Three toes...

[cozycritters]

My little maran that hatched today (two days late and needed help) has the oddest left foot I have every seen. It essentially only has the 'thumb' and two 'fingers' the 'pinkie' is so small has to be hardly existent. I've never seen this in a chicken! Is it a maran thing?

ETA: It is also the noisiest chick I have ever seen!

 

[Illia]

Definitely not a Marans thing (Marans has an S at the end, plural or singular) The noise it is making is also probably linked to its defected foot, in that it has other problems also bothering it. I'd cull it, honestly. The loud cheeping and missing toe can cause problems further on in the future. If I have a really loud chick like that, it is cheeping because it is in stress or pain.

 

[Tala]

The loudest chick I ever hatched was dead less than 24 hours later. It appeared fine on the outside, no clue what was bothering it

 

[magicpigeon]

Quote:
x2

 

[cozycritters]

Yeah, I went in and assisted, when I KNOW better, and this chick is a mess. AND my four year old LOVES it.

I figured it was MaranS (even singular) but I second-guessed myself LOL.

So, it has a mis-shapen head, crooked neck, missing toes, cries constantly, and I should probably cull it, but, as I mentioned, my son loves it and it is a fighter. We recently had to cull a different (Amerecauna) chick from this same hatch, and it is really hard on the children.

This is why I don't assist, as a rule, but I was upset because it was my only marans egg to even pip (and I don't have money to throw away on bad hatches.)

I have been troubleshooting with my new incubator to try to figure out why I am having such problems actually getting live chicks out of it.