Baby chick hatched with twisted foot. Is it cruel to keep her?

[KatieL]

Advice please!
We're currently looking after a 7 day old chick that hatched with a twisted foot. At 2 days old we noticed her foot and tried to make a little splint booty for it which helped her. She has been hopping on her good foot and sometimes using the elbow part of the bad leg to hobble around on. It now looks like that elbow joint is twisted too and she can't really straighten it. She is getting around fine, eating, drinking and seems generally quite a happy little chick.
She's gotten very attached to me and loves to snuggle up on a scarf in my neck.
A local nursery gets hatching eggs every spring and we looked after the 9 chicks over the weekend. Our poorly girl was getting picked on a little by the other chicks so we've kept her at home whilst the others are back at the nursery this week.
We were planning to keep 3 chicks, the rest are due to go back to the farm on Friday.
My question is, is it cruel to keep her? The farmer will be putting her to sleep on Friday if she goes back as he said she won't have any quality of life and it wouldn't be fair to keep her alive in pain.
She doesn't seem to be in pain but i wouldn't want her to struggle as she gets bigger.
What should we do?

 

[BackroadGirl57]

Advice please!
We're currently looking after a 7 day old chick that hatched with a twisted foot. At 2 days old we noticed her foot and tried to make a little splint booty for it which helped her. She has been hopping on her good foot and sometimes using the elbow part of the bad leg to hobble around on. It now looks like that elbow joint is twisted too and she can't really straighten it. She is getting around fine, eating, drinking and seems generally quite a happy little chick.
She's gotten very attached to me and loves to snuggle up on a scarf in my neck.
A local nursery gets hatching eggs every spring and we looked after the 9 chicks over the weekend. Our poorly girl was getting picked on a little by the other chicks so we've kept her at home whilst the others are back at the nursery this week.
We were planning to keep 3 chicks, the rest are due to go back to the farm on Friday.
My question is, is it cruel to keep her? The farmer will be putting her to sleep on Friday if she goes back as he said she won't have any quality of life and it wouldn't be fair to keep her alive in pain.
She doesn't seem to be in pain but i wouldn't want her to struggle as she gets bigger.
What should we do?View attachment 3803645

She doesn't seem to be in pain. Euthanizing her would, IMO, be more cruel than giving her a chance to live. I'd say keep her, let her live, let her grow and adapt to the foot. If the scales start to rub and wear, you could make a boot for her to keep it from bleeding and getting infected. Give her PolyViSol(baby vitamin) with NO IRON - dilute it by half and give one drop twice a day. Make sure it goes down instead of running out her beak. Sometimes twisted joints can be caused by a deficiency in the mamma hen's diet, which is common in hatchery and egg-producing birds. Keep me updated!

 

[KatieL]

She doesn't seem to be in pain. Euthanizing her would, IMO, be more cruel than giving her a chance to live. I'd say keep her, let her live, let her grow and adapt to the foot. If the scales start to rub and wear, you could make a boot for her to keep it from bleeding and getting infected. Give her PolyViSol(baby vitamin) with NO IRON - dilute it by half and give one drop twice a day. Make sure it goes down instead of running out her beak. Sometimes twisted joints can be caused by a deficiency in the mamma hen's diet, which is common in hatchery and egg-producing birds. Keep me updated!

Thanks. How would we know if she was in pain or stressed though?
She seems happy enough to me but we're very very new to this!

 

[BackroadGirl57]

Thanks. How would we know if she was in pain or stressed though?
She seems happy enough to me but we're very very new to this!

She'd just lay around, not be active, just sit in the corner. If she was with other birds, they'd know and you could tell by how they treated her. They'd be gentle with her and kind of dance around her.

 

[KatieL]

She'd just lay around, not be active, just sit in the corner. If she was with other birds, they'd know and you could tell by how they treated her. They'd be gentle with her and kind of dance around her.

She's definitely fine then. She's very active. Getting a bit cheeky and nosey now and investigating everything.
Thank you! I feel better about wanting to keep her already!
Fingers crossed we'll be able to!

 

[EggSighted4Life]

She doesn't seem to be in pain but i wouldn't want her to struggle as she gets bigger.
What should w

Hi there, and welcome to BYC!

All things get worse with age.. Looks like it may be a valgus or varus or other congenital deformity. Much different than a vitamin deficiency. Euthanasia is NEVER a cruel choice, and nor is it an easy one.

https://www.merckvetmanual.com/poul...ctious-skeletal-disorders-in-poultry-broilers

I made the choice to keep some bent toe chicks caused by a power outage during incubation.. Culling when they're older is even harder.

I'd send it back to the farmer and start myself a healthy functioning flock, rather than starting the adventure off with problems. One that can roost like chickens do with the rest of their flock.. and would consider it POSSIBLY cruel to keep it.

Only you know what you can live with.

 

[KatieL]

Hi there, and welcome to BYC!

All things get worse with age.. Looks like it may be a valgus or varus deformity. Much different than a vitamin deficiency. Euthanasia is NEVER a cruel choice, and nor is it an easy one.

https://www.merckvetmanual.com/poul...ctious-skeletal-disorders-in-poultry-broilers

I made the choice to keep some bent toe chicks caused by a power outage during incubation.. Culling when they're older is even harder.

I'd send it back to the farmer and start myself a healthy functioning flock, rather than starting the adventure off with problems. One that can roost like chickens do with the rest of their flock.. and would consider it POSSIBLY cruel to keep it.

Only you know what you can live with.

Oh no!
It wasn't that bend up at first. She's held it up and then been using the elbow to walk on (before we strapped up her foot) and i think that has damaged the elbow bit.
She can straighten it more than the photo and if she has her little splint on her foot will use that leg a little bit.

Is there any chance it could heal do you think?

 

[BackroadGirl57]

Oh no!
It wasn't that bend up at first. She's held it up and then been using the elbow to walk on (before we strapped up her foot) and i think that has damaged the elbow bit.
She can straighten it more than the photo and if she has her little splint on her foot will use that leg a little bit.

Is there any chance it could heal do you think?

You should try to find a vet that deals with chickens, and ask them. They're going to have a lot more knowledge and experience.