Chicks feet

I am hatching a batch of chook eggs at the moment, some were taken away from my broody, and popped in inncy as she had forgotton about them, any way one is an araucana, the other that has hatched is a Buff sussex, i have noticed that there feet are still curled up, and they are not standing properly, we have had 12 Arry Cumars (Araucana's) and 1 has had these funny feet OH Has dispatched him already, as there is obviously something wrong with him. I have just noticed out of the 2 Buff Sussex hatched one of them has the same feet! What has happened and can i prevent any more like it???
this is the first time with the Arry's and i have hatched about 20 of these.
Same with the buffs, but so far only got the 2 chicks.

Hi Nails, according to one of my books poultry and waterfowl problems by Michael Roberts it mentions that curled toes in chicks wher one toe or all of them are bent sideways and it could be genetic or due to a viamin deficiency- riboflavin - in their food, both of which could be transmitted through the shell into the embryo. It also states that another factor could be the use of bright infra red bulbs when rearing chicks - dark heat is preferred such as heating elements or gas (so would assume an electric hen would be best). If the parents and their parents don't have this then you may be safe that it isn't hereditory. Make sure your feedstuffs are of good quality and fresh. - check the sell by dates - I found some chick crumb for sale in Melton Mowbray a month ago that was over 6 months out of date. If you are in any doubt as to the vitamin content (particularly riboflavin) then add some yeast powder from your local health food shop. It is possible to cure this by using sticky tape. Take a strip of tape and with the sticky side up turn the ends under so you can stick it to a table. Place the chicks foot on the tape with the toes spread out and the nails sticking out. Take another piece of tape and make a chick toe sandwich, pressing the tape around each toe to hold them in place. Remove the bits of curled under tape, keep this on for a week, then remove and clean up their feet.

Hope this helps you and your chicks  

hatching over that time span is pretty normal 
good luck with the tape method, it has got to be worth a try 

mmm I cam imagine, think it might be a 4 person job, one to do the tape, one to hold the chick, one to straighten the chicks toes and another to pour the stiff drinks 
Still it has to be worth a go whilst their bones are still pliable 

Ive just taped one of my welsummers it definatly wasnt hatched with a curled toe but just noticed it .you may not be able to straighten it completely with tape but it will help .I have seen older hens will what looked like arthritic toes i presume they had curled toes as chicks and nothing was done to straighten them :(we previously taped a cream legbar and her toe almost went back to nomal

Tell me about it ::)i have tiny hands which helps ,hubby struggles and i always end up with tape every where :)but its worth it in the end if it makes a difference

I'm guessing that this is what happened with my Maisie, her feet practically go backwards on themself, and thats what made me fall in love with her! She is 22 weeks and it seems to cause her no problems and she can run faster than the others when the mixed corn comes out 

super so pleased for you and your chicks