Anyone have a happy ending story about a chick with a deformed leg?

[rcentner]

Ok, I have posted a few questions about my chick that was born with a messed up leg. I think it's either a tendon problem or a twisted tibia. It's wrapped and doing very well! However, all the advice I had received from the board was very sad. A lot of responses said it likely would not live and I should think about culling it. What I really want is a story that ends happily..come on folks....I need some hope to carry us through. I need to make a chick shoe for her today, but she is using the leg as much as she can. She eats and drinks and poops very well. She is 2 weeks old today! Oh, and I will also mention that she is an only chick..the only egg that hatched!

 

[19hhbelgian]

Well, I have a duckling that had a bad leg when it hatched. He couldn't walk at all... He'd just flop around. He hatched along with one other (only had 3 eggs, so couldn't be happier with that!) duckling, who was fine. I named them Weeble & Wobble

I would hold them every night while we watched TV, and "exercise" Wobbles bad leg. Slowly but surely he got better, and they are both out with everybody else now

That counts as a happy story!

I have a serama chick right now with a funny leg... He only hatched 2 days ago, so I'm hoping for great results with him too

 

[Jilara]

Elonwy got a leg messed up because of a hen attack when she was a chick, and it ended up twisted almost backwards, because of how she favored it. She came through it, and is going on five months old. We call her pogo-chicken, because she hops around on one leg, and is actually mid-range in the pecking order. She has a kind of Tiny Tim charm, with her bum leg. She can't get up on the higher perch, but manages to get into the upper nest box at night. She's one tough little chicken. So yes, it has a happy ending. She's a regular member of the flock, and I'm waiting to see how she lays. She's pretty good with just about everything else, just a bit slow, and likes to sit on the ground, with her leg splayed out, a lot.

Good luck!

 

[Momo]

I have an EE x BSL hen named Curly who hatched with badly curled toes and stiff legs (not your regular crooked toes or spraddle leg). She couldn't stand up and had a hard time just keeping herself propped upright. She was unable to move to food and water etc, but she seemed cheerful enough and never complained. I did careful physio with her to keep the joints mobile, and made splints for her feet which helped some but didn't fix the problem. For the first couple of weeks I had to take her to the water and food and support her balance while she ate and drank throughout the day. Every day I wondered if I should just cull the poor little thing (she didn't grow like the others, of course). But she made it ... today her toes are all over the place and she has a funny stiff legged gait, but she's only slightly smaller than her hatch mates. She's a good natured girl who gets along well with the rest of the flock and because she's so easygoing and calm she's the perfect chicken to use as a companion when I have to separate a hen for any reason. She's able to get up and down from the roost, she eats, drinks and dust bathes, and she lays a nice big egg every day.

 

[rcentner]

thank you for some good stories, I too have to help her eat and drink..I try to put small toys next to her food so she can lean on them while eating. Too cute!