New Keet Help Please! It Can't Stand Up :(

[The Menagerie]

I have seven new keets and two of them are having real problems - they can't stand! They had a hard time coming out of their shells and we had to help them in the end because their membranes started to dry. They peep and their feathers are dry, but they aren't fluffed. They are just laying there and they are kicking trying to gain ground trying to stand, but can't gain any ground. It's been about 20 hours now - is there anything I can do to help them?

 

[harvestsunrise]

I have seven new keets and two of them are having real problems - they can't stand! They had a hard time coming out of their shells and we had to help them in the end because their membranes started to dry. They peep and their feathers are dry, but they aren't fluffed. They are just laying there and they are kicking trying to gain ground trying to stand, but can't gain any ground. It's been about 20 hours now - is there anything I can do to help them

Are the legs splayed? If so, you can us a bandaid to fix the legs together but leave a gap of about an inch between the legs so it can move and walk. There are youtube videos showing how to make chick splints to fix splayed legs. If its because the feet are not right, there is a way to use bandaids to help correct that too. Just lay the foot on the sticky bandaid in the position you want it and put another sticky bandaid piece on the top of the foot. There are also youtube videos on how to do that. Look up Leg splints for chicks, or fixing splayed legs in chicks.

 

[Lacrystol]

What kind of flooring do you have?

Get them on Wired flooring, this will help them use there toes to develop strength in there legs, Also if you have Vitamin B complete, give them one drop of this for about every 6 to 8 hours. Vitamin B helps with Leg issues...

 

[Hotcookie]

Unfortunately, I've had some keets that hatched out with the same problem as you described. We tried putting a bandaid around its legs, in case it had splayed legs. But, they never were able to stand up.....we felt they must be suffering, so we had to cull them. In the end, I believe they had some kind of genetic defect......what a shame. Hopefully yours are doing better.....

 

[Lacrystol]

Have you ever tried giving them Vitamin b? perhaps its a deficiency, perhaps something they are lacking when first hatched out?