Curled Toe Chicks?!

[Colinus Ruckus]

My butler bobwhites started hatching yesterday night, and more hatched last night and this morning. The first two rounds were healthy and bouncy, but the last three that hatched have had curled toes and turned-in feet. I've read conflicting opinions on this: is it hereditary? incubator temp/humidity? (I have had trouble getting humidity above 60%, but temp has been a steady 99.5 throughout) or riboflavin deficiency in the hens. More babies are due to hatch today. Is there anything I can do to reduce the chance of them coming out with crooked feet? And what should I do with the ones that already have it? I've seen booting in the chicken and guinea forums, but these guys are so tiny! Thanks for your help!

 

[LarryPQ]

Curly toes is usually a temperature issue, towards the end of the hatch.

 

[Colinus Ruckus]

What does that mean though? Temperature issue? Too high, too low? What?!?! AHHH!

 

[LarryPQ]

You'd have to look it up, I don't know offhand.

Do a search on BYC--but I think the University of Texas hatching guide (in a hatching sticky on BYC) has that info in it. I don't want to mis-speak.

 

[Colinus Ruckus]

Well, I just looked it up in the UT Hatching Guide and it also said "incorrect temperature or humidity" which is totally unhelpful. Can anyone tell me what might be incorrect? 99.5 F and 60% humidity is where it's been at.

 

[LarryPQ]

Maybe a cool/hot spot in the incubator?

 

[stacyh]

Wish I knew. I had 2 with curled feet. One was turned under and the other turned in. Neither of them made it. We did get the one with the curled turned inwards toes straight with shoes but for some unknown reason he passed away last night at 6 days old. He was a runt compared to the rest of them so I'm thinking he had something else going on. He was 2/3 of the size of the other chicks.

 

[Colinus Ruckus]

I'm thinking about booting these two, but maybe I'll wait until tomorrow to see if they straighten out any. The first crooked-toe baby I had to let go; he couldn't get out of the egg. I just pulled him out to see what the deal was

I'm trying not to panic about the other 42 eggs still left to go...
Also, the incubator is stinking a little. Should I open it up and clean it or just leave it to keep the humidity stable? So many questions!

 

[stacyh]

My 2 curled toes came from the last eggs to hatch and they had a hard time getting out. I wouldn't open it to clean it.

 

[Colinus Ruckus]

Ok, cranked the humidity up to 65%. Temp is still 99.5. Thanks for the tips so far. Wish me luck!