Hatching with Kinky Back?

[ZawbytheSea]

In need of advice! I recently had a very complicated hatch, resulting in four mixed bantams - hen Rocky is a partridge bantam, single comb, slate legs) and roo Tidbit is a gold sebright.

Rocky went broody for the second time this year, her first season. She was so insistent, I finally gave in and let her set on the eggs. The nights got very cold, and I was concerned, but let it go. She made it to almost three weeks, then just decided she had had enough, and rejoined the flock Now I had 12 eggs, 5 of which were both fertilized and viable, late in growth, and we found them nearly cold. So I borrowed a still-air incubator with no egg turner, and popped them in, figuring they would hatch imminently.

Well, it took a week, probably due to the cold. With minimal turning - just shuffling them while candling. But four hatched.

The concerning thing is that one is exhibiting all the signs of “kinky back,” according to Dr. Google: head out straight, wings splayed, only walking backward. It’s also chirping very loudly - or at least it was last night, this morning when I left for work they were all pretty quiet.

I couldn’t get it to eat or drink last night, and it definitely seems distressed. When this one was zipping, it’s toe was sticking out (earning it the nickname Beans, for toe-beans), and the first chick to hatch dragged it around the incubator several times by that toe. Could that have injured it? Is it a vitamin deficiency? Not sure how it could be that from a hatchling, but then I don’t know.

I’ll admit, I had to assist this one out after almost 24 hours. I also assisted another that had taken even longer, but that one was genuinely stuck in the membrane, and has since done just fine. Wondering what could be wrong, and if I should end it’s suffering, or try harder to get it to eat and drink if it’s possible to recover.

Thank you in advance - this is my first time hatching, and it’s been a hodgepodge of chaos from start to finish!

 

[Tonyroo]

Don't save the chick with issues. It will grow handicapped.

 

[Paz]

I’d the roof alway so low over their head?
How old are the chicks?
Do they have a nice rough floor to walk on?
Is the weird chick the same size?
Are the toes straight?
Does it bend its knees?

I would consider calcium deficiency.

 

[NatJ]

Is it a vitamin deficiency? Not sure how it could be that from a hatchling, but then I don’t know.

I do not know whether your chick has a vitamin deficiency or not.

But yes, it is possible for a chick to hatch with a vitamin deficiency.
If a hen doesn't get enough of some nutrient, she can lay an egg that has too little of that nutrient, and then a chick can hatch with problems, because it didn't get enough of that nutrient as it was growing in the egg.

If a chick does hatch with a vitamin deficiency, giving it a vitamin supplement can sometimes help. And supplementing the mothers' diet can prevent issues in future chicks. But for that you have to know what vitamin or other nutrient is needed, and I don't know that.

 

[ZawbytheSea]

I’d the roof alway so low over their head?
How old are the chicks?
Do they have a nice rough floor to walk on?
Is the weird chick the same size?
Are the toes straight?
Does it bend its knees?

I would consider calcium deficiency.

They’re under a Brinsea brooder on the lowest setting. The ceiling looks low because I have a couple Tupperware lids under one side of the brooder in case the chicks need to be a little closer to the warmth, since the brooder isn’t necessarily sized for bantams and my house is cold (mid-high 60s). The floor is just paper towels for now, till they get used to eating.

Chick is the same size as the others, with straight toes. In the pic, it’s the one with its neck out straight. Not sure about it’s knees, but it only walks backwards

 

[Weeg]

I would start with vitamin E. I don’t know much about “kinky back”, but vitamin E is a common deficiency resulting in wry neck snd similar conditions.
Get capsules and squeeze the entire continents of one into the baby’s beak. Repeat multiple times a day. You can also get poultry cell and try that too.

 

[Paz]

They’re under a Brinsea brooder on the lowest setting. The ceiling looks low because I have a couple Tupperware lids under one side of the brooder in case the chicks need to be a little closer to the warmth, since the brooder isn’t necessarily sized for bantams and my house is cold (mid-high 60s). The floor is just paper towels for now, till they get used to eating.

Chick is the same size as the others, with straight toes. In the pic, it’s the one with its neck out straight. Not sure about it’s knees, but it only walks backwards

They look too straight to me, that's why I thought calcium deficiency. Also can be thiamine deficiency. Or cocidiosis treatment poisoning.

 

[ZawbytheSea]

I do not know whether your chick has a vitamin deficiency or not.

But yes, it is possible for a chick to hatch with a vitamin deficiency.
If a hen doesn't get enough of some nutrient, she can lay an egg that has too little of that nutrient, and then a chick can hatch with problems, because it didn't get enough of that nutrient as it was growing in the egg.

If a chick does hatch with a vitamin deficiency, giving it a vitamin supplement can sometimes help. And supplementing the mothers' diet can prevent issues in future chicks. But for that you have to know what vitamin or other nutrient is needed, and I don't know that.

Chick didn’t make it, and passed last night.

Now I have another chick who keeps looking down, and another who keeps falling over onto its back. Only one of the remaining three is acting like a normal, peppy chick, so I went out this morning and picked up some Nutri-Drench, and gave it to all of them - I’ll do it again this evening, and see if they start improving. If it’s a vitamin deficiency, hopefully this will help in time. Thank you everyone for your advice! I’ll update again later.

 

[Paz]

Mareks?

 

[sourland]

Mareks?

Not at that age.