tona
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Posts: 119
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Post by tona on Jul 4, 2010 6:45:24 GMT 8
I have a batch of 50 silkies in my bator and 1 has hatched 2 days early but has splayed legs. I have had this problem a few times with my chicks and they almost always die or I have to put them down humanely.It is breaking my heart to see them come out deformed and I would love any suggestions as to why this is happening or any info on how to fix the legs once they have it. I have non slip surface on the bottom of my hatching tray so they can get grip with their little legs. I'm not sure if there is something else I am doing wrong..
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Post by quambie on Jul 4, 2010 11:26:10 GMT 8
HI Tona This would be a bit hard to do on as chicken, but I used to use it on my pigs with great success. I used string, but I wonder if a small thin long cut from a Band aid would do. You will need two bits hold the chick upside down and stick the tape to the legs at about the same as they would be if it were normal. This will stop the legs from splaying and they should be able to walk just fine. This will strengthen the legs for a while then you can take it off, I would leave it for a couple of weeks if not longer. With the string I had to keep an eye on it as it would start to cut into the legs, but with the tape you should not have that problem good luck Trev
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tona
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Posts: 119
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Post by tona on Jul 4, 2010 12:41:14 GMT 8
Hi Trev, I have actually tried something similar with my last splay leg chick. I used a thin strip of tape and taped the legs together, but the poor little thing just fell on its side and couldn't get up at all. That one only had 1 leg that stuck out and it didn't work. I tried it yesterday on this newborn as well but it just fell on its side. Poor little bugga.
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Post by whoohooraloo on Jul 4, 2010 14:03:24 GMT 8
I had this with 3 pekin chicks. Sticky tape kept falling off as did the bandaids. I ended up using pipecleaner cut to size hobbling them around the top of the leg. The first day i had to keep standing them up when they fell over but by next morning were able to walk freely which was a relief as they could get to food and water. after a day or two i took the pipe cleaners off. they walked a bit high but by the time the chicks were a few weeks old we couldn't work out which ones had the problem to start with. Why? I looked it up when i had it and it could have been, a) genetic b) too long in the egg c) humidity in the incubator or d) who know's just happens. Good luck, and oh out of all the sites i checked only one had a negative outcome the rest all said they had great success with hobbling.
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tona
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Posts: 119
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Post by tona on Jul 4, 2010 14:50:12 GMT 8
Thankyou so much whoohooraloo I will give it a try. I was wondering if the humidity in the bator had anything to do with it cos I have a new one and the humidity got really high really quickly. I will have to research the exact amount of humidity to use over the whole three weeks because I know it should be higher in the last week.... Not sure but will read up on it...
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Post by chooklady on Jul 4, 2010 15:50:22 GMT 8
Hi Tona, I have been hatching chicks in my incubator for a few years and used to have the same problem. I also ended up with some chicks which had curled toes and chicks dying in the last couple of days before hatching. I have used masking tape as the others have described with good sucess. I have also used masking tape & toothpicks cut short to splint curled toes straight. The problems both responded well and only had to have the tape on for a few days. Do pull the tape off carefully otherwise you can accidently pull some off the leg scales. It seems all of these above problems have been solved with getting the humidity right. I bought a cheap humidity dial hygrometer from WA Poultry Equip. for about $20 and was astonished at how bad the humidity was in the incubator. I then had my first 100% hatch rate with the eggs that were fertile. I kept the humidity at normal (about 50%) and then took it up to 70% for the last few days. It is not the depth of water but rather the larger surface area of the water that increases the humidity. Hope this helps. Good luck for the rest of the hatch. Claire
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tona
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Post by tona on Jul 4, 2010 20:27:29 GMT 8
Thankyou so much Claire that is the exact info I have been looking for I will ring WA poultry equip tomorow. That is where I bought the incubator. I have also been hatching for alot of years but I used to have a little 16 egg bator and only had a few splay legs and no other problems but now I have a 50 egg and this is my first hatch. Only the one chick has hatched so far (splay legs). They are actually due to hatch today but no action so far..
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Post by shea on Jul 4, 2010 21:59:39 GMT 8
Hi Tona, I hope th erest of your hatch goes well. A friend of mine had a chick hatch under a broody that had splayed legs. She used a band aid and left it there till it fell after a couple of weeks. She's still around and walks well.
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tona
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Post by tona on Jul 5, 2010 8:08:55 GMT 8
So sad the lillte splay leg died overnite, and I have had no more action with the remaining eggs.. I am so dissapointed but hopfully with all my new info I can get it right next batch.. I will leave the eggs for another day or so but I am not very hopeful...
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Post by shea on Jul 5, 2010 9:16:09 GMT 8
Oh tona, thats not so sad. Hoepfully a couple will still hatch and be healthy:(
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tona
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Posts: 119
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Post by tona on Jul 7, 2010 10:36:55 GMT 8
Well I had no starters with my remaining eggs so I have broken them all open to see if they were fertile.. I have a new silkie roo so I was so glad to find that 38 out of 45 eggs had embryos in them. So I have started collecting them again and I have ordered my humidity gauge which should arrive this week some time.. I will keep you all posted on my next batch.. Thanx for all the advice...
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