1 Day old chick with bent legs, can't stand up straight...

[stitch81]

I have a 1 day old baby chick (hatched on day 21, but was very weak and had membrane covering his face-I pulled him out quickly to remove the membrane). He laid on the floor of the hatcher for several hours, breathing and chirping, before finally trying to get up and move around. He seems to be having trouble extending his left leg, and right wing. He didn't move around much until late last evening, and is now hobbling around the hatcher fairly well, but the leg is still somewhat bent under him (like it doesn't want to extend), and it still seems that his right wing is not moving properly. Any ideas what I can do?

 

[Clay Valley Farmer]

You can try to brace the leg/wing into a more correct position with bandaids, tape, pipe cleaners ect. But sadly in my experience most of these cases are simply not ment to survive and often have other unseen problems that show up later.

After trying to nurse weak chicks, most with little success and significant suffering I now give a questionable chick 24 hours or maybe a little more if it is a tough call. By then if they can't get to their feet and start to feed I feel it best to do the humane thing.