Hatch rate and splayed legs

[Binki]

Great set up and I love your supervisor!

LOL! That supervisor reminds me of mine. My 3 dogs all have high prey drive and the quail are very tantalizing to them in the water trough on the patio! My husband did point out at this point they are the size of donut holes.....

Hehe thanks! That's the "Big Chicken" (Leroy) - a boxer and shar pei mix mutt. He did have a live prey instinct when first adopted which I channeled to toys, and nowadays he gets bullied by the chickens over the water dish and reacts pathetically every time a quail randomly flies into his face I totally trust him and seems the other animals do too as they peck and bash into him

 

[JaeG]

Awww, you have to show your gorgeous Leroy off here (it's just for fun):
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/post-pictures-of-your-dogs.1167137/

 

[007Sean]

Congrat's on your hatch! One thing I would change is letting the eggs sit for 24 hrs. before incubation. That's fine if you put them in the incubator with the turner off. Most shipped eggs are already starting to incubate by the time they get to you, unless their coming from a cold climate and going to a cold climate. Could be the reason for a low hatch rate?
I've candled shipped eggs, checking for cracks, ruptured air cells, etc...some where already developing when they arrived. They will start incubating if the temperature is above 70 deg. in the shipping box. HTH and better luck next go around.

 

[Binki]

Awww, you have to show your gorgeous Leroy off here (it's just for fun):
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/post-pictures-of-your-dogs.1167137/

Thanks I did ! Love your pup ^^

 

[DaveMorehouse]

Um, getting back to leg splay... One bird was bandaged and didn't make it. A second bird with curled toes and on leg played fixed itself the next day after I did "PT" with it a half dozen times - straightened the offending toes and held the bird upright for a couple minutes. The third bird needed bandaging and is doing fine now.

Item of note: That self sticking medical wrap was absolutely miserable to get off the bird. We were certain that the bird would die of shock before we could get it off. We ended up cutting it off over the course of about ten minutes.

Thanks again to those who offered advice.
Dave

 

[JaeG]

It isn't unusual to lose at least one chick from a quail hatch so don't feel like you did anything wrong. I'm glad the other two chicks are doing great. I'm always amazed at how quickly splayed legs can be cured. Now you can enjoy them without worrying.

I agree, removing what you've used to hobble their legs together is never fun! And yet we had one button quail whose leg we tried to fix but it did not matter what we used, that slippery little chick would always be able to get out of it!!! Although we couldn't fix her leg (we did try quite a number of times) she's still with us and just has one leg that sticks out sideways. She's still very difficult to catch despite her disability, so it hasn't slowed her down much!