possible bowed legs in 5 day old poult, but not spraddle

[thebulg]

THE TOP LEFT PICTURE IS A DIFFERENT, HEALTHY POULT (though it is a broad breasted, so different breed). the other 3 are my new bourbon red. it wouldnt walk at all for the first 12 hours i had it, and then it could only walk with its legs nearly parallel to the floor. it now walks with its legs in the position you see in the bottom left photo, and when it stands, it always stands with its feet on top of each other as the bottom right photo.

if you look at the top 2 picks, it looks to me like its knees are closer in to its body than they maybe should be, but i'm not 100%. the walking is improving, and it is getting more upright, but it is very wobbly. it eats and drinks on its own, is chirping now and interacting with the other 2 babies, and made a very funny attempt at jumping earlier that would have been successful, except it couldn't stick the landing. its wings are always a little bit out from its body, which also makes me wonder if it is constantly trying to balance.

my question is should i make a little splint to push its legs a little farther apart, or trust that it will develop the strength and proper mechanics eventually?

 

[thebulg]

this is a rough picture, sorry, my husband didn't quite understand what i was asking for. the healthy poult is on the right. if the poult on the left does draw its feet to its body, the feet will cross over. and if you look, you can see how the top part of both legs angle into its abdomen.

 

[ShannonR]

I don't see anything obviously wrong with the poult, strange that it crosses its legs but poults can be awkward critters.
If it were my poult, I would take a wait and see approach. If it is eating, drinking and getting around reasonably well I would see if this is something that sorts itself out. If not, you can always cull later. The bird is still pretty small, and if not suffering I would leave well enough alone for now.

 

[thebulg]

I don't see anything obviously wrong with the poult, strange that it crosses its legs but poults can be awkward critters.
If it were my poult, I would take a wait and see approach. If it is eating, drinking and getting around reasonably well I would see if this is something that sorts itself out. If not, you can always cull later. The bird is still pretty small, and if not suffering I would leave well enough alone for now.

i decided on the wait and see as well, and "pt". just trying a few times a day to help it stand with its legs a little wider apart, and making sure they get about an hour total outside so it can be on the ground and work its muscles running and foraging. i also noticed it isn't holding its wings into its body or keeping the primary wings spread out. so there might be a little something wrong with it, but not enough to keep it from living it seems. it's definitely weak. it falls down a lot when trying to eat grasses and keep up with the other 2, and it seems 30 minutes is about the max it can run around and then it lays down and rests. but it's starting to jump a little more successfully, and i agree, if it ends up being a problem as the poult gets older, we cull then. and hopefully it can make it to a reasonable table weight. i think it will.

 

[ShannonR]

I think your poult should turn out ok, or at least make it to a decent size before culling. You might not be able to tell there was ever a problem as it grows!

Good luck.

 

[ShannonR]

Any updates for us?

 

[thebulg]

sorry, dealing with a hatch that is going awry! i will get some more pictures possibly tomorrow. s/he is doing GREAT and i'm not totally sure what is going on with its wing feathers! i think it will grow up just fine, but i do think something was off with all of its limbs!