curled toes. Please help

Hi. We were given 2 chickens around 3 1/2 months ago. They both went broody within a few weeks so we decided it woukd be a great opportunity to hatch some chicks. We got 2 fertilised eggs from my partners mother as she has a 2 cockles and we successfully hatched 2 chicks. They are now 8 weeks old. A few weeks ago we noticed one had her small outer toe on one foot curled in slightly. We touched it and she didn't react in pain so we just kept an eye on it and it seemed to improve however yesterday we noticed that all 3 toes on that foot are now curling and going under her when she tries to walk. She mainly now just lays on the grass alone or follows the other chick and chickens with the toes all curled under her foot falling over quite a bit and then when she reaches them she again sits down. We read online that this condition can be caused by a birth defect or a vitamin deficiency. The other chick and chickens are fine. If it is from a vitamin deficiency what tablets should I get to try to help this? I'm in the UK. We also saw people saying to split the foot so that the toes are all straight. We have done this and while the toes are all straight and when you put her down she stands flat footed with her toes straight out like she shoukd but as soon as she takes a step she seems to trip over the other foot and fall flat on her face and then just drags her foot behind her basically the same as without the splint apart from her toes are now straight and it's a bit more difficult cause she is also competing with the splint. I'm unsure if once we splinted it she is supposed to be able to walk correctly again or if it is ok for her to still be walking with her toes/foot under her as long as her toes are straight so that eventually when the splint it permanently removed the toes shoukd be straight again and she should walk as normal? Also how long shoukd we wait for an improvement? I undersrand the splint shoukd be removed each day to check for progress? We are
going to keep an eye on her again tomorrow and if there is no signs of improvement we were going to consider taking her to a vet the following day to see if they believe we should put her to sleep. We do not have the cash to be paying for operations etc and everytime i see her struggling to walk and falling on her face it breaks my heart and know that sitting in the grass alone watching the other chickens happily have the run of the large garden finding it very
difficult to move is no way for her to live. Any advise at all would be greatly appreciated. I don't have any pictures at the minute as it is night time and she is safely tucked up in the coop with her sister and two mummy's.

Just to add she seems to be getting to her food and water fine and we are regally taking water to where she is sitting in the grass as it's very hot here at the moment so we are making sure she always has water close by

I had a chick this year with this problem and I also made splints for her while also giving her a vitamin supplement. I'm not sure of the exact name of the vitamin fluid, it was just something I already had, but I think it is commonly known as Poly-Vi-Sol( here in America) I left the splints on for a good 48 hrs straight while giving her the vitamin liquid 2-3 times a day. at first she still had much trouble walking with the splints, but she got better. When I felt she had the splints on long enough I took them off and she was much improved that she could get around fine. a day or two while still giving her the vitamins and she was back to full health

Thankyou. I will have a look for the vitamin fluid online. Im also going to go to a few places tomorrow to look for something and see if the staff can offer her any suggestions. She doesn't seem to be on pain which is good I just find it so hard to watch her struggling. I have to walk away sometimes and leave my partner to tend to her cause I just am so upset for her. So hoping she makes a recovery. Who would have thought you could get so attached to a chicken : )

I know what you mean, and yeah, making sure she has water is a good idea. I would pick my chick up when she still couldn't get around easily and dip her beak in the water so I knew she was getting a drink multiple times a day.
she had this problem when she was 4 weeks old. she was quite the runt for a couple weeks afterwards but she looks great now.
here are some pics of her about a month or two later after she healed. totally healthy

Thankyou. It's great to hear that she may get back to full health. I really hope so. Just got up to let them all out and there isn't any improvement over night. Don't think the splint is working so going to try a different design today I think and try to track down some vitamins and advice from the staff at the stores. I'll keep you updated on progress. Thankyou so much

We have tried a couple more different splints leaving each one on for 24 hrs and there is a lot of improvement with her toes being straight. However she still can't walk. Not sure if it is just a case of getting used to the splint being off? Every once in a
while she will step and put her foot and toes out
normally but most of the time when she steps her
toes go under and rather than flipping them bk out to
step on a flat foot she just leaves them curled under
and walks (very slowly and un steady) on her ankle
stump unless you physically flip her toes out for her.
Is this normal and do you think it is just a case of her
getting used to her foot being free again or do you
think we should leave a splint on longer? Or that this
"treatment" isn't working? No matter what kind of split we put on her she can not walk with it on and unless you physically move her bad foot for her she will just let the whole leg drag behind her. Over the last couple of days one of us has constantly been home with her so that we can either help her get around on the garden by moving her foot for her or keep an eye out for her sitting there with her leg flipped behind her cause she has fallen over or Bring
her inside so she can sit and rest without feeling the
need to try and follow the other chickens but after tomorrow it's back to wrk so she will be left for a minimum of 7 hours. Don't know if I'm over worrying about her? Think I'm turning in yo a bit of a mother hen myself lol

Any poultry vitamin would work. You need to give her riboflavin or vitamin B2, since she may have a deficiency in that vitamin. Curled toe paralysis can be from the riboflavin deficiecy, or from Mareks disease. When treating riboflavin deficiency, it needs to be done right away for better chances of cure. Here are two links to read:
http://www.thepoultrysite.com/publications/6/diseases-of-poultry/217/vitamin-b2-deficiency
http://www.merckmanuals.com/vet/pou..._poultry/vitamin_deficiencies_in_poultry.html

Thank you. I have been to all the pet stores local to me and can not find any that sell vitamins for chickens. I have just found Riboflavin tablets on ebay but for humans? Could I give her these? Woukd also have to wait for them to be delivered too which isn't ideal. No idea of what dose as the instructions will be for humans? Also see u can get Vitamin B2 tablets from a store near me but again they are for humans? Could I give her maybe half or a quarter or a tablet does anyone know?

P.s we did get some poultry tonic that you put in there water 20ml to every 500ml it says it contains vitamins for diseased chickens ex battery hens etc