Hi and a Question about bent toes.

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mrustin

mrustin

Hatching
May 31, 2015
7
2
9
Texas
Hello all
I have been trolling this site for a couple weeks and decided it was time I joined it. Don't know why I didn't do that at the beginning. lol. Anyway my name is Melissa and my husband and I started raising ducks a year ago. We got six to start thinking that we might lose some. Well they all lived. :) That is until the Raccoons arrived :( at the end of it we ended up with one female duck left in the backyard. She was so sad to be alone that we "borrowed" my sister in laws hen that her other hens were picking on and put her back there with our Miss Duck. They became fast friends through the winter months. When spring came this year we went and got some more ducks and a couple white jersey giant chickens. They are all out there now happily pecking and chirping and quacking. We learned from the coon attacks and have turned the very large garden house into a hen/duck house. It is completely coon and other critter proof so hopefully they will live happy little lives.
We have now decided we want to hatch eggs so we bought an incubator and 12 Purple guinea eggs. Nothing but trouble from the beginning. Turner wouldn't work, then the temp kept fluctuating. More than once it was at 104 degrees! Well we got to day 24 and I candled the eggs again and much to my surprise there was a couple with movement. I was shocked. Really thought they were all going to be dead but they started hatching. Then they stopped. I let this go on for more than 24 hours and checked them. They were dry. From what I read that isn't good so I decided I need to help them. So I did. Got them out of the eggs and into a warm bath as I couldn't get all the stuck egg off of them. So now they are out and I am looking at my little miracles and notice they have bent toes. So I wait until today to see if they are gonna straighten out on their own and they are not. So now they have little tape boots on. Wasn't easy as I'm sure you know lol but we did it. Now this evening they are running around the brooder! They are truly my miracle guineas!
So I do have a question. How long do I leave the tape on?
Thank you for any help and for all the help you didn't even know you were giving me :)
Melissa
 
Hello there and welcome to BYC!
frow.gif


So sorry about the predator attacks. Predators sure can be brutal.

As for the curled toes, this can be genetic in origin, your heat may have been too high during the incubation cycle, your humidity may have been too low or if you set very small eggs, sometimes the chicks get too cramped inside the eggs. Definitely post this in our Incubating Eggs section for more help in the future....https://www.backyardchickens.com/f/5/incubating-hatching-eggs

But keep up the good work with the taping up the toes! I would leave the tape on as long as the chicks can tolerate it. It can take a few weeks for them to all straighten out as they grow.

Good luck and welcome to our flock!
 
Thank you for the info Two Crows. :) they are still doing good this morning. I will keep the toes taped.
Melissa
 
Nice to meet you Melissa, so glad you joined the BYC flock. Sorry for the mishaps but, it shows you have good instincts. Would love to see your garden house and how you have it for the ducks/chickens.
 
Hello :frow and Welcome To BYC! Congratulations on the hatch! Sorry about the problems, good luck with the flock.
 

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