Spraddle leggs and worse

So things are not going so good in the chick house. One has spraddle legs although it does walk around. Just that the leg stance is wrong, they are too far apart.

Then there is the first chick hatched. It can not stand up. It has never been able to stand up. It simply flopped around when it was in the hatcher and it is flopping around now in the brooder. It has had plenty of time as it hatched friday morning at 5am. So its really defective somehow. Its one of the BCM chicks. The spraddle one is one of the olive eggers.

I had a lavender Ameraucana that was so huge it didn't stand up for 3 days! Give it some time... as long as you can get some water to it, like an eye dropper... it should be okay. I usually thicken up the water a tad by making a kind of paste from boiled egg yolk. They don't need anything for the first 24 hours, but it is a good boost. Be careful and give it a chance to swallow.

They are probably just big from the increased humidity..

There is a thread on how to do a splint for the leg problem.. Let me go look..

Here is Major Muffage when he was like 2 days old.. :)

Here is the link...
http://www.peafowl.org/ARTICLES/1/

I have never had to splint one.. sometimes they appear that way, but get strong enough to correct themselves.

Here is Major full grown.. :)

OH MY what a beautiful bird

He's lovely Zz. Glad you are here to talk to Rita. I had no idea.

Thank you both! I just wanted to show her it does work! :) I thought he was a gonner for sure.. I had to hand feed him, but not completely.. I just supplemented till he got strong enough to get around..

The flopsey chick is strong, it moves around and has pecked at the food. It just can not get up off its belly. There was nothing smooth in the hatcher to get spraddles and they are on paper towels now. First at the very bottom I put puppy pads and afew layers of paper towels on top. The "good" chicks are not having any problems.

I really see why they say try all this with some eggs to hatch that are "not valuable". I knew I really didn't have the experience to do really well but when I saw that auction for those BCM and olive eggers I figgured if I didn't buy them, I would not have them for sure. So I bought them and thought I would take my chances.

If Flopsey is strong he may do fine with a little time, don't give up. It does not sound to me as if you did anything to cause the problems; not all chicks are born perfect.

I major a rooster? It sure is a beautiful bird. I have to tell you that I believe in some reasonable help if a chick needs to get going but I don't believe in trying too hard. I know I have no experience so my attidute could be wrong. Of course I WANT them all to be strong and healthy, just not sure how much help is too much.

Flopsey has been pecking at the chick starter sprinkled over the paper toweling.

I am more interested in how I can fix the straddle leggs. I don't know how I could get it splinted like the article shows.

Rita, you did a great job. Some eggs hatched! Now they just need some time, they are just newborn babies after all. They need warmth, food and water. Don't they have to stay at 99 degrees for awhile?

You can dip their little beaks in the water, that seems to help get them going.

I was told to expect about three eggs out of a dozen to hatch with shipped eggs. That's why I want to buy fully grown birds from now on and hatch my own. At least I can see what I'm getting, and it's not just a total shot in the dark.

When my Cuckoo Marans hatched, one was so weak she did not walk for about thee days. She is a healthy hen today.


My last hatch, with shipped eggs only produced one chick. It was a BCM. (I bought her two friends to be with!) She died yesterday. I went to check on them first thing in the morning, and she seemed to be having trouble breathing. She was two weeks old. I tried to give her water, and separate her from the rest. She died in minutes from the time I saw her. Although she did not seem to be putting on weight like her friends, maybe something was wrong. I am bummed.

The first week I had her, when she was alone, I never caught her sleeping. Which I thought was strange, because they usually sleep like they are dead. Then when she got her friends with her, they were all snuggled together asleep.

Oh, I am so sorry you lost your chick. They are so cute and I can see how one can easily get attached to them.

Thanks for saying I did good to make me feel better but I have a long list of things I did wrong. I know all of them contributed to not haveing more (and perfect) hatchlings.

I have been dipping their little beaks in water and they had all drank some. One of them just now went to the water all on its own and drank. I keep repeating the beak dipping periodicly. I guess they will get the idea.

I guess Flopsey is already named. Then there is Spraddle. Funny name for a chicken but what the heck. I am naming the good BCM Jenna because I had planned to name my first BCM hen Jenna just because I really like the name. So I will just call it Jenna and hope its a girl. The Blue chick Olive Egger I am going to call Sprinkles. I know, my names are not very imaginative.

Spraddle is easy to fix !!!!
Get a 3/4" bandaid. Cut it in half lengthwise.
Wrap it around the chicks legs so that it keeps them from falling apart. You will put the pad at the back and wrap each end around and back towards the center.
He/she will be standing up almost immediately and once s/he gets a grip you will never know it was ever a problem.

Susan

It is standing and it is walking. It just has its legs far apart when it does so. I thought that was called spraddle leg? I was just looking at the band ads wondering if that would work. Thank you for the tip. I will try it. I did look at that website too .

Sprinkles is the one that is doing best. Walks around and eats and drinks. It was very strong and perky from first hatching too. All the others including Flopsey and Spraddles are sleeping.

They feel so warm when I pick them up. But the temp thingy saiz 97. Wouldn't they move out of under the heat lamp if they were too warm? Told you I didn't know what I was doing :-((

I just read a site that said, 95 degrees is what you need it at. Then lower it 5 degrees each week.

The way you know if the temperature is right is whether they move to or from the heat source (assuming there is enough room for them to do so).. If they just flop down right where they are the temp is fine. When they are comfortable they just flop their heads down and look like they passed out. If they huddle up together, lower the light; if they stay out from under it it's a bit too hot, so raise it up.

They are in a 20 long aquarium. There is plenty of room for them to move away as the light is at one end. They sleep laid out like they look like they died in the spot. In the end with the light. But then they wake up and poop and peck again.

I did the band aid thingy on the one chick Spraddles. It was easier to get done than I thought it would be. Poor Spraddles is standing there probably wondering what happened. It walks even funnier now but its legs are at least underneath it.

I was watching Flopsey. It doesn't get up off its haunches. It stays on its elbows and tries to walk like that.

Rita 97 is not to hi, and yes they will stay away from the lamp if they get to hot. The heat thing is not that critical. anywhere between 92 - 99 the first couple days is fine. It just isn't as critical as some would have you believe. I know that seems like a wide variation but trust me on this, anywhere in that ballpark will be fine...Hay

Haystack. Thank you I didn't know how critical the actual temperature was and if it needed to be spot on. They look ok and seem to act ok. But I have nothing to compair it too so am a big worrywort. They are soooo soft. They seem to think that I am mommie.

I had to take the band aid splint off Spraddles. It would flop over on its back and not be able to get back up.

oh poor baby. I am sorry you are having so many problems with your first hatch but it happens to us all. I just had 3 Delaware hatch. 1 died in a couple of hours but the other 2 were running around, eating and drinking. The next morning another one was dead when it seemed fine

I can figgure out why many of these problems are happening. Its just a learning curve. But I really want the BCM and the olive eggers. If I don't get a hen of each I will buy again from the same seller. But will have to wait I think as I doubt she has eggs now.

Of all these chicks, Sprinkles is doing the best. Strong and eats and drinks and wanderes around. It was stong right out of the egg. I do so want Sprinkles to be a hen.

Hey, these things can't fly already? Two of them just decided to take a flying leap to the other end of the aquarium. So funny. The aquariim (otherwise known as chicken TV) is right were I can see it from were I sit at my computer.

Rita trust me on this, in a couple hatches your going to be a pro. It is so okay to be nervous and anxious the first time around. I have a feeling within a short time you will be teaching us new things. I look forward to the things your going to share with all of us...Hay

Well, thru out my life all my "babies" have been animals of one sort or another as I never had any actual children. Its the way I wanted it. Now I am chicken mommie but it's so much fun.

Yup, Major is a huge rooster.. HUGE. LOL He could not stand up at all... he was just like in the first picture for the first 3 days.. I believe the same as you.. I will help, but have very mixed emotions on major intervention.. I've done it in the past, with mixed results.. That's why I love using Broody hens.. they know all that stuff and nature takes care of it with no intervention from me.

If Flopsy is eating.. My bet is that it's just gonna be a big chick and it will be alright.

There is nothing cuter than flight practice when all they have is stick wings!

Well, unlike Major, I think Flopsey is the smallest of the four. But I have nothing to compair them too as to if these are chubbier than normal. It think everyone should do as they think best and what they are comfortable with. But for myself, I will not be doing any major intervention.

For those of you pulling for flopsey, it is doing so much better. It doesn't much like to stand up but has been able to get up and stand on its legs. Spradles on the other hand runs and eats and all but unlike the other chicks were the legs go straight down the legs are at an angle going out as they go down. Really peculiar.

Yea! Let's hear it for Flopsey! I'll bet with exercise Spraddle will straighten up.

I love it when they sleep and look like throwrugs

Well, bad news this morning. Flopsey was laying dead on its back. I don't feel horrible about it as I am a strong believer in the fact they need to be fit and strong or let nature take its course. The strange part was that it was improving so much. Proves that when something like this goes on there is more to it than we can see. Something wrong inside somehow. That leaves me with only one Black Copper Marans so I hope I will lucky enough to get a girl. I think the odds are against that.

so sorry but like you said. Sometimes it is for the best in the long run

I am sure I would be very attached if it was an adult I raised from a baby. But Flopsey was simply not here long enough for that to happen. Plus I knew there was something wrong from the very first so that puts it in a different frame of mind.

If that is where this was headed, glad it's over for the chick and for you.