3-week-old chick has a hock injury.

[Salty Cookie]

She is 3-week old, but her size is almost half of the others. She had a slipped tendon (or could be spraddle leg) and I put leg hobbles and cured it. She was all better so she was back to the brooder with her 8 pals but since the other girls are much bigger and wilder, I think she hurt her knee when she tried to run away or something when the girls got crazy... She is not getting bullied by the way.
Both of her hocks wobble and bend almost forward (should be backward!) as she walks. I secured her legs and kept her on a sling for a few days. I removed braces and had her walk on paper towel today. Her hocks wobble and still want to bend forward as she walks. She eats and drinks well, but she is VERY small! Today, I am letting her rest alone without braces today. Her hocks are not swollen, and I cannot really tell if she has got slipped tendon or if there are any other issues. I searched hoping to find why her hocks want to bend the wrong way but cannot find any good information. Anyone had the same issue??? How did you treat it?

 

[Eggcessive]

Do you have any pictures or videos of her standing or walking? Videos have to be posted to YouTube with a link posted here. I haven’t treated any chicks with that before, but she sounds like she has some problem with her joints. There are leg bone deformities that can worsen with age, and tendons can rupture. Hopefully, she just has loose tendons, and they will tighten up. I hope others here will post with their experiences.

 

[Salty Cookie]

Do you have any pictures or videos of her standing or walking? Videos have to be posted to YouTube with a link posted here. I haven’t treated any chicks with that before, but she sounds like she has some problem with her joints. There are leg bone deformities that can worsen with age, and tendons can rupture. Hopefully, she just has loose tendons, and they will tighten up. I hope others here will post with their experiences.

Thanks, just added a video.

 

[Eggcessive]

Have you tried chick vitamins or b complex wjich have riboflavin? That can be helpful in leg problems. It looks a bit like valgus deformity in one or both legs, but just an amateurs guess.
https://www.researchgate.net/public..._of_the_Intertarsal_Joint_in_Broiler_Chickens

 

[Salty Cookie]

Have you tried chick vitamins or b complex wjich have riboflavin? That can be helpful in leg problems. It looks a bit like valgus deformity in one or both legs, but just an amateurs guess.
https://www.researchgate.net/public..._of_the_Intertarsal_Joint_in_Broiler_Chickens

I have given her fish oil and multivitamin with Vitamin Bs which is riboflavin... I put braces back on both of her legs, meaning she cannot walk She is lying down on the floor, sleeping now... I need to make a better sling tomorrow since she tries to get out a lot and flaps her wings so much that makes me worried she would break her wings.

 

[Fluffyflufffluff]

She is 3-week old, but her size is almost half of the others. She had a slipped tendon (or could be spraddle leg) and I put leg hobbles and cured it. She was all better so she was back to the brooder with her 8 pals but since the other girls are much bigger and wilder, I think she hurt her knee when she tried to run away or something when the girls got crazy... She is not getting bullied by the way.
Both of her hocks wobble and bend almost forward (should be backward!) as she walks. I secured her legs and kept her on a sling for a few days. I removed braces and had her walk on paper towel today. Her hocks wobble and still want to bend forward as she walks. She eats and drinks well, but she is VERY small! Today, I am letting her rest alone without braces today. Her hocks are not swollen, and I cannot really tell if she has got slipped tendon or if there are any other issues. I searched hoping to find why her hocks want to bend the wrong way but cannot find any good information. Anyone had the same issue??? How did you treat it?

you need to know something, splinting with vet wrap could give the hock more protection, but don't get it too tight to cut off the blood circulation. Injuries can take a few weeks to recover, but others, unfortunately, do not recover at all.

 

[Eggcessive]

You know, I think I would remove the braces to let her try and walk around to build up the muscles to walk on her own. Many times these chicks will figure out how to get around. It might be more successful than splinting or taping. It is hard to know which would work best. Here is a good thread where someone treated a peachick with splinting methods, and in post 12 found that tape splinting helped best. It is a long thread, but there was success:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/peachick-with-slipped-tendon.1092979/

 

[Salty Cookie]

You know, I think I would remove the braces to let her try and walk around to build up the muscles to walk on her own. Many times these chicks will figure out how to get around. It might be more successful than splinting or taping. It is hard to know which would work best. Here is a good thread where someone treated a peachick with splinting methods, and in post 12 found that tape splinting helped best. It is a long thread, but there was success:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/peachick-with-slipped-tendon.1092979/

Thanks!!!!

 

[Salty Cookie]

I have had this chick and another chick (posted in another thread) with leg issues. After searching more, I guess both of them (thought one had a broken hobble) had spraddle legs. I removed their braces and let them rest in a small plastic container for two days. Their legs were very shaky and they were limping but they started walking back to a normal way and wanted to walk more, so I moved them to a middle-size dog crate to give them more space to walk around. I am afraid they may get injured again if I put them back to the brooder where seven others are in, so I am putting two chicks from the brooder into the hospital crate each time and let them meet everyone every day. It is working well!
Thanks!

 

[Eggcessive]

Thanks for the update, and glad they are doing better.