Chick born with weird feet

[sepaditty1]

This little baby doesn't seem to be able to open up her feet. She hatched yesterday. Getting around alright in the bator, but not making any progress. Is there anything I can do? Sorry the picture isn't better, but they're still in the bator. Can you see her little foot curled up on the left?

 

[bluefrog87]

This foot problem at birth are typically caused by a vitamin deficiency in the mom. You can attempt to splint the toes into the correct position. Be careful with this chick. Chicks with this defect are more likely to have splayed leg.

 

[sepaditty1]

I'm not really sure how to splint the toes. Have you done it? Any pointers?

 

[bluefrog87]

Yes, a friend of mine had this problem with a 5 chicks She got a bunch of hatching eggs and apparently the parents had a vitamin B problem. The person who sold the eggs had a lot of problems with people complaining. The splinting worked on 3 but the other 2 just didn't work. So, no guarantees but it's attempting something.

All you need is "Vetrap" / "coban" / Self Adhesive wrap. It is roughly $ 2.50 per roll. and available at feed stores / pet store / drug stores.

Take small strips and wrap the toes like you would tape your toes if they where broken (I hope they are not) then like a figure 8 around toes to spread them. Be careful not to wrap them too close together or too tight. It's kinda like bumble foot wrapping but different because of the toes. I'll try to make a picture or something.

Also electrolytes don't hurt but the problem was most likely the parents.

 

[Eggcessive]

I agree that curled toes can be from a vitamin deficiency in the parents, and sometimes from incubator temperatures fluctuating. Get the chick on a non-slip surface, and start taping the toes to correct it--the earlier it's done the better the chances of success. Here is a good site to look through: https://sites.google.com/a/poultrypedia.com/poultrypedia/poultry-podiatry

 

[bluefrog87]

I forgot to add if they are really really bad you can cut small pieces of cardboard to help straighten. It would be like a Popsicle stick splint you'd use for human broken toes.

My friend and I didn't figure it out early.

 

[bluefrog87]

 

[bluefrog87]

this is a better picture. of the figure 8 though it still kinda looks like silly string on a chicken foot.

Be sure to give Vitamin B supplement as soon as possible. This will increase your chances of sucess. If really bad to the point all the toes point straight there is a chick shoe which is a cardboard cut out of a nomal chick foot) but I would be careful with it because it increase your drowning risk

 

[dawg53]

This sounds like a riboflavin deficiency. I recommend Avian Super Pack for all your chicks. Dosage is 1/4 teaspoon per gallon of water for 5 days. Make it fresh each day, dont add anything else to the mixture.
http://www.jefferspet.com/avian-super-pack/camid/LIV/cp/AB-P1/

 

[sepaditty1]

Those are awesome diagrams! Thank you.

She was born yesterday. This evening I put them all in the incubator. Their water has an electrolyte packet in it.

Tomorrow she will be 3 days old. Hopefully that is young enough to get her some relief. The other 4 are fine.

Right now I'm calling her Radar. M*A*S*H fans should remember that he was always holding a clipboard or something to cover the deformity in his hand. It just popped in my head first thing.