More toe curling questions....

[bufforp89]

How strange and discouraging for you...I hatch TONS of easter eggers...they are my best seller. My hens are buff orpingtons with two roosters over them, a black ameraucana and a w. ameraucana, the roos are both from show stock and the hens are hatchery stock and I have let some inbreeding go on. I feed generic feed from TSC and they get no added minerals/vitamins other then what they forage for (they freerange durring daylight hours) and I have never had a case of curled toes in the couple hundred chicks I have hatched...Good Luck figuring out what ails them!

 

[pips&peeps]

Maybe the vitamin mixture is missing something. What kind do you use?

I prefer red cell.

 

[al6517]

Quote:
What is under the shavings ??? I use rubbermaid bin's at first but I line the bottom with heavy paper feed sacks then cover that with shreded paper and a small amount of shavings. They don't slip and struggle to get their footing and their balance is better from the start. I also take mine out of the bator as soon as they dry and don't leave them in there till they all hatch. Removing them early reduces the risk of dehydration, it's not an issue with my bator and I do it several times a day during a hatch, but I don't have a toy styrobator that spells trouble for this practice. Those little rolls of rubber shelf/drawer liners works wonders in both the bator and the brooder and they can be washed and reused for many years before replacement is needed.

 

[al6517]

pips&peeps :

Maybe the vitamin mixture is missing something. What kind do you use?

I prefer red cell.

Good point............ I also use Redcell diluted with sugar in the water the first few days, works great on their blood transfer systems.​

 

[WhiteMountainsRanch]

It's definitely not ALL the chicks, just some of them, my second to last hatch was 13 and I think there are 2 with curled toes... but my latest hatch was 5 and there are three getting curled toes already.

Hmmm come to think of it, my last few Ameraucana hatches didn't have any with curled toes.

This is the one I use:

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Quote:
I agree that it would seem so.
I set 30 eggs once and the temps went haywire swinging from 108 to 92 and back again continuously the first week.
I gave up turning and thought all was lost.
2 chicks hatched anyway. 1 pullet was perfect, 1 cockerel had a weird eye and lots of toe feet issues.

And yes I think it should show immediately but the cockerel didn't have noticeable feet issues till weeks later. I think the toes were weak and just using them caused the problem. That is in my case, your issue could be something completely different.

Sometimes it isn't nutrition or incy related but genetic.
I had 17 breeds hatch at the same time. All the buttercups(and only the buttercups) had splayed leg. The parents were fine but I'm sure that was a case of genetics.

 

[WhiteMountainsRanch]

Quote:
What is under the shavings ??? I use rubbermaid bin's at first but I line the bottom with heavy paper feed sacks then cover that with shreded paper and a small amount of shavings. They don't slip and struggle to get their footing and their balance is better from the start. I also take mine out of the bator as soon as they dry and don't leave them in there till they all hatch. Removing them early reduces the risk of dehydration, it's not an issue with my bator and I do it several times a day during a hatch, but I don't have a toy styrobator that spells trouble for this practice. Those little rolls of rubber shelf/drawer liners works wonders in both the bator and the brooder and they can be washed and reused for many years before replacement is needed.


It's just the bottom of a rubbermade under the shavings but I pile the shavings 3-4 inches thick so when they are little they can't touch the bottom.


I also pull them out of the hatcher as soon as they are dry.

 

[al6517]

Your doing everything right and nutrition is Ok so the only question left is genetic.

 

[WhiteMountainsRanch]

I wonder what it is in the genetics that cause it... the parents are mixed and completely different breeds, so it's not like they are inbred...

 

[al6517]

Beats me too

perhaps a pair of chicken Dr Scholls is in order here LOL.