chicks eyes are all stuck shut?

[Albanydog]

Hatched a couple dozen chicks a week ago, a couple different varieties, but I am having problems with these particular Polish. Their little eyes keep gluing shut. None of these chicks have really fluffed out, they all still look like they are sticky/wet and should be in the incubator. I wiped one with warm water and it did fluff up a bit when it dried. Don't know if it is because they are not cleaning themselves or what?

After I gently wipe the eye to clean the exterior and get it open I put Vetericyn in them.
Never experienced this before but I have also never raise Crele Polish, but have raised several other Polish. Could it be a breed thing, I noticed that all 4 chicks have a crooked middle toe on its right foot?

 

[Albanydog]

Well, I lost the chick with the double eye problem

All the Crele's with bad eyes look exactly like this before I wash their eyes, they just look closed but they are stuck shut.


Also, I only had 4 Crele chicks hatch sucessfully out of 11 viable eggs (purchased 12). All the other Crele's died just before or during pip but I didn't lose any other breed of chick hatching at the same time in the same incubator. All 4 of the Crele chicks that hatched have a crooked right middle toe! Is it possible this breed has some sort of genetic defect? Should I tell the breeder or do you think they already know? I waited quite a while on the breeders list for my name to come to the top, drove an hour from my home to pick them up (rather then have them mailed) then waited 2 days to make sure the eggs had settled from the drive before putting them in the incubator. I also purchased 4 Lemon Cuckoo Orpingtons at the same time. $3 per egg. The Orpingtons hatched fine. I had Silkie eggs from another breeder and bantam eggs from my own hens and all hatched fine, I only have trouble with the Crele.

Crooked toes on everyone?

 

[Albanydog]

The last sticky eyed chick (above) is doing better, its eye is half open now, no more sticking shut. I did notice however that besides the crooked middle toes (which have mostly straightened out on two of the chicks) some of them are missing the back toenail on that same foot!! Odd, and not something I want to breed with any of my Polish. Still have the one chicki for sale, with its one squinty eye. (the red is food coloring it got on it from other chicks we marked as they were hatched)


Here is one of the healthier chicks a couple days old after its eye had opened, note the crooked right toes

 

[fried green eggs]

I don't know about the breed if crooked toes are genetic or the hens diet was lacking something or if in-breeding causing this. If the chicks are still small you can make little booties for them to correct crooked toes. Card board cut out in shape the foot should be and tape each toe in place with band-aid tape. If you do a search on "treatment for crooked toes" you will be able to see post of how-to.
I had a chick born with one leg tucked up and crooked toes - it couldn't walk at all. I taped both feet to cardboard cut-outs and with-in a day the chick was walking normally with straight toes. I read the younger you try to correct this - the better because they grow so fast. Good Luck with your little ones.