Heartbroken....

[salva7]

we had a chick with curls toes and we splinted them with pieces of toothpicks and tape and the chick did fine

but you have to make sure to change the splints as the chick grows or you will stunt the growth of the foot

 

[Peeper7]

I had a poult with "curled toes" when it hatched. I opened its little toes and stuck it to a little piece of medical tape in the correct position. It paddled around on the tape just fine. By the end of the day it was using the foot just fine. It may have just been a bad position in the shell and the foot went to sleep.

good luck -- don't give up if hatching is what you want to do

 

[cheraboo]

I'm so sorry the hatch didn't go well. We lost all of our first bunch of eggs we tried to incubate

Here we are a few weeks later and Jacob decided it was time to try again. We got some more Hamburg eggs from our 4H poultry superintendant and a few banty Faverolle eggs and now the wait begins.

Don't give up hope. We've seen eggs hatch each summer at fair and it never gets old. We're all here for you

 

[warmandfuzzy]

My little guy with the curled toes and bad leg died this afternoon. My 10 year old daughter was holding it in a washcloth and singing to it when it took its last breath. We all cried. We were really getting attached to this little guy. He was a fighter but his leg was too bad. We have 8 chicks left.
My dad brought over 2 dozen eggs he picked up from a farm on his way home today. I guess there are Bantys, Ameracauna, Buff Orpington and Barred Rock in this batch. I am going to go buy another thermometer/hygrometer so I can have two readings to keep track of.
Thanks for all the kind words.
Carol

 

[MaggieRae]

Good luck with the next hatch. Best wishes!

 

[Intheswamp]

Carol, you might want to check the accuracy of the thermometer and hygrometer.

To check the hygrometer the standard recipe is to put 1/2 salt into a cup and 1/4 water and mix well. I find that it takes a little less than 1/4 water. Mix it until the salt is saturated but no water is standing above the salt. Place this mixture and the hygrometer in a ziplock bag and let it sit for 8-12 hours. At the end of that time it should be reading 75%. If it reads (for example) 71% then you know you'll need to add 4% to it's readout...if it reads something like 81% then you know you'll need to subtract 6% from the readout.

To check your thermometer use a digital medical thermometer to compare with the incubator thermometer. Here again, if it reads low or high you know you need to add or subtract some degrees to the readout to get the correct temp.

Best wishes and hang in there!!!!!
Ed