Newly hatched ducking feet clinched

[MrsMosier]

I just tried my first incubated duck hatch, it was very unsuccessful.. The remaining duckling has his feet clinched kinda balled up not out flat like normal also looks to have swelling at the leg joint. Is there something I can do, he seems fine otherwise. Kinda discouraged by the whole thing. Incubation was alot more complicated than I'd thought. Our pond ducks never raise any young snakes always eat the eggs. I figured incubation would be the answer. Mallard and Indian Runners.

 

[going cheep]

It sounds like the feet haven't straightened out from hatching, there are a number of reasons to do with brooding conditions or injury. Luckily it's quite easy to fix. Search for curled toes for more information, but basically you can fix it by applying a splint to the foot to help it straighten. I use a bit of masking tape to create a boot, again look for pictures to help get the idea. It sorted it put in a couple days. Unfortunately because I was using puppy pads the chick had no traction on the floor and developed splayed legs. Again I was able to treat this by kinda hobbling the legs to allow the tendons time to heal. I did this for 36 hours. The chick is fine now and you can't tell.
You have to learn quick with little ones!

 

[MrsMosier]

I made lil "boots" hope that helps, I also just overnighted some nutritional yeast flakes incase its niacin deficiency. I hope the lil guy/girl survives. I only had 3 hatch one didn't make it out, one made it out looked normal and healthy but woke up this morning and it had passed. Not sure if I'm going to try the whole incubation thing again or not...