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Curled Toes in Chicks |
I haven't had nearly as many chicks with curled toes since I started leaving them in the hatcher for 24 hours after hatch. When we first started hatching chicks, our instinct was to get them out of the incubator right away and into the brooder where we could give them food and water and watch them. But chicks feed on the absorbed egg yolk for up to 72 hours after they hatch and really don't require food or water right away. And the time spent in the warm, moist incubator with other chicks hatching around them, just seems to straighten out any toe issues. Once they are put in the brooder, the rubbery shelf liner on the bottom seems to really help them to extend their toes normally. (Can you tell I REALLY love that shelf liner stuff?)
But if you get a chick with curled toes and it needs help - the sooner you can intervene, the better. This method works well, although you will have to watch it and replace the tape every day or so. I use clear packing tape, cut 2 pieces about 2 inches square each. Place one piece sticky side up on a hard surface. Holding your chick firmly with its leg extended, spread the toes into the desired position, and press onto the sticky tape. Put the other piece of tape, sticky side down onto the foot and press all around and between each individual toe. The chick's toes will be sandwiched between the 2 pieces of tape, hopefully in the correct position. Press firmly all around the foot and between the toes, and using small scissors, cut off the excess tape, creating a tape slipper that will hold the toes in the desired position. Do the same on the other foot if necessary. Watch the chick when you put it back in the brooder - make sure it can move about normally, and make sure the other chicks aren't pecking at the taped chick. Some interest is normal, but you might have to remove your curled toe chick into a private brooder for a day or so, if the others are convinced that those taped toes are really juicy worms. :-)
Check the tape every day, food will get in between the taped pieces and eventually it will loosen, and will need to be replaced. Sometimes the toes will straighten out entirely within 24 hours with this method, especially if the problem is discovered right after hatch. The longer the chick's toes are curled, the longer it will take to fix.
In a dire situation on an older chick, I even superglued a chick's toes to a piece of cardboard, because I couldn't keep the tape on the toes. The cardboard was cut into the shape of the chick's foot and the toes glued in place on top of it. It worked really well, stayed on about 10 days before the glue broke down, and the chick had normal toes again. However that is not a method I would recommend for the average chick hatcher - so many things could have gone wrong, and I think I was just really lucky.