Two chicks with leg problems

[mrbstephens]

Two of the bobwhites that hatched have problems with their legs. The go out in different directions and the toes are curled up. Are the legs broken or is this a deformity? Should I cull them or is there something I can do to fix it?

 

[gabrielle1976]

sounds like spraddle leg perhaps. what kind of bottom does your incubator have it usually helps if you have wire or a towel or soemthing they can get traction on . There are sevral ways to fix spradle leg and curled toes someone with instructions should answer soon. Dont cull quite yet. Good luck

 

[Avonshire]

I have had a chick hatch with a bad leg and a chick hatch with curled toes. The bad leg chicken I separated with a mesh box around so the other chicks would not pick on it and made sure it had water and food. My rule is if they can get to food and water then leave them alone and see what happens in regards to culling. In about 2 days the bad leg was all better and it became a very big boy! Now my curled toes chick still has curled toes. I helped it by putting bandaids on its toes to straighten them--which helped a little but she still has curled toes. She is in charge of all my chicks though--she does not seem to be bothered by it!! GL!

 

[MYNSBTR]

We just hatched 7 eggs...the last one finally broke out of the shell yesterday morning. After watching them, there is one who seems as though "she" has a problem. We thought at first, she was sickly, but then just not after looking at her, it seems as though she has a leg problem. It goes out to the side,and when I picked her up, her toes curled. Any suggestions on what to do? This was our first time hatching. The incubator had the paper towel on the floor and everyone else is fine...running around the coop and all. This one, seems to take a step or 2, then just lies down. It's so sad

 

[Buckgawk]

Its called splayed leg.. if you ties a string or put some tape to keep the legs from going too far apart it should correct itself in a few days..heres a link

https://sites.google.com/a/poultrypedia.com/poultrypedia/poultry-podiatry

 

[mrbstephens]

I tried the band-aide trick on the two and a few hours later they were both dead.

I had to help one out of it's egg and now I see that it too has the leg problem. They are hatching in the egg turner because they decided to hatch 3 days early. There is little room to walk in there. This one that just hatched seems to have the problem immediately. I don't think it's from lack of traction. I think it has something to do with the incubation or genetics in this particular case. One of the ones that died, had a leg that was almost completely twisted around.

 

[Avonshire]

Oh I am so sorry. I will say that mine that had curled toes also had a brother egg that did hatch with help from me. I ended up culling it because its legs were just way too bad. I think it would have died anyway but I could hardly stand to just wait and watch. I did help another out--the next hatch--the one with the bad leg--and it turned out ok so you just never know. Hugs though--it is so stressful when they don't hatch well. I have heard bad stories though from new babies not doing well hatching in the turner.