Crooked and Curled Toes in Chicks

Crooked Toes

A chick that has crooked toes will walk on the sides of its feet. Often manure clumps will be gathered because of this and occasionally sores will develop.

Chicks usually get crooked toes when the humidity during incubation is too low but they can also get them if the floor of the rearing area / brooder is too cold and they can also inherit them from their parents. There has been some research that has linked crooked toes to rearing chicks on wire floors but that doesn't usually bother hobby chicken keepers because they generally don't use this method of rearing chicks.

If you can identify the cause of crooked toes in your chicks, then you may still be able to use them for breeding. If it is hereditary then it is not advisable to breed from them because you will be introducing the fault to future generations.

Curled Toes

Curled Toe Paralysis is when the toes are curled and the chick walks on the tops of his curled toes, rather than the sides of the toes as with crooked toes. It is painful for the chick so he will usually spend most of the time sat on his hocks resting or walking around on his hocks. Often chicks will die at about 3 or 4 weeks old. Curled toes are caused by a deficiency in Riboflavin. If hens have not had the correct diet (layers pellets for example without access to other foods like greens) this can sometimes occur but can also happen if the chicks starter crumbs contain insufficient Riboflavin. In the latter case, the chicks usually get curled toes after a week or two.

If you are quick enough in diagnosing curled toes (during the first day or two that the chick cannot stand up) then you can treat them with a multivitamin drink that contains Riboflavin. The toes will straighten out after a few days but if you aren't quick enough, permanent damage will have been done and the toes will continue to grow curled.