New Chick question about it's legs

[Hidenholow]

I am new to hatching chicks in an incubator and have a question for everyone. My first batch of eggs i managed to get one live baby that is florishing well, my second batch, I had 5 eggs in the incubator and numbered them according to which one was layed first, second, and so on. On day 18 I removed the turner rack and placed the eggs on the floor of the incubator per the instructions. On day 20 I noticed egg number 2 and 3 had started cracking, day 21 egg number 4 had the chicks beak poking thru. Egg number 1 and 5 are solid and heavy but have not started hatching. Number 2 hatched with a beautiful chick on day 21, strong and healthy. It was up walking around with a little wobbly about 2 hours later. Later on day 21 number 3 was still in the egg with quite a bit of the shell broke off and the membrain was starting to harden (humidity was between 68 and 71) so I helped it out of the shell. She/he came out looking beautiful. About 3 hours later she/he was still not walking, just flopping around. I left it alone until the next morning and noticed she/he is still not walking. I took it out and noticed that the legs tend to stay crossed, feet open and she/he tries to get up on it's feet but just can't. It kind of stays on it's butt and uses the wings to scoot around. It is now day 24 and she does eat and drink but still not walking (I chose to leave this chick in the incubator a little longer. Number 4 had problems hatching all the way out so I helped it as well but it seemed like it was premature and died. All these chicks are out of the same hen and rooster, a red buff hen and an Americana rooster, but the last 2 chicks were half the size of the first one in this bunch.

My question is, would the cup with a paper towel in it work for chick number 3 with the leg problem? She/He is strong otherwise and wants to live.

 

[Cupcake1243]

I think something may have gone wrong in the hatching process., try the cup idea and see how that goes!

 

[Sonya9]

Can you post pix of the chicks legs? Leg problems are usually corrected early on using tape or braces so if the legs can be corrected you will want to research that asap.

Can you also briefly summarize the total number of eggs you have set in the incubator and the results? For example a total of 20 eggs set -- 3 live healthy chicks, 2 deformed chicks, 15 never hatched etc...

I assume you never candled these eggs to see which ones were fertile and developing? Where did this incubator come from. It is possible some eggs were not fertilized or you have nutritional or genetic problems from the parents, but an incubator that cannot hold the proper temp also kills embryos and causes deformities.

Sounds like there is some sort of problem going on and finding the cause is important.

 

[Gallinarium]

Probably spraddle/splayed leg. It happens when the incubator floor is too slick. Did you have anything over the floor, or not?

 

[Hidenholow]

We bought the incubator new. The first set of eggs we put 11 eggs in, candled them and found that 3 were fertile, of the 3 2 hatched alive one dead. This set was 5 eggs, three hatched alive, one died, one with leg issues and one doing great and strong. yes we candled them. the incubator came with a plastic net type covering for the floor. This chick was born with the leg issues and the hip area looks like the chicks leg joints in the hip are out of socket, sticking outward. She/He is eating and drinking and is strong in every way except the legs.