quail chick weak, toes curled and cannot walk

[kevinj]

Hey everyone. One of my quail chicks (hatched 6/16, but we had to help it out of the egg after 20 hours of trying to get out), seems pretty weak. It has curled toes, probably because it stayed in the egg so long, and also seems pretty weak. it mostly just sleeps or lays on the ground of the incubator, and sometimes will try to crawl around. I have been giving it some sugar water, but i havent started getting it to eat yet. how should i go about trying to save this chick? thanks

 

[EggSighted4Life]

. It has curled toes, probably because it stayed in the egg so long,

Nutrient deficiency.. get poultry nutri drench if your in the US.

 

[PolishAllTheWay]

thanks guys, should i give him the nutri drench first then treat the curled toes? and is it a concern if he/she doesnt start eating soon.

The curled toes should get better once he has the nutri drench. If he is only one day old then I wouldn’t be too worried about him eating but I make sure he has some food soon because you don’t want him to get weaker from not having enough food.

 

[kevinj]

update! the chick is more energetic now (its actually trying to walk, it cant of course because of the toes).
I gave it some egg yolk and sugar water, but i dont have access to any nutri drench. its eating and drinking on its own now (or at least trying to, they have access to food and water).

 

[kcult]

update! the chick is more energetic now (its actually trying to walk, it cant of course because of the toes).
I gave it some egg yolk and sugar water, but i dont have access to any nutri drench. its eating and drinking on its own now (or at least trying to, they have access to food and water).

I had one chick with splayed legs and one where he kept one leg tucked in with toes curled.

Both birds (luckily from separate hatches) got manhandled by me (a man) until they straightened out.

By that, I mean, I put the splayed leg chick in my cupped hand. This forced him to push his feet into my palm. Think resistance training. I did this for about 15 minutes, every hour, for about three hours. He got fixed real good like.

The tucked leg/curled toes chick (this past Wednesday night) got pulled on, hung upside down, toes pressed, and forced to sit on his belly, instead of lying on his tucked leg side. A few rounds of that, and he was put back in the incubator with the other chicks. I think that, plus being pushed around by the other chicks, and the sidewall of the incubator, fixed him.

I have no proof that my intervention helped, but my blood alcohol level told me not to give up.

 

[kevinj]

Thank you all for the advices! The chick is basically back to normal and the curled toes has resolved itself. Right now it’s still trying to gain enough energy to walk.

 

[Chipmunk Chicks]

There are also vitamin+electrolyte packets you can get to put in their water, like Sav-a-chick. I have something similar that's the Dumor or Durvet brand from Tractor Supply. You mix a packet into a gallon of water, and all the chicks can drink that, but I've heard you should also offer fresh (plain) water as well. It may not be as potent as Nutri-drench, but it's a start! Nutri-Drench is also available on Amazon.

https://smile.amazon.com/Pack-Electrolyte-Vitamin-Supplement-Poultry/dp/B01K27VJ8C/
https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B000HHQEBK/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

[PolishAllTheWay]

Poor chick, I agree it sounds probably like a nutrient deficiency.

 

[kevinj]

thanks guys, should i give him the nutri drench first then treat the curled toes? and is it a concern if he/she doesnt start eating soon.

 

[kevinj]

The curled toes should get better once he has the nutri drench. If he is only one day old then I wouldn’t be too worried about him eating but I make sure he has some food soon because you don’t want him to get weaker from not having enough food.

thank you! one thing i was concerned about though was that it unzipped two days ago, and spent a day in the shell before it came out.