Is curled toe hereditary?

[KristinS]

Hello and happy new year! I am wondering if curled toe is a hereditary deformity or if it is something that can happen due to circumstances during incubation/hatching.

 

[sylviethecochin]

I'm assuming you have a chick with curled toes.

If your chick had it at hatch, it's either a deformity due to mis-alignment in egg or due to nutritional deficiency of the mother. She would have been lacking in riboflavin, which is the most common nutritional deficiency in poultry feed. (It can also be genetic, but that's less likely than the either two options.)

Feed riboflavin (over the counter vitamin B2) immediately or there can be permanent damage to the sciatic nerve. Also try and make a brace for the foot.

 

[KristinS]

I'm assuming you have a chick with curled toes.

If your chick had it at hatch, it's either a deformity due to mis-alignment in egg or due to nutritional deficiency of the mother. She would have been lacking in riboflavin, which is the most common nutritional deficiency in poultry feed. (It can also be genetic, but that's less likely than the either two options.)

Feed riboflavin (over the counter vitamin B2) immediately or there can be permanent damage to the sciatic nerve. Also try and make a brace for the foot.

She did have it on all toes on the right foot upon hatch, but now she is about 5 weeks old, it is the outer toe only. She came from mail order hatching eggs so I would assume it is likely the cause. I want to use her for breeding but I don't want anything like this to pass on to the chicks. Thank you for your reply it is super helpful.