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

[Jada22]

2 questions.. how long should I leave chicks in the incubator?
And more importantly how do you fix splayed legs in chicks that small?
My first hatched chick has splayed legs, she can move around but legs keep coming out to the side.
I’m not sure how her legs became splayed could it be from falling? I’m using kitchen towels in both incubator and brooder so it’s not slippy. But in the incubator she did fall over twice while climbing on eggs so not sure if this caused it? I have 2 in the brooder right now and one just hatched 10 minutes ago… wondering how soon I can take that 3rd chick out so in case the same thing happens.

 

[NatJ]

one just hatched 10 minutes ago… wondering how soon I can take that 3rd chick out

They are wet when they hatch.
They need to dry out, fluff up, and take a nap.
The usual advice is to leave them in the incubator for 24 hours, by which point they are dry and fluffy.

If you move the chick right away, it may get stepped on by the other chicks, it might get chilled if there are any drafts, and it will not be as good at moving in & out of the warm area to regulate its own temperature (so it might get too hot or too cold, and not move to fix the problem.)

Depending on your brooder setup, you might have solutions for all of those things. (Being stepped on is a smaller problem with 2 other chicks, but a bigger problem when there are lots of other chicks, or when the other chicks are enough older to be very lively.)

I would say, if you can provide the conditions it needs, you can take it out of the incubator as soon as you like, now that it's out of the shell. But if it were mine, I would probably leave it in for a while, because that would be easier than thinking about the brooder details to move it a few hours sooner.

how do you fix splayed legs in chicks that small?

I have no personal experience with splayed legs, but I found an article that details one method of treatment:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/how-we-correct-splayed-legs-on-new-chicks.72873/

 

[Nabiki]

I rarely leave my chicks in the incubator for more than a few hours. Let them dry out and start running around, then take them out.

For the splay legged chick, you can try hobbles, but cup therapy is easier for quail chicks because they're so small. Put the chick in a cup that is small enough that it can only stand upright. It will try to get out, which will strengthen the leg muscles in the right directions. Make sure to keep a close eye on it so it doesn't get too cold or too hot. Give it breaks from the cup to eat and drink.

Be prepared that the cup therapy might not work. If it doesn't, you may need to cull. In my experience, if the chick doesn't start showing improvement within 24 hours, it's not likely to.

 

[Jada22]

3 more chicks born during the night so I now have 6 with 4 more on the way.
So far no others seem to have problems with their legs. I’m trying the cup therapy, I don’t have a cup narrow enough so I used a toilet roll holder cut in half inside it, she uses this to climb up and out..

she is super adventurous, she was out of the egg before we even noticed a pip or zip, took a short rest and then was zooming around the incubator climbing on the eggs and even pecking at the other eggs, she has fallen on to her back a few times though, not sure if she had the leg issue since she hatched and that’s why she was falling in the incubator or if it’s one of the falls that caused it.
Her legs being splayed does not stop her from running.

I did try the splint in the link above but she kept trying to run again and just fell on to her face because of the splint.

 

[Nabiki]

Odds are good that she hatched that way. Chicks run and fall all the time. I've never seen one get injured from it.

 

[Jada22]

I put her back in the incubator and keep putting her in to the toilet roll insert for cup therapy. I have one really tiny chick, fully formed but only half the size of the others and struggling to get on her feet so I’m going to leave the 2 of them in the incubator longer if that’s okay? I took her out to encourage her to eat and drink, she’s drinking but no interest in food yet… the legs seem to have improved slightly so fingers crossed.

 

[007Sean]

I rarely leave my chicks in the incubator for more than a few hours. Let them dry out and start running around, then take them out.

For the splay legged chick, you can try hobbles, but cup therapy is easier for quail chicks because they're so small. Put the chick in a cup that is small enough that it can only stand upright. It will try to get out, which will strengthen the leg muscles in the right directions. Make sure to keep a close eye on it so it doesn't get too cold or too hot. Give it breaks from the cup to eat and drink.

Be prepared that the cup therapy might not work. If it doesn't, you may need to cull. In my experience, if the chick doesn't start showing improvement within 24 hours, it's not likely to.

I agree with @Nabiki , I never leave quail chicks in the incubator longer than 12 hours, usually around 3 to 4 hours and I transfer them to a brooder. The cup method definitely works, have used it many times, had excellent results.

 

[Jada22]

Not sure if anyone has advice here but I now have almost the opposite problem. Her legs are no longer splayed but she can not walk. She tries to walk on her toes stretching her legs all the way up so then she falls over. Occasionally after I pick her back up 10 times she stays up right for a few seconds but then will fall over again. She seems to have better balance in my hand so I’m not sure if I changed the floor surface for her to some sort of mesh she could grab would that be better?
Or anything else I can do?

I have another chick that falls over but I’m unsure why. He’s more steady then this one but falls over sometimes.
And I have a 3rd chick that falls to one side, sometimes she’s more unbalanced than other times I may need to pick her up several times but then she could be good for an hour or 2 before falling to the side again. She was an assisted hatch I believe she was malpositioned and eventually ended up shrink wrapped - she tried to come out leg first so not sure if this caused the issues

 

[Nabiki]

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.

 

[FloorCandy]

Where did the eggs come from, sometimes excessive leg problems can be the parents nutrition as well.