So I had a speciak chick hatch out on Saturday. I say special, because this chick hatched from the egg I dropped during the day 5 candling, which cracked the shell and caused the air sack to take up nearly a third of the shell.
Defying the odds, this little chick hatched out. Unfortunately the chick had curled toes and developed a splayed leg. I put sandals on the toes immediately, but took them off after 24 hours in favor of correcting the splay since the toes were already doing much better.
Now at about 36 hours old the toes and splay are doing much better, but the chick still has problems balancing, tipping over away from the splay. Last night I kept the chick in a tea cup in the incubator to keep it upright.
Unfortunately, while the chick can walk and right itself after tipping over the first few times, it gives up when it is tired, which means that after escaping the cup this afternoon it spent several hours trying to get itself back up, and is exhausted.
I have the chick in the cup again for the night, but should I keep it there tomorrow as well? I am watering the chick with vitamins, and I'm going to try egg yolk again in the morning.
Is there anything else I can/should do to coddle this one along? Other than the weak leg it's a strong, bright chick, and I'm loathe to cull when I only had 4 hatch from a purchased dozen.
Defying the odds, this little chick hatched out. Unfortunately the chick had curled toes and developed a splayed leg. I put sandals on the toes immediately, but took them off after 24 hours in favor of correcting the splay since the toes were already doing much better.
Now at about 36 hours old the toes and splay are doing much better, but the chick still has problems balancing, tipping over away from the splay. Last night I kept the chick in a tea cup in the incubator to keep it upright.
Unfortunately, while the chick can walk and right itself after tipping over the first few times, it gives up when it is tired, which means that after escaping the cup this afternoon it spent several hours trying to get itself back up, and is exhausted.
I have the chick in the cup again for the night, but should I keep it there tomorrow as well? I am watering the chick with vitamins, and I'm going to try egg yolk again in the morning.
Is there anything else I can/should do to coddle this one along? Other than the weak leg it's a strong, bright chick, and I'm loathe to cull when I only had 4 hatch from a purchased dozen.
