Duckling with splayed legs

[Cayugargh]

I'm very new to all this. I have a 15 hour old cayuga which next to his sibling appears to have splayed legs when walking. Also the sibling is much more responsive, will eat a bit of crumb mash from my hand etc, whereas the splayed guy, although interested, is a bit slow? Should I be worrying about the splayed legs? He had a hard time getting out of his shell. Will he recover? Thanks for any advice

 

[Tenrec]

What are they walking on? You want to put them on something their feet can grip at. For the first few days, a towel is rough enough but also soft and lets them learn what food looks like so they can differ between it and loose substrates like chips/straw/etc later down the line.

Sometimes babies who had a hard time hatching have splay leg, and sometimes they can't even walk for 24 hours regardless of splay leg.

I wouldn't worry about him eating just yet. He's still absorbing yolk. However, I do advise putting some poultry vitamin or sav-a-chick in his water. Make sure you dose it correctly. This could be a vitamin deficiency, namely B complex. If so, he will generally recover quickly from it once the vitamins are replenished. Also, make sure he can't drown in the water...Since he's splay-legged, drinking is harder for him.

You might need to hobble him tomorrow. There are lots of tutorials on hobbling poultry out there, and which method you use is honestly up to preference.

Let us know how he is.