1 day old with bad leg

[maxxliz]

This chick hatched last night. I can't straighten the leg al the way, only a little bit. Can I help him?

 

[chickensrus2]

You could try to spin the leg but I def wouldn't give up on the little chick! If you want to give up, I would either 1) post it's pic on here and offer to give the chick up 2) give it to Petfinder or 3) give it to a local farm

 

[new 2 pfowl]

We have a lot of peapeople here who have experience with foot and leg problems, I hope one of them will give you advice.

In the meantime, it might be a good idea to keep trying to straighten his foot and leg. If the leg won't straighten easily, it may be a tight tendon? Perhaps very gentle massage on his leg can help to loosen this up? As for the foot, he will probably need a "shoe" - if you search here you 'll find some information about this, or here is an excellent example of the process: http://peafowlimagedatabase.weebly.com/chicks-straightening-crooked-toes.html. Be sure you use tape with a gentle adhesive so you don't hurt the little guy.

Good luck with the little cutie...

 

[new 2 pfowl]

@maxxliz
How is your little guy doing? Any improvement?

 

[maxxliz]

I called my local zoo/rehab & no reply yet, but he's not eating. He's not interested in food at all. I tried feeding him and he shakes it off. Maybe there's more than just a bad leg. I'm sad for him. He's so cute. I can't keep him so I'll try calling them again, but I'm not sure if he's even going to make it. I took the splint off thinking that maybe I was stretching his leg too much and making him uncomfortable & that's why he's not eating. But it hasn't seemed to help. Poor little guy.

 

[new 2 pfowl]

Has he been drinking? If not, you'll need to get some liquid down the little guy.
It sounds like he definitely will need a hands-on approach ASAP if he's going to make it.

Where are you located?

 

[thndrdancr]

Valerie, I am so sorry. I am not sure what can be done for him. You also have to know it is notoriously difficult to even get normal healthy peachick to eat, it many times takes a lot of time and sometimes another chick.

I was hoping folks here might have a few more ideas.

I will refresh my thread but not sure it can help with a newly hatched, I do know earlier the treatment after hatch, better success as their bones get hard really quickly and out of the egg they are still rubbery.

 

[thndrdancr]

I am not sure my thread would help as it looks like your guys hocks are the opposite. I am still thinking a burrito type wrap might be best.

New2, do you have access to where the burrito wraps for legs are?

 

[new 2 pfowl]

Here are the burrito threads but I'm not sure that's the right approach in a case where the leg won't straighten out:

@frenchblackcopper 's "burrito" - basically holds the legs in the position that they should properly be in: https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/896809/fixing-splayed-legs
@KsKingBee developed an alternate "sock burrito," see his posts on this page: https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/971214/2015-peafowl-hatching-support-group-eggs-and-chicks/80
If you go through both of these threads there's a lot of helpful information about leg problems, but it may not be relevant here...

However, if the little guy really isn't eating (or drinking?) that's an immediate problem that needs to be addressed, he really won't last long that way.
I guess this means tubing? Definitely not my department...

 

[frenchblackcopper]

Thanks New2 for the heads up,,been away for awhile. It looks from the picture the chick definately has one foot that needs taped to get the toes straightened.I would then get both legs under the chick and keep them secured by doing to buritto as it's now been called or wrapping tight enough to keep legs where they belong for a few days. I'm betting this peachick took quite a long time from pip to hatch?? Crooked toes and splayed legs are caused by this. And the longer you wait before getting and keeping them in the correct position,,the more difficult it is to get them to stay in a normal position