New hatch with twisted foot (upside down)

[affacat]

Whew. This is my first hatch ever, and I was already stressed by my chick being stuck in her shell.. well, I successfully got her out but I think her foot is either deformed or injured.

Any fix ? Time? How many hours should I give her to fix this up?

Ps - thanks to @JennyHeidewald for help getting this little one hatched. I will be sad if I have to give up on her

 

[Shezadandy]

It's been a while since I had curled toes. This is a picture of the end result. I used band-aid box to make the outline of the foot (using the good foot!) - then I used just the sticky part of a band-aid. This one healed up within the day, but there was no extra twisting involved, just the toes. So scratch the vetwrap- forgot that I used the band-aid instead!

 

[affacat]

She can stand now. Not sure if her leg is also splayed or not, but at least her foot is mostly corrected (as best we could)

 

[Shezadandy]

I agree with Shezadandy. Couldn't tell if it has a bit of splay leg as well, or if it was from the foot issue.
I once had a newly hatched chick I thought had spraddle/splay leg, but it just turned out it needed time to get strength in its legs, and was fine the next day. Thank goodness, because I was having the hardest time trying to do a brace with vet wrap, but it was only me, and I failed. Such tiny little legs and flailing. Two sets of hands is a definite plus!

Totally! Itty bitty legs and even smaller toes. The one in the picture above would not stop peep-screaming before I taped his toes. Once his toes were straightened out, he went right to sleep and was happy.

I agree that sometimes the splay legged ones (talking the first day) just need the night as you've noted. Because I found myself with one that I couldn't do, I gave it to the broody hen and the next day it was all good.

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She can stand now. Not sure if her leg is also splayed or not, but at least her foot is mostly corrected (as best we could)

Great job! What you could do with this chick is some gentle physical therapy. Chicks will naturally push up into your hand, so long as it's warm, just like they will under the hen to get warm. If you make sure it has good traction (i.e. on a washcloth or similar) and just cup your hand over the back, i.e. your palm will be over its back. The chick should try to press its back into your hand, sort of like little push ups. And it's good bonding time too. =)

 

[JennyHeidewald]

Aww, so cute!! So glad I was able to help, it's really hard to know when to help with some of them.
Ok, now that I see it better it looks like curled toes, I found a great page that shows how to make a little shoe for her in order to straighten the toes, sit's farther down the page: http://www.longhill.farm/splayed-legs-and-curled-toes-in-chicks-how-to-fix/

 

[RoyalChick]

I can’t read the link for some reason but vitamin B2 (riboflavin) deficiency can be a cause if curled toes. Is she able to walk?
It is easy enough to give her some B2 supplements in their water

 

[JennyHeidewald]

I agree with Shezadandy. Couldn't tell if it has a bit of splay leg as well, or if it was from the foot issue.
I once had a newly hatched chick I thought had spraddle/splay leg, but it just turned out it needed time to get strength in its legs, and was fine the next day. Thank goodness, because I was having the hardest time trying to do a brace with vet wrap, but it was only me, and I failed. Such tiny little legs and flailing. Two sets of hands is a definite plus!

 

[affacat]

She is an Energizer Bunny, hasn't stopped moving since the hatch. I was holding her for a bit with my finger pad keeping her foot spread before @JennyHeidewald provided the shoe link.

Now she's doing laps around the incubator. Still trips over eggs but might be doing better?

Might have splayed legs? Not sure. Trying to get a good picture.

 

[JennyHeidewald]

Great job! What you could do with this chick is some gentle physical therapy. Chicks will naturally push up into your hand, so long as it's warm, just like they will under the hen to get warm. If you make sure it has good traction (i.e. on a washcloth or similar) and just cup your hand over the back, i.e. your palm will be over its back. The chick should try to press its back into your hand, sort of like little push ups. And it's good bonding time too. =)

Good idea, I've also put a sock into a coffee cup and popped one into there.
This little chickie will be super attached. I had one hatched a day before the others, only happy when I was cuddling him, otherwise peeping his little head off, and tried to jump out of the brooder. Ended up naming him Ruckus, was a frizzle/polish cross roo.

I am not sure if it is better to wait until tomorrow and see if the legs are better, or try to treat for splayed leg now. Will one night make it really hard to treat later? I've only had the one which turned out ok after all with no intervention. Gentle physical therapy for sure once she dries off.

 

[Shezadandy]

We built yet another mini home for her and put hot bottles, food, water in it. We didn't want to take her out of the incubator so soon but the attack seemed a bit vicious and aimed toward the belly. We may try re introducing her if we can figure out a divider.

My favorite go-to is the MHP (Momma Heating Pad) - there are as many variations of this as there are people who make them. Those of us that use them like them because it gives the chicks a dark warm place where they can rest, much like under a hen.

Boy, you save a chick and they turn into a monster! The MHP might help with this too.

What's needed: 1. Heating pad that does not turn off (or has a setting where you can override the automatic turn off function). 2. A frame to hold the heating pad.(see below for what I did) 3. 2 wash cloth or a wash cloth and a small hand towel. 4. an old pillow case you don't mind never using again. 5. zip ties or something else to tie things together.

I used the racks made for holding foil, saran wrap, etc onto the inside of a kitchen cabinet, so 2 of those. There are 2 because it I sandwich the heating pad between them. Should be an easy find at Target or Walmart. I bent the bottom (the part where the foil etc. would sit) out to about a 45 degree angle. The one on the left is how it looks when it's bent out of shape into my frame shape. The one on the right is about how it looks from the store.

Next:

Put the heating pad into the old pillow case, with the cord hanging out the open end.
Put the washcloth down first on what will be the inside facing part of the MHP. My picture is missing this element. Then lay the heating pad on top of the washcloth. Put the 2nd frame on top of the heating pad/wash cloth combo- having bent both frames like the one on the left above.

Then ZIP TIE the living begeeezus out of this thing, so there is no place on the legs where a silly baby chick can stick its head through and get stuck. (see above photo). In the photo below, I took the picture before I fixed the gap between the 2 frame legs. On this one in particular, I ended up using VETWRAP to cover that hole, i.e. I made it so no chick could get their head between the frames.

Next, cover the whole thing in a hand towel. (have a few of these around for easy changing to keep things clean). You want chicks to be able to escape through the sides as well as the front, so there should be a gap on the sides. The BACK of the MHP should slope to the ground. This lets the chick choose how much heat it wants- if it's wanting lots of warmth it will go to the bottom like the chick below with full contact to the back of the heating pad. Having the front taller than the back allows chicks who don't need as much heat to comfortably find their spot.

As I mentioned there are 1000 ways to make one of these out of just about anything you can come up with.

Here's the original thread- many more ways to do it, but the heating pad that won't turn off and a frame that will be strong enough when every chick jumps on top (they will!) ... edited to add: "How to make it taller when the chicks grow" - I use 1x3 scraps first just under the front "legs" of the MHP. Next I use 2x4 scraps under just the front legs. Once they outgrow that, they're usually feathered out and sometimes begin sleeping on top while the pad warms their bellies).

https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...d-in-the-brooder-picture-heavy-update.956958/