Turkey peep question

Kmac15 · #1 05/26/11, 02:17 PM

Just picked up my Murray McMurray order. Out of the 15 peeps, one has what looks like a deformed foot It kind of curls under at the toes....it makes it to the water and food, just not very fast. I have already sent an E-mail to the company but wonder if we need to 'put it down' or is there a chance it will be ok?

Cyngbaeld · #2 05/26/11, 03:45 PM

It might be ok, but usually they don't get any better if the toes are curled after a couple of days. They tend to get more and more crippled as they grow.

trbizwiz · #3 05/26/11, 04:47 PM

What causes that? Is it preventable? What is it called? Thanks

oregon woodsmok · #4 05/26/11, 06:10 PM

You can tape the foot open, and if you do it right now, the foot might be OK.

The hatchery owes you a replacement or refund for that bird.

It's one of my pet peeves that the hatcheries don't even look at the chicks that they pack and they send out chicks with cross beak and deformed feet.

I suggest that you tape the foot, and remember what poult it was and make sure to invite that one to Thanksgiving dinner and don't use it as breeding stock. I do not know if it is genetic, but I wouldn't risk it.

Ellie Mae · #5 05/26/11, 11:56 PM

We had a similar issue with a chick who was just a few days old...

we took a piece of duct tape sticky side up, flattened out her toes, topped it with another piece and cut the ends slightly to shape "toes"....
it ended up looking like a duck foot, so we
nicknamed her "duckie"!
as she grew we regularly retaped it, and after a few months, we removed it and her foot remained normal and no one could tell she ever had a problem.

I'd give it a try and see how it turns out.

ETA: Duckie had many chicks of her own and none of them had that problem, so we don't know what caused it..