Anybody raise Dorkings?

[LaurenRitz]

If you raise Dorkings, do they have a propensity for foot and leg problems as chicks?

One of my chicks (1 day old) isn't walking. She has 5 toes, so obviously a Dorking cross. No splay leg, no curled toes, but her hocks are malformed and sticking out on both sides. She moves using her wings.

Does the five toed gene affect other things? Any idea what's going on?

 

[Slothinc]

I can’t tell from the video but I would suggest to check for slipped tendon. I think if you search on YouTube you will be able to watch a video on how to diagnose that in chicks. It is something that is nearly impossible to correct if they are slipped tendons, so hopefully it isnt that. And I don’t think it actually is, but wanted to mention just in case.

Other than that, I would just observe for another day or so. I had a chick a few months ago that was very similar and couldnt move. After 2 days of not walking, I was prepared to cull the next day if it didn’t improve. Imagine my surprise when the next morning, it was walking around normally with all the other chicks!! When I talked to someone about it, she said she had experienced the same thing and had thought that the yolk was so large that the chick couldnt walk until it had processed it. Hoping that this is what is going on with your little one!

 

[LaurenRitz]

Hope so. She's my first and only Dorking cross. The information I was able to find on slipped tendons said the back of the hock would feel flat. I don’t feel that. It also said that it results in a rather extreme version of splay leg, but her legs and feet feel more tight than loose.

I've worked with splay leg before, and it's not that. Her toes aren't curled.

She uses her wings to move around, and is far more mobile than those with splay leg. I've seen her eating.

 

[Slothinc]

Hopefully she will figure things out in the next day or two. Could possibly be neurological. But hopefully it will figure things out soon and be fine!

 

[LaurenRitz]

Looks like the problem is her hips. The hip joints are swiveled out to the side. I need a rubber band.

 

[Slothinc]

I would be interested to know how it turns out and how you brace it!

 

[NorthwoodsChick]

watching.

 

[LaurenRitz]

I couldn't find a rubber band or the stretchy bandage. I did put hobbles on her, and I found a little cup just wide enough so she can sit but can't lie down. And she had to use her legs to get out.

I'm mean. Tomorrow if I can find something that works I'll give her a hip brace.

 

[LaurenRitz]

I couldn't find anything for a mobile hip brace. I'll get more of the vetwrap ? next time I'm in town.

In the meantime a piece of paper towel roll is just wide enough to hold her legs in position. She can eat standing up, and she's quite voracious. I need to arrange wet food for her, since she can't get to the water.

Pictures incoming.

 

[LaurenRitz]

I found the vetwrap, but no matter how I wrap it she squirms out. One leg appears to have gone back to something resembling normal. The other is still a problem. She still can't stand without her brace, and now she's squirming around in circles and getting stuck in corners.

Physical therapy continues, but she hates it, naturally. I straighten and exercise her legs. She's started asserting herself against the other chicks, and it's quite funny. She doesn’t stop for them or try to get around them, just bulls her way through.

She may survive, but she'll never have quality of life if she can't stand. Decisions need to be made. Regardless, she won't be part of my breeding program.