Wry neck and spray legg often

[kempkalm]

I need to know what I'm doing wrong. In the last couple of hatches I've had this week I've had three wry neck chicks and 3 spray legs. My hens and roosters get the best food from the co-op. Lots of treats. Seeds, veggies, fruit grass and clover. What's going on??
I know how to treat both so nobody needs to explain. I want to know how to prevent it from happening to begin with?

 

[Wyorp Rock]

My hens and roosters get the best food from the co-op. Lots of treats. Seeds, veggies, fruit grass and clover.

@ChickenCanoe is much better with nutrition and hatching education. I'm still learning, but nutrition is where I would start.
Too many treats dilute the nutritional content of your feed. Decrease the amount of treats/veggies, etc. to no more than 5-10% of daily intake depending on the protein% of your feed. Breeding stock would also benefit from poultry vitamins.

This is a link graciously provided to me by ChickenCanoe when I asked for help, look at Table 7-2 this shows how nutrition impacts embryo health. https://www.nap.edu/read/2114/chapter/9#48

You may also have had some incubation or even genetic issues, but I will leave that to those more experienced than I to comment.

 

[EggSighted4Life]

3 possible issues that cause it...

Nutrition, incubation fluctuations, genetics.

What is the "best food" from the co-op? Your "lot's of treats" might be part of your issue.

I FIX splay leg or wry neck by culling. If you keep hatching and fixing them, you keep breeding it forward. If nutrition is provided for adequately, incubation parameters including slip free surface are correct... then it's a a genetic deficit.

I hatched a few splay after never having issues. Switched my hatching surface thinking it somehow became the issue. Still got one or two splay here or there, spending a lot more cash for each hatch using cupboard liner. Switched back to my original paper towels since it wasn't a previous problem, making sure it is the rougher surface facing up. It still isn't a problem..

My hatches do vary sometimes... and I think I get my best hatches when I had recently fed scrambled eggs to parent stock. What breeds are you working with? Are you seeing the issue in one breed more than others? Do you know how closely related your parent stock are? What are your usual incubation parameters and how many thermometers are you using?

This is a link graciously provided to me by ChickenCanoe when I asked for help, look at Table 7-2 this shows how nutrition impacts embryo health.

Missing the link?

 

[lazy gardener]

Excellent posts by Kiki and CC. In addition: Have you personally calibrated your thermometers and hygrometer?

Comparing 2 thermometers is NOT calibrating! I use a guaranteed to be accurate medical grade thermometer (either digital or mercury) in a bowl of water at 100*F. I add the thermometers to be calibrated, don't let them touch bottom or sides of the bowl. Wait for them all to stabalize, then compare their readings with the medical thermometer.

Do the salt test for your hygrometer.

Check your bator for several days before putting in your eggs. Even with a fan, there is likely to be warm/cool spots. Know where those are, and after doing all you can do with venting and air baffles to equalize the temps, rotate the eggs through your safe zones.

Use candling to keep an eye on air cell development, and adjust your humidity accordingly. I incubate at 30 - 40% with excellent hatch rates.

Put your birds on a good quality multi vit for 2 - 3 weeks before collecting hatching eggs. Ditch the treats. My birds get fermented feed 16% layer. If I anticipate collecting hatching eggs for the bator, I will give them 18% for a few weeks. Always make sure your feed is used up within 6 weeks of mill date. Nutrients oxidize rapidly, best practice is to use it within 6 weeks. During snow season I give them sprouts. During grass season, they get free range goodies.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

I need to know what I'm doing wrong. In the last couple of hatches I've had this week I've had three wry neck chicks and 3 spray legs. My hens and roosters get the best food from the co-op. Lots of treats. Seeds, veggies, fruit grass and clover. What's going on??
I know how to treat both so nobody needs to explain. I want to know how to prevent it from happening to begin with?

I have to agree with all the other comments. What breeds? Any inbreeding? What is the percentage of hatchlings that have these issues?
Continual physical anomalies in newly hatched chicks could point to incubation parameters but more than likely it is genetic or nutritional if the bulk of your chicks hatch on time with few issues.
As @EggSighted4Life mentioned, I would cull these chicks or definitely not use them for breeding
The best food from the co-op may be excellent but the statement doesn't explain how it is made or if it is assayed to guarantee it has all the nutrients chickens of specific ages are known to need at the correct ratios. Does the feed have a guaranteed analysis tag on it? Does the feed have the mill date on it?
The cautionary note on your post is "Lots of treats. Seeds, veggies, fruit',' grass and clover". Lots of treats may make your chickens happy and love you but doesn't mean they are getting the superior nutrition necessary for good hatchability of quality chicks.
All your chicks aren't 'quality' so I would definitely revisit nutrition. Whatever the other treats are; seeds, fruits, veggies, grass and clover all contain very little protein. More importantly than crude protein levels, like vegetable based feeds, you're providing a diet that is likely deficient in several essential amino acids. Your chickens' diet may be adequate for egg production but likely not for good hatchability.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Missing the link?

Ooops! I fixed it now

 

[kempkalm]

Thanks everyone.

 

[Kiki]

Thanks everyone.

I too read this as maybe you are feeding too much.
Stick to a complete feed only (no treats) and also add extra vitamins and minerals to your breeding flock for a while before you collect eggs.

 

[getaclue]

While wry neck is typically a nutrition problem, splay leg, and curled toes tend to indicate temperature fluctuations. It's fairly common when incubating eggs.

Cut back on the treats, especially prior to hatching. When breeding to select eggs for hatching, keep them mostly on their feed. If you are going to treat, I would suggest canned mackerel, tuna, any cooked meats, mealworms. These boost the proteins a little, which is good. Don't overfeed on the treats. The equivalent of a couple tablespoons per bird, no more than every 3 days is more than enough. Salad ingredient type treats are fine after you've bred, and selected the eggs you want to hatch out.

IF the problem continues after you've cut out most of the treats, I would be suspecting the feed. More than one person has found that the nutrition listed is not exactly what they're getting, or the feed is older, and depleted.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

If you answered these questions I missed it.
What breeds?
Any chance of inbreeding? (i.e. full brother/sister mating)
What is the percentage of hatchlings that have these issues?
Does the feed have a guaranteed analysis tag on it?
Does the feed have the mill date on it?

My experience with local co-ops that mill their own feed is that they grind grains and legumes with a general assumption of the average nutrient levels that are in those ingredients, then add a vitamin/mineral blend in a quantity commensurate with the quantity of bulk ingredients. Many local mills have quit that line of work because they can't produce enough feed to use those supplements before they expire.
Hence the reason I was curious about the guaranteed analysis tag. In those days they made an educated guess but didn't really know for sure what was the end result because they had no lab to do an accurate assay.