I had a brand new incubator, and I was sure the humidity levels and such were good. I studied this alot before I did my first incubation. I truly thought it was the fault of my incubator though.....(the toes being crooked), then I though, why in the world would it just be the males?
It's such a shame. My favorite chick is the one who came from Ideal. She's just gorgous. The female I hatched has the more polish crest, and the male's crest looks great, except the most inner toe on each foot is crooked. (Kind of bent outward at the knuckle joint, if you can picture that.) Out of the other two that hatched, both had crooked toes, one was beardless, but with the correct crest, and the other had a polish type crest, but crooked toes too.
I would cull them if I wanted to breed them. They're kind of my "special chickens" though. Pets. I won't let them breed. They might not be perfect, but they're ornamental...Eye candy for the yard. Everyone asks about them, and they are just soooo friendly and sweet. The girls sort of "beep" or peep......and they LOVE to be picked up. Whitey, the mutt, lives with them because she hatched with them, and they're all about the same size.
My main flock is various breeds of brown egg layers, and I have a handful of egg customers. Then I have a breeding trio that I just purchased of Wheaten Marans. They're HUGE.
It's such a shame. My favorite chick is the one who came from Ideal. She's just gorgous. The female I hatched has the more polish crest, and the male's crest looks great, except the most inner toe on each foot is crooked. (Kind of bent outward at the knuckle joint, if you can picture that.) Out of the other two that hatched, both had crooked toes, one was beardless, but with the correct crest, and the other had a polish type crest, but crooked toes too.
I would cull them if I wanted to breed them. They're kind of my "special chickens" though. Pets. I won't let them breed. They might not be perfect, but they're ornamental...Eye candy for the yard. Everyone asks about them, and they are just soooo friendly and sweet. The girls sort of "beep" or peep......and they LOVE to be picked up. Whitey, the mutt, lives with them because she hatched with them, and they're all about the same size.
My main flock is various breeds of brown egg layers, and I have a handful of egg customers. Then I have a breeding trio that I just purchased of Wheaten Marans. They're HUGE.