3 Day Old Chick with Possible Leg Injury

[Lambingfamily]

I have a chick that hatched late, day 23. It took it a little longer than the others to adapt outside the shell. It was doing fine but when we came home from church today it was sort of holding the one leg out and hobbling along. The little foot is sort of limp and can't grip but it does curl the toes and pull the leg back under its body while I hold it. I have felt up and down the leg to see if I felt any breaks or anything. What do I do? it doesn't seem to be in any pain.

 

[Chickapooh23]

Is it maybe a sprayed leg? If you do a search you can find pictures of it to compare. It is more common with late chicks. I had one last year that hatch late, and took a long time coming out of the shell.

If that is it, it is pretty easy to fix. You need to make a hobble out of string or a bandaid. It take about 2-3 days to correct. If you search sprayed leg it should have instructions on how to make the hobble and attack it.

 

[speedi3]

LambingFamily,
See if this is what the chick looks like. http://www.poultryhelp.com/spraddle.html -
if chick does not look like this it will help on the rest of my explaination.

If not I don't have pics but think this might help -
Ok, I had success with my last hatch.
First you need - Clear packing tape mine was "Crystal Clear" brand seems to be a bit thicker than other box tape, and a band-aid.
First - take a square of packing tape a little bigger than his/her foot in the standing position. Place foot on sticky side of tape and fold corners over tallons/toes. It should look a little like a made-shift duck foot. Do this to both feet.
Second - Take the band-aid and cut lengthwise in half. Set chick in palm of hand or have someone else hold them. Place just above foot on leg one part of the adheasive part of band-aid and wrap around leg, do the same to the other leg leaving the pad in the middle between the legs. You may have to do this process a couple of times, tape seems to want to wear off feet sooner than they are ready to walk on their own.
Then I put mine back in the pen with the others and kept an eye on him/her so not to get trampled. After a little while he/she got the balance and realized how to start using his feet. I did this with one of my Barred Rock's and is doing fine so far at a couple of months old.
I hope this helps, let me know if I can be of any other help.
Jan.

 

[Lambingfamily]

Thank you so much for the advise!

I am going to try it. It is only one of the legs and I didn't notice it until this afternoon. I hope this works!

She is one of three late chicks. The second one seems to be doing well. It just has a ball strip down the center of its head and the last one is still in the bator! I'll keep yall posted! So it is okay to put it back with the rest of the chicks? I just want to make sure it is eating and drinking. Thanks again for the help!!!!

 

[Lambingfamily]

Okay, I did it! We'll wait and see what happens. I am going to keep a close eye on the little fuzz bucket to make sure it doesn't get trampled by its buddies. Thanks again, especially for the link. I think both of yall gave the same advise, just a little different technic. That is what I love about this forum. Everyone is so helpful!

 

[speedi3]

LambingFamily - Yeah if it's only the one leg that is why I did the bandaid and tape on the foot. This helps to stablize the chick so he/she will learn to balance. It will take it a little bit to get used to it but should do fine.
Good Luck.

 

[Lambingfamily]

How long does it take to see improvements?

I had to move the chick out of the flock because they liked the shiny tape on the foot. I got up this morning and it had mangaged to get the band-aid off. So I put another strip on. No improvements of of yet.

 

[speedi3]

It may take a day or two for it to get it's balance. Just make sure it know's where the water and food are. Sometimes I will sit with them for a little bit helping them to stay on their feet to teach them how to stand. I've also had to replace the bandaid too sometimes.