deformed button? Update...bad news.

[_lizzer_]

I hatches a button two days ago, and yesterday another one hatched. He took forever to hatch. He can't stand up, and it doesn't seem like he has enough feathers. What do I do?! Just see if he makes it? That seems like torture...but I know I couldn't put him down myself.

The little guy passed last night, I tried hand feeding him to give him some energy, and tried straightening his toes. Nothing worked. Now I have one lonely little button.

 

[Akane]

Can you see what's wrong with his legs? Is he a very light color or pink eyed? The pink eyed ones and sometimes the very light colored ones seem to hatch with less down than the others and can look like they have bald patches. This doesn't cause them any real problems and they feather normally in my experience. They just look really odd and sickly. If other than that his problem is just standing then you need to check his legs to see if everything moves correctly. They can get curled toes or even have the joint just above the toes twist a bit sideways. It especially happens when they spend too long in the egg and hatch late. Sometimes they recover on their own given a few days. You can improve their chances though by gently stretching the toes back to their normal position. It is also possible to make boots for quail like others have done for chicks. It is darn frustrating though and takes some good dexterity to put tape boots on tiny button feet.

 

[citalk2much]

I am with akane on this. You may also try a drop of light karo if you don't have that sugar water to help give it a little energy
Best of luck!.

 

[_lizzer_]

it's toes are definitely curled, and one of his legs seems a little funny, like twisted or something. i will try to stretch his toes, but it's hard, i don't want to hurt it. they are so small! he was a late hatch.

 

[Plain_View_Farm]

We have had 1 button in each of the two hatches we've done on Buttons. The legs kinda go out sideways rather then underneath them. Almost like they had dislocated hips. Would lower incubator temperature causing a longer hatch time cause in this problem?

David