4 Week old chick with bad leg - Help!

[MTCoop]

We have a four week old White Rock Cornish cross who started to limp about a week and a half ago. We checked her out many times to see what was wrong but we could never find the problem. We thought it may have been bumblefoot but tonight when we picked her up to have a look again, we saw that her 'ankle' (where her foot meets the drumstick) is very swollen. She will no longer put any weight on that leg but she is able to hop over to the food and water and does not seem to be any smaller than any of the other birds. Any thoughts, suggestions?

 

[Eggcessive]

Leg bone deformities can be very common in meat birds. Those can lead to tendon rupture as the chick grows. It also may have been an injury. At what age are you planning to butcher them? You can try putting her into a chicken sling with food and water within reach to get her off the ground and keep her clean in case she hurts the other leg while putting all the weight on it:

 

[MTCoop]

Thank you so much for the information. From what I have been reading I think you are right about it being a tendon rupture. This is only the second year that we have had meat birds and our last batch was problem free. We plan on butchering in 3-4 wks. but I hate to see her suffer until then. The sling is great idea, I will give it a try and hopefully that will make her more comfortable.
Thanks Eggcessive!