Chick Dragging her leg? Updates of Negu. *New Update (7/6) Pg 5. Pictures added!*

[sunny & the 5 egg layers]

Update 4/21:

Negu is now about 8 weeks old. She is doing pretty well. She is still separated from the other chicks because they tend to trample over her and peck at her odd leg. Her brooder is side-by-side with the other chicks brooder so she can see and hear them. I moved her into a bigger cage because a couple days ago, she layed in her poop a good part of the day and ended up getting herself smelling horrible.

I gave her a bath with baby shampoo and I hair dried her dry. She is a lot better now that she has a bigger cage.
She does associate with the other chicks when supervised during outside playtime. Though during outside playtime, she tends to fly/hop to me and lay under me or on top of my foot.

I hope at some point when she is an adult she will be able to join the flock (not sure since she is a bantam and the majority of my flock is standards.) or I will at least get her another bird friend to bond with.

I have discovered that her favorite treat is hard boiled egg. She goes wild over this treat and will tuck the yolk under her wing and eat it sideways to keep her balance.

I will get updated pictures of Negu tomorrow. I will try to update this thread more often, sorry about the 3 week gap of no update.

 

[rvj412003]

Please let me know how your lame chick has done. One of the 17 chicks that we just helped to hatch looks exactly like yours. It is less than 24 hours old. Is there anything we can do? Have you had any luck with a one legged chicken?

 

[rvj412003]

Little one didn't make it. Just got weaker and weaker and died 36 hours after hatching.

 

[sunny & the 5 egg layers]

I'm very sorry I didn't reply sooner. I'm just seeing this now. I'm sorry you lost the little one.

Next time PM me. You will get a reply a lot sooner. Chances are there is not much you could've done for such a young chick. Your chick may have had something internally wrong with him on top of his leg issue.

I know it is too late now, but for other people in the future here are somethings I would reccomend:
-Feed the chick some baby vitamins (polyvistol) without iron.

-Make sure the chick is eating and drinking. Even if this means hand feeding it with a eye dropper or syringe. A newly hatched chick will not always eat. You shouldn't force a newly hatched chick to eat unless he is at least 3 days old. The newborn chicks are living off their yolk sac they absorbed before hatch, and will not need food until they are about 3 days old.

-Keep it as comfortable as possible. Give it some soft, comfortable bedding such as papertowels, or pine shavings.

I hope this helps some. If you guys have anymore questions, let me know and I will do my best to answer them based on my personal experience with Negu.

 

[sunny & the 5 egg layers]

Update 5/6:

Negu is doing great. She is now about 11 weeks old and she is doing good so far. She is turning out to be a very pretty bird. She got to have some fun outside today and bond with the other chicks. One of the chicks (standard) was pecking at her and tried to step on her. I gave him a little push to make him stay away from Negu, as that could have easily hurt her given the size difference between the two.

Negu remains in her own cage away from the other chicks. She does watch them through the cage, and she seems to enjoy that. She has little to no comb development right now, so I am pretty sure she is a girl. That is great news for me as I can not keep a rooster where I live.

I am planning on hopefully blocking off a portion of my coop for Negu to live in once she is an adult. Unless she is able to join the flock, which I would much prefer. We will see how it goes in the months ahead.

New pictures will be coming soon.

 

[Mysterydream]

Your baby will be fine! I have a one legged chicken and she was born that way. Well to be honest one legged chickens are the best pets. You should keep her inside or in a cage inside. They wont be able to scratch anything without falling over. So you can either get surgery or just nurse her or him very good.

 

[sunny & the 5 egg layers]

Update 7/11/12:

Negu is doing great! She is now about 21 weeks old. I mounted her cage against the wall in my chicken coop. She can watch the other birds all day long and I bring her outside whenever I can to give her some cooked egg and let her peck around in the grass. She also likes to lay down in some of the dust bathing holes my other birds dug out. Everytime I give my other chickens some treats I make a point to give Negu some too. Though she is a picky eater. Her favorite foods so far have been cooked eggs and cooked noodles.

I do have a question though: Should I be expecting an egg from her eventually? Because she doesn't run around like normal chickens, will she still produce an egg? I really don't care if she does or not. I'd prefer her not to because I think it would be hard on her.

Your baby will be fine! I have a one legged chicken and she was born that way. Well to be honest one legged chickens are the best pets. You should keep her inside or in a cage inside. They wont be able to scratch anything without falling over. So you can either get surgery or just nurse her or him very good.

Thank you for the advice.

 

[koko]

No guys, I think she has spraddle legs. I'm ppreety sure your chick has spradle legs. Search it on google "how to fix sradle legs" Dont be worried its not your fult its a common genetic desorder that can be solved.

Best Wishes to the little one

 

[koko]

No guys, I think she has spraddle legs. I'm ppreety sure your chick has spradle legs. Search it on google "how to fix sradle legs" Dont be worried its not your fult its a common genetic desorder that can be solved.

Best Wishes to the little one

 

[Gardengirl73]

Check out slipped hock tendon. All the pics I've seen have been identical to your baby. I have a chick right now with the same. I can push the tendon back in place, but there isn't enough bone growth for supporting it yet. I may have to splint it. I might possibly just keep pushing back in place several times a day until it stays put. If I don't the tendon could shorten. This doesn't appear to bother her at all.