Crooked Toes

The information below is only our experience. We are not veterinary surgeons so please bear this in mind and seek help from a vet if you are at all worried.

When just hatched:

Occasionally we have had chicks hatch with crooked toes. We have heard a few explanations of the reasons why this should happen but we have only ever experienced crooked toes with chicks which have hatched late.

When chicks hatch their toes are curled and normally within a few hours as the chick starts to move about they sort themselves. If they do not show signs of improving we give them a splint. This is a particularly tricky job as the toes are so tiny. The best thing we managed to find to do the job was ties for freezer bags. We fold these over until they are the correct length and attach them to the birds toe (or toes) with sticky plasters. We just cut a small piece of the sticky part of a plaster and wrap it round. If you can manage to fold the edge of the plaster just enough so you can unwrap it again it helps a lot. The chick will not be very pleased at first but will very quickly become accustomed to these funny feet. Other chicks will sometimes find the plasters fascinating and have a peck at them. Just keep a close eye on them. With our own chicks this has not caused a serious problem. All the chicks get used to the plastered toes quickly and lose interest. We do not have our chicks heavily stocked and have other morsels for them to find among the shavings which might help. If you can use plenty of shavings (or other litter) in the brooder this might help as well to hide the strange toes.

We keep the splints on for three or four days after which the toes are normally fine, if not, we would just put another splint on and try to straighten any part of the toe still crooked. A few more days should do the trick.  Even if you have found it difficult to position the splint correctly and the toes are not perfectly straight it will still make enough of a difference to allow the bird to perch and balance properly. However if you can put the splint on before the chick is 48 hours old the toes are normally completely corrected.

After a few weeks:

Sometimes about three or four weeks after hatching a chick will start to develop crooked toes this rarely happens if the chicks are parent reared or Banty hens have been used for rearing. It is usually a consequence of the chicks toes not being exercised in the correct manner. If the young birds have different surfaces and perches available to them the risk is greatly reduced. If the birds get used to resting with their feet on flat ground their toes can start to curl to the side when they should be curled under a perch. If the chicks are under a hen they will put more pressure on their feet as the push up thereby exercising the toes and minimising the risk of them twisting.