Advice for splayed leg

[quail2000]

Hi all - I had a group of quail hatch Tuesday night and into Wednesday, one had pretty bad splayed legs, like in completely opposite directions from one another. From what I read, I used a small piece of rubber band to help keep them together as treatment, but so far there's no progress. Actually he gets around a lot worse with the band on, he can't seem to figure out how to walk, he just flops on the floor and struggles to try to walk. I've been thinking of taking the band off just because he can't get around with it on. I'd like to give it a little more time but if there's no progress, I figure I should cull, but would like any advice you have. I've never culled a chick before.
Thanks

 

[Nabiki]

Quail chicks correct very quickly if they're going to get better. If you aren't seeing any improvement in 24 hours, it's probably time to cull. If you really want, you can give it another day or two, but I have always seen improvements within a day if it's going to get better.

I just had to cull a chick yesterday that had wry neck and splay leg. I gave it more time than I probably should have, to be honest.

 

[quail2000]

Thanks. I'll give it a couple more days.

 

[CliftonQuail]

Thanks. I'll give it a couple more days.

You could try putting the chick in a shot glass for a few minutes at a time (put something in the bottom of glass for its feet to grip). Also, it looks like you may be using household paper towels for the bottom of your brooder. Those are typically fairly slick. Many people use the blue shop paper towels because they're rougher and give the claws a little more to grip.
The first case of splay leg that I dealt with, I actually set the chick on carpet for a few minutes every hour or so. That appeared to help quite a bit, too. Eventually, I couldn't tell which bird had the problem.

 

[Birds and Buns]

I would also recommend using a shot glass. Another thing that I have found to work is to take a bandage (trim it down a bit) and wrap one end around one of it’s leg and wrap the other end around the other leg.

 

[quail2000]

Thanks. I took the rubber band off after about a day, his legs were no longer splayed but he still couldn't stand up or walk. After a couple more days he now pedals his legs if he's flopped down and can hop up and walk around. He seems to be making a lot of progress.