Help with splayed legs and how long to leave chick in incubator

[Jada22]

They’re eating 30% protein game bird starter feed, I don’t know the exact brand as I bought it from the same person I bought the eggs from.
Their bedding is textured paper towels.
The eggs came from a supplier who sells quail, hatching eggs and incubators. But they do sell the quail mainly to be feeders for other animals.

 

[Jada22]

What are you feeding them? What are you using for bedding? This is beginning to sound like something is wrong with their environment.

Their bedding should not be anything smooth like newspaper or non textured paper towels. Grippy shelf liner is good.

https://www.woodies.ie/grip-liner-1...MIha2A1L7N9gIV0MLtCh0ZGgUfEAQYAyABEgL-_PD_BwE

Something like this?

 

[FloorCandy]

https://www.woodies.ie/grip-liner-1...MIha2A1L7N9gIV0MLtCh0ZGgUfEAQYAyABEgL-_PD_BwE

Something like this?

I use something that looks very similar.

 

[FloorCandy]

They’re eating 30% protein game bird starter feed, I don’t know the exact brand as I bought it from the same person I bought the eggs from.
Their bedding is textured paper towels.
The eggs came from a supplier who sells quail, hatching eggs and incubators. But they do sell the quail mainly to be feeders for other animals.

If they’re selling as feeders, their nutrition may not be the best. This happened to me with eggs I had shipped once. I received 56 eggs I believe, 39 hatched, several were born with deformities like pop eyes, and one after the other they started splaying and it was slipped tendons every time. I culled all affected chicks as they splayed and when all was said and done I had 8 chicks left. I’ve hatched a lot of shipped eggs and never had this issue before or since. Someone I know in vet school told me that was classic evidence in poultry of the adults having long term poor nutrition when they laid the eggs I hatched.

The good news is that the 8 who survived were fine and produced several generations of healthy chicks when I crossed them to my existing healthy flock. I had one of the original 8 who was born with droopy eyes, one eye has since stopped working, but after over a year and a half, she lays a big old egg for me quite often. The rest I have no idea who are the originals if any are left, but her wonky eyes make her stand out from the crowd.

 

[Nabiki]

https://www.woodies.ie/grip-liner-1...MIha2A1L7N9gIV0MLtCh0ZGgUfEAQYAyABEgL-_PD_BwE

Something like this?

That's perfect.

 

[Nabiki]

They’re eating 30% protein game bird starter feed, I don’t know the exact brand as I bought it from the same person I bought the eggs from.
Their bedding is textured paper towels.
The eggs came from a supplier who sells quail, hatching eggs and incubators. But they do sell the quail mainly to be feeders for other animals.

The feed sounds fine. I would change out the bedding, but it might be poor nutrition or genetics from the parents, then.

 

[Jada22]

Okay thanks. Should I put them on towels for now until I get the shelf liner?
Is there anything I can do with the 3 to help strengthen them? Or are they more likely to die?
I really hope they don’t all start having issues.
I don’t mind if they won’t be perfect birds if there was any chance they could live a decent life.

 

[Nabiki]

Start with the towels. You might try putting some Save-a-chick or Nutri-drench into their water. They are more likely to die, but that doesn't mean giving up on them yet. I have heard that some vitamin E in their water may help as well, but I have not tried that personally.

 

[FloorCandy]

My last group that had issues, I put paper towels in the bowls like I said, and I also added nutritional yeast to their feed for b vitamins and the one that was mildly splayed recovered, the one with the leg out worst did not recover and I had to cull it.

 

[Jada22]

Thank you for all your help.
No idea if I’m doing something really wrong or if it’s genetic. I had a chick die just now (not one with leg issues) and I have another showing some issues by falling over, even though they are on towels now.
I’m not sure if it makes any difference but I have 3 chicks that are just way stronger than the rest and always have been, they’re much sturdier, running around trying to fly etc.