Cuts/Sores on their feet?

[classroomducks]

This is my first hatch and experience with poultry. I hatched 8 ducklings over 4 days last week. They are now now 7, 6, 5, and 4 days old. All of my babies seem to have these cuts/sores on their feet and I have no idea what could be causing them. By brooder is lined with the soft shelf liner, which i read from several bycers that this was fine. They dont seem to be hurting them, but I have no idea what is causing them, or how to fix it. Any help would be great.

Here is the brooder:

you can see the shelf liner better in this pic...

and this is what their feet like...this baby's is the worst, but they all have varying severity of it...it looks like cuts/sores and I cant figure it out.

Help please?

 

[fiberart57]

Hi, this is just a guess but I'm thinking that those shelf liners are a latex compound and latex can cause sensitivities in a lot of living things. Perhaps they're not so much "cuts" but "cracks" and irritation from the latex. Good luck and I hope the little cuties get better.

Mary

 

[elmo]

Gee, I don't know. The noticed you've got chicken wire on the front and back of the brooder. Sometimes the edges of chicken wire are sharp; I wonder if your ducklings are clambering up the sides of the brooder and cutting up their feet in the process?

 

[elmo]

Quote:
Hmm, good guess. Change the liner and see if that fixes the problem.

 

[classroomducks]

I dont think they are climbing the wire...


you think they have an allergy to latex?

 

[geosheets]

what is under the shelf liner? If you push down on the liner with your hand do you feel anything sharp?

 

[classroomducks]

no nothing sharp...under the shelf liner is a layer of screen...like a screen on a window...and then some chicken wire for support, but you cant feel the chicken wire at all...the shelf liner is pretty squishy...

 

[classroomducks]

i dont know what else i would put in there...I cant have hay or pine because of students allergies...

 

[elmo]

I used paper towels in my brooder, but that was for chicks not ducklings. I did change the paper several times a day to keep things clean (I'm an obsessive cleaner).

 

[geosheets]

I'm gonna guess either not enough support (screen flexing too much) or something in the shelf liner is bothering them (like the others have mentioned). I use the shelf liner myself for the first week or so and have never had any issues like this. I like the idea of paper towels, they would not be too slippery if they are on top of the shelf liner. If the screen flexes quite a bit, maybe you could put a piece of cardboard under the shelf liner and then put paper towels on top of the shelf liner. You could also use shredded paper instead of pine bedding... I imagine there are some paper shredders in the school or if you have to, I would guess you could buy shredded paper from an office supply store or anywhere that sells packaging materials.

eta: Sitting here looking at this foot picture some more... the foot seems to look pale and emaciated. Almost like it is staying damp... some of those shelf liners are like little sponges and can hold moisture (as well as bacteria). I say get them off the shelf liner one way or the other and onto paper towels or some sort of bedding.