questions for ya all... Guinea Hen chick that is having a hard time keeping it's legs firm to walk...it keeps falling like Bambi on ice. Is there a chance that it will gain strength and be normal enough to survive? Guinea Hen chick that was born with it's toes curled more than normal. It's getting around just fine. Did I incubate wrong? Silkie chick that keeps it's head downward between it's legs and gets itself into a tail spin and somersaults. When it does bring it's head up, it is cocked to the left. It has been eating/drinking on its own, but is much smaller than the others. I have it separated so that it doesn't get trampled. I had a vet out for the horses and she said that it's probably neurological. I don't have the heart to do anything with these birds other than let nature takes its course.... Is it normal to have a couple "abnormalities"? Thanks for your input.
Question 1: I would wait and see if it gets stronger after a little bit. Sometimes they are week the first few days. Question 2: It has wry neck (also know as head tilt). It is caused by a lack of vitamins. Some people will give chidrens vitamins but it can be a very slow recovery, I usually cull if I have this problem. Question 3: This can be caused sometimes by hot spots in the incubator. Do you have a fan? If not you need to make sure to move the eggs to different spots every few days. Or it could just be bad genetics, or feed problems, or too high/low temps. overal.
For the chick with the leg problems, search spraddle leg. There are ways to correct it if you do it early enough. For the chick with the curled toes, you can make "shoes" for it to straighten the toes. Search chick shoes. Again, you have to do this early to get the toes straight. For the silkie chick, I agree with kikidede, sounds like wry neck. Search that for ways to treat it. As for what causes the different problems, I really don't know.
