coturnic chick feet

[ohiogoatgirl]

I had a chick that i helped hatch a bit because it was struggling for ten hours and i was worried about it. I have read about help vs dont help so i know it has higher odds of being weaker or dying. Its a bit slower than the others but seems fine.

So my question is.. the chicks feet are still mostly in the in-shell shape. Its wobbling around the bator fairly well.
Once it is definitely dried off and all how long before i decide if i need to try and "bandaid shoe" its feet/foot?

Thanks!

 

[dc3085]

You will need to do it right after you take it from the brooder. The longer you wait the stiffer the tendons will get.

It can take more than 30 hours for a chick to escape from the shell once they've pipped.

 

[ohiogoatgirl]

Ok if any others are being pokey i will do my best to not mess with them. I was worried about it and its my first hatch so probably makin allth mistakes lol.

Its left foot is all normal now. The right foot the outer toe is out.. the middle toe curls in some at the middle-end.. inner toe moves and all but is still kinda sideways like.

It just hatched at about 8:15am and its now 10:20am. All dry just not fluffed yet. Quite lively though. Already peckin the towel and thermometer lol. Gonna leave him in a bit longer before i put him in the brooder with the other two. They are over a day old now and little terrors will peck him. Give him some more time to get his movements learned better and stronger.

 

[dc3085]

It's a learning experience. The birds will teach you as much as anyone else can.

Pretty often their toes straighten out on their own.

Try your best not to open the door again until 7-8am tomorrow. When you open the door, any egg that was pipped, will pretty much die. If they have the shell broken at all and you open the door, that is when shrink wrapping happens.

 

[ohiogoatgirl]

I was reading about that. I am hatching from am elec skillet have a thread going here about it. So far this is the thirdto hatch of the 8 eggs put in.

 

[dc3085]

Ah, well then my advice is a little over severe for your situation. What normally happens in a bator is you can't see which eggs are pipped or not, so opening the door is a crap shoot on how many you're killing lol. You can open the door without too much concern as long as you can tell the other eggs aren't pipped. If you add a bit of warm (almost hot) water whenever you open the lid, it'll spike your humidity back up for you.