a hard time hatching just won’t stand up! He/she is always laying down or crouched, struggling to walk. Looking at both of her feet you can see the toes are curled sort of wonky. Is there a way to help this baby chick get back on its feet? Anyone with experience in regards to this?

Image attatched only shows one foot, but both have a weird sort of curl to them.

 

[Prince and Pavo]

Hello!

This condition is called curled toes (who would’ve guessed, right?). Luckily it can usually be easily treated when caught at this age, but the longer you go without fixing it, the worse it will get and the harder it will be to treat it. To fix this, you can tape the toes out straight on a small piece of cardboard, as if you were training the toes how to lay flat like a normal chick’s. You can even just sandwich the foot between two pieces of tape instead of using the cardboard. I usually use painter’s tape to do this.

I’ve heard that this condition is caused by a lack of the vitamin riboflavin (B2), so adding a supplement of this would probably help.

 

[featheredfriends22]

Hello!

This condition is called curled toes (who would’ve guessed, right?). Luckily it can usually be easily treated when caught at this age, but the longer you go without fixing it, the worse it will get and the harder it will be to treat it. To fix this, you can tape the toes out straight on a small piece of cardboard, as if you were training the toes how to lay flat like a normal chick’s. You can even just sandwich the foot between two pieces of tape instead of using the cardboard. I usually use painter’s tape to do this.

I’ve heard that this condition is caused by a lack of the vitamin riboflavin (B2), so adding a supplement of this would probably help.

Thank you so much! Luckily I was just about to try straightening her feet with some toothpicks, but I had no idea about the condition name or supplement idea. Thanks so much, will definitely do these.