Silkie thread!

[peepblessed]

My preferred method for taping toes, after trying bandaids and cardboard, is pipecleaners. For this you measure a small piece of pipecleaner (I use scraps from my daughters art projects) against the toes and bend it at the appropriate place. If I'm trying to uncurl a foot, like your little guy, I will make a bend in the middle of my piece of pipecleaner, so it's bent directly back on itself. That long prong goes on the longest toe. Then bend each half the pipecleaner back again and trim to the right length so you have a small outline of a chick's foot, with one long piece and two smaller ones. To tape it on I like masking tape that's cut down the center so it's thinner. I wind it around the pipecleaner so each toe is individually bound to its bit of pipecleaner. Here's a pic of a Marans chick with one half of this shoe on. He only needed half, as it was actually his big toe that was curling.



I have had very good luck with this--in fact, I'm pretty sure we've had one hundred percent success at uncurling toes this way. The shoes are harder for the chicks to get off, and the pipecleaner's natural spring help them to walk normally while holding the toes in place. Best of luck, whatever you try! Beautiful babies!!!

What a great idea!!

 

[spowell]

Yeah, I'm bringing a collapsible wire dog kennel. However, the last time I took my cockerel somewhere, he just sat on my lap with a towel. He likes to look out the window.

Too funny I would probably do that

 

[Hawkeye95]

Well, he's a sweetie and just sits down when I hold him. He pecks at the window when he sees something interesting. The girls aren't really like that.

OKay-- several weeks ago I said sometime I'd get around to posting a picture of my hatchery (pet quality) silkies. I only bought two of them last year, thank goodness! They BOTH turned out to be cockerels-- they learned how to crow last week. Sheesh. Figures. I was hoping for broodies. Never had any intention of breeding them, since now I have bought the nicer ones I have in a separate pen. These little guys are ugly-- but they are the sweetest little things! Make good lap pets.

 

[yoie]

I just had to show off two of my silkie chicks I got today. I couldn't get over how feathered their feet are!
My little White Chick

Every toe has feathers on it!

And my little Gray Chick

 

[Hawkeye95]

I just had to show off two of my silkie chicks I got today. I couldn't get over how feathered their feet are!
My little White Chick

Every toe has feathers on it!

And my little Gray Chick

That is pretty good foot feathering! Where did you get those?

 

[mama2my4]

I just had to show off two of my silkie chicks I got today. I couldn't get over how feathered their feet are!
My little White Chick

how precious! And I LOVE the little grey!!

 

[Grumpypantsmomma]

 

[peepblessed]

I just had to show off two of my silkie chicks I got today. I couldn't get over how feathered their feet are!
My little White Chick

Every toe has feathers on it!

And my little Gray Chick

Very nice!!

 

[Grumpypantsmomma]

Did someone sell you that chick with the curled toes without telling you? If so, that is very unethical. Curled toes can be a difficult problem.

I would use any kind of bandaid-strength sticky stuff, lie a piece sticky side up, and try to get him to stand on it with the toes in the correct position.
Then fold it up over the top, and trim around the outside, like mittens in kindergarten.
It's gonna take a few tries, hopefully they will stretch and stay in the correct position.

Oh, I'm such a dope, I saw that you posted it in the first pic.

Good luck, they can be squirmy!

Blue to blue breeding should produce some splash. That is not incorrect. Here is a photo of a chick I taped. Cloth bandaids work well. I put tape on top and bottom. Leave several days. Unfortunately my chick faded and only lived about a week but others do survive.


The top tape did not stay on after a few days but it still worked. You should get a refund on that chick.

There was someone on here that posted about fixing chicks feet that curled under with a tiny piece of cardboard cut out in the shape of the foot and then used medical tape (or a bandaid would work) and taped the foot to the cardboard to make the toes lay flat. They called it a chick shoe, I believe. You can search for it here to look for pictures, but it was really very simple and looked easy to make.

BELOW: here is the Bandaid method---

I was able to get the bandaid booty one the Silkie chick by myself just fine on the first try too. it seems to want to walk on its tippy toe, maybe it feels wierd, probably. Any way after much thorough inspection of all 5 silkie babies this morning after they had time to settle in and eat and drink. I noticed the other splash silkie chick also has curled toes but not as bad as the first one and on both feet. I will do the bandaid method with this little one too, my only question what should I use for flooring/ bedding that they won't slip on and get splayed leg. Oh yes and one of the blue's little vent was covered in a thin layer of dried poo, which I massaged off gently under some warm water to discover its vent was protruding a little, and while massaging the vent under water it released a big chunk of poo. poor thing. would you call that pasty butt? Vent went back to normal after releasing poo. I have had this happen with alot of my hatchery chicks lately. any advice on both situations would be great.

 

[peepblessed]

I was able to get the bandaid booty one the Silkie chick by myself just fine on the first try too. it seems to want to walk on its tippy toe, maybe it feels wierd, probably. Any way after much thorough inspection of all 5 silkie babies this morning after they had time to settle in and eat and drink. I noticed the other splash silkie chick also has curled toes but not as bad as the first one and on both feet. I will do the bandaid method with this little one too, my only question what should I use for flooring/ bedding that they won't slip on and get splayed leg. Oh yes and one of the blue's little vent was covered in a thin layer of dried poo, which I massaged off gently under some warm water to discover its vent was protruding a little, and while massaging the vent under water it released a big chunk of poo. poor thing. would you call that pasty butt? Vent went back to normal after releasing poo. I have had this happen with alot of my hatchery chicks lately. any advice on both situations would be great.

I used a towel for my booty chicks as flooring. It's flat but good traction. I left it on for a week. Check butts frequently. Makes it a lot easier. Some add a touch of cider vinegar to water. I haven't tried it. I feed ground alfalfa leaves along with regular chick feed and had much reduced pasty butt problem.