3-week old chick with a bad leg - any advice please

[RoyalChick]

Is it possible her hock will improve once her boot is no longer needed? I can't help but suspect the boot as causal of the hock problem, which followed from the boot.

I wondered about the boot too. But her hock was not right before the boot.
I think as she is young she may improve. Today she seems to be improving in what she can do almost every hour.
But it is hard to tell how much is strengthening vs learning new tricks of movement.
The boot got her toes and shaft properly aligned and seemed to remind her how to walk again.
It us all very odd but she is clearly oodles better than she was.

 

[RoyalChick]

in my past experience, i did have a chick limping and unfortunately, it did die. it was a nutrition deficiency. i'm not sure what could be the issue here, so i don't mean to scare you. is the limping still going on?

Still limping but much better than before. Toes not curled and she is actively able to move the leg.
I think she might get over this.

 

[RueBuckaroo]

Still limping but much better than before. Toes not curled and she is actively able to move the leg.
I think she might get over this.

that's great, i'm so glad to hear. hopefully, she does get through this and is soon all healed up!

 

[MaryJanet]

I wondered about the boot too. But her hock was not right before the boot.
I think as she is young she may improve. Today she seems to be improving in what she can do almost every hour.
But it is hard to tell how much is strengthening vs learning new tricks of movement.
The boot got her toes and shaft properly aligned and seemed to remind her how to walk again.
It us all very odd but she is clearly oodles better than she was.

She's doing beautifully! So are you RC. Would there be an opportunity to step down from boot to sock at some point?

 

[RoyalChick]

She's doing beautifully! So are you RC. Would there be an opportunity to step down from boot to sock at some point?

She has been barefoot since Sunday middle of day.
I still massage her tootsies to make sure they aren’t curling up and make her take her vitamins. But I don’t bandage her up any more.

 

[MaryJanet]

She has been barefoot since Sunday middle of day.
I still massage her tootsies to make sure they aren’t curling up and make her take her vitamins. But I don’t bandage her up any more.

Oh hooray! I watched the video but for some reason I thought she was still booted!

 

[RoyalChick]

This little baby just amazes me. Here she is this morning. If you weren’t aware and looking for it, you might not notice anything wrong with her walking!
I am now rethinking the special needs brooder. I don’t think she is falling off anything. Maybe more hiding spaces in the main Chicken Palace in case she is a little slower than the others to escape.
On the video once she starts drinking you no longer see her legs - but I have a thing for chicks (and chickens) drinking so I didn’t snip the end off the video in case anyone else likes that view of her little face!

 

[ManueB]

It seems that the more she uses that leg the better she gets at it, so taking her boot off was probably helpful. Either her condition is improving or she is building muscles to cope with it ?
She did give you a whirl of emotions in a short time, but it does look like her future is brighter than you thought a few days ago, you must be very relieved!

 

[RoyalChick]

It seems that the more she uses that leg the better she gets at it, so taking her boot off was probably helpful. Either her condition is improving or she is building muscles to cope with it ?
She did give you a whirl of emotions in a short time, but it does look like her future is brighter than you thought a few days ago, you must be very relieved!

Objectively she is physically better - when she first went to the vet she had no voluntary movement in her toes. Yesterday she wiggled and gripped. So something is healing for sure.
The boot taught her to bend her toes to an angle to the shaft and once she was doing that I didn't use it any more.
What is very striking though is how she learns. I saw it with the boot when she had no idea what to do with it at first and then realized it could prop her up so she could stand. Took a few hours only.
So I think it is a combo of real physiological improvement - maybe the Vitamin B helping her nerves to re-myelinate or maybe just time to repair, and learning how to do stuff.
I wonder how much of the learning is young nerve plasticity - maybe new nerves have taken over the functions of damaged nerves. We will never know, but it is amazing to watch.
I only realized when I saw her zooming around this morning how tensed up I was about the whole thing. I feel this amazing sense of relief and happiness.
Silly, I know!

 

[MaryJanet]

Objectively she is physically better - when she first went to the vet she had no voluntary movement in her toes. Yesterday she wiggled and gripped. So something is healing for sure.
The boot taught her to bend her toes to an angle to the shaft and once she was doing that I didn't use it any more.
What is very striking though is how she learns. I saw it with the boot when she had no idea what to do with it at first and then realized it could prop her up so she could stand. Took a few hours only.
So I think it is a combo of real physiological improvement - maybe the Vitamin B helping her nerves to re-myelinate or maybe just time to repair, and learning how to do stuff.
I wonder how much of the learning is young nerve plasticity - maybe new nerves have taken over the functions of damaged nerves. We will never know, but it is amazing to watch.
I only realized when I saw her zooming around this morning how tensed up I was about the whole thing. I feel this amazing sense of relief and happiness.
Silly, I know!

caring about others is not silly. It's smart.

Now the worst is over and you needn't be as focussed on treatment as you have been, what's your best guess as to the root cause?

Also, are there any early warning signs in the videos from before she lost the use of her leg?