Wasn’t sure where to post this article but here we go! After having a chick that needed corrective shoes placed in February, I decided to write up this article when the situation came up again today. I had trouble finding information in one place that explains how to put the shoes on, so I thought it would be a good idea to post a a photo essay. Hope others find this helpful.
Many things can be used to make corrective shoes for newly hatched chicks who have curled toes and feet. I chose to use what we had on hand in the home and came up with heavy card stock and paper medical tape. This method was used successfully on a chick about a month ago, she only had to wear them for a day and a half and she has been fine since.
This little lavender silkie hatched late last night, she was a partial assist and as she wasn’t able to push out the shell herself, her feet remained curled after hatch. This is a common problem with assisted hatches. Gave her about 12 hours to figure out how to get up on her feet but she continued to walk on the sides of her feet with curled toes. You definitely need two pairs of hands to do this with such tiny chicks, even then it is tricky!
This is what her feet looked like before placing the shoes:
And this is how they looked when she was walking on them:
These are the materials I used. I had a “template“ of sorts from the last chick, It is important to make the shoes fit just right, if they’re too big it makes it too difficult for them to walk. You can trim the shoes to size after you place them but you have to be incredibly cautious not to clip their little toes off!
Difficult to show exactly how the foot looks when placing it, but I place just the front three toes, the toes need to be curled out into the anatomical correct position. Here’s where the extra hands come in! Even then it is difficult.
The little cardboard shoe was placed over the tape, tape side up, The chicks toes are uncurled and placed into position and then the tape is placed over, trimming any excess. This can be reinforced if needed with extra tape. Important to make sure all the toes are lined up properly before putting on the tape.
Next photo shows the chick with one shoe on, one to go!
Second shoe on and back in the incubator with her new fancy new footwear!
It is a bit of a learning curve for the chick to figure out how to walk with these. She’ll be in the brooder, once she’s figured out how to walk properly. It has been less than 24 hours since she hatched.
I hope others find this information useful! I expect this chick to be walking normally within a few days. It usually does not take very long when they are this young. What I have done in the past is take the shoes off after about a day, see how they’re doing and then apply new shoes if needed.
Good luck!
Many things can be used to make corrective shoes for newly hatched chicks who have curled toes and feet. I chose to use what we had on hand in the home and came up with heavy card stock and paper medical tape. This method was used successfully on a chick about a month ago, she only had to wear them for a day and a half and she has been fine since.
This little lavender silkie hatched late last night, she was a partial assist and as she wasn’t able to push out the shell herself, her feet remained curled after hatch. This is a common problem with assisted hatches. Gave her about 12 hours to figure out how to get up on her feet but she continued to walk on the sides of her feet with curled toes. You definitely need two pairs of hands to do this with such tiny chicks, even then it is tricky!
This is what her feet looked like before placing the shoes:
And this is how they looked when she was walking on them:
These are the materials I used. I had a “template“ of sorts from the last chick, It is important to make the shoes fit just right, if they’re too big it makes it too difficult for them to walk. You can trim the shoes to size after you place them but you have to be incredibly cautious not to clip their little toes off!
Difficult to show exactly how the foot looks when placing it, but I place just the front three toes, the toes need to be curled out into the anatomical correct position. Here’s where the extra hands come in! Even then it is difficult.
The little cardboard shoe was placed over the tape, tape side up, The chicks toes are uncurled and placed into position and then the tape is placed over, trimming any excess. This can be reinforced if needed with extra tape. Important to make sure all the toes are lined up properly before putting on the tape.
Next photo shows the chick with one shoe on, one to go!
Second shoe on and back in the incubator with her new fancy new footwear!
It is a bit of a learning curve for the chick to figure out how to walk with these. She’ll be in the brooder, once she’s figured out how to walk properly. It has been less than 24 hours since she hatched.
I hope others find this information useful! I expect this chick to be walking normally within a few days. It usually does not take very long when they are this young. What I have done in the past is take the shoes off after about a day, see how they’re doing and then apply new shoes if needed.
Good luck!
