Baby chick with crooked leg

[Tiffy316]

I'm kinda worried about her. I started offering her wet chick starter last week bc I was afraid that she wasn't eating enough. She was eating it out of my hand pretty well on her own, but she barely ate anything today. However, she does show an interest in food, even though she hasn't eaten as much as she used to lately. She attempted to eat some pellets off of my shirt and she showed a littke interest in some dry pellets that I offered to her and the others in my hand. She's definitely getting bigger, and she likes to sit in the corner or try to walk along the wall bc of her bad leg. It appears to have been broken when she was younger and healed wrong. I don't think it can be fixed. I'm not sure what to do. I'm always worried about her bc it's a little more difficult for her than the others. It was unusually cold today. I'm not sure if that's why she didn't eat very much food. The chick box was nice and warm, but I have been taking her out of the chick box and offering her the wet chick food in my hand while I hold her. She usually eats it. She ate some of it today, but not much. I can't help but worry about my little chick.

 

[Eggcessive]

I think it is a leg bone deformity, and even with a lot of special care, very few of these chicks make it long term from many of the threads I have been reading today. Here is a story about a chick with a deformity that got a new 3 D printer articficial leg that straps on to help it walk:
https://wchstv.com/news/local/cabell-county-fifth-graders-create-prosthetic-for-injured-chicken

 

[Tiffy316]

She's been acting much better since the last post. I think she was just dehydrated. I started giving her a bit of water with a syringe, just to make sure that she was hydrated, and she got her appetite back. She's got a healthy appetite now, but she doesn't eat as much of its cold outside. But that's normal for her. She's now smaller than her sisters. She's middle aged out of the 3 of them, but her growth is slowed by her deformed leg. She also chirps when she hears me coming now. They've all gotten used to me and will chirp if they're cold or hungry. All I have to do is call for her, and she starts cheeping at me. So everyone is doing fine now.

 

[Eggcessive]

Glad to hear that she is doing well. At some point if you get a chance and can get a good picture of her legs, it would be good to see how her leg is changing. Many time we here about some of these chicks, but don’t see how they cange with growth.

 

[Tiffy316]

I'll try to get some better pics soon. Her knee doesn't straighten out now, and her other leg appears to be sticking out at the hip a little, possibly to compensate for leaning on it to keep her balance. I thought about using some self adhesive medical tape to brace it and help her stand. Here are some pics from about a week ago.

 

[Tiffy316]

Here are some more pics of her leg. Tried reusable non adhesive wrap to help stabilize her leg. It was very difficult to put on, and it wound up slipping if her foot. I've seen pics of chickens with simular looking conditions who have self adhesive wraps on their knees, but I'm not sure if that would be enough to help, since she definitely seems to he off balance. I was thinking about making my own little chicken wheelchair our of pipes and caster wheels for her to walk around in. She seems to be able to stand better when I support her underside with my hand, so I'm going to try using an old towel for the sling. If I make a short enough square base for her feet to touch the ground, attach the wheels, abd add on old towel in the middle for her to sit in, with leg holes of course, she might be able to walk around better. I've seen videos of chickens who've used them without much trouble. I also found a site that sells simular wheelchairs, but they don't open till the end of April. So I'm going to try out the wheelchair idea. If anyone has any suggestions for things I can do to help her walk, I would be more than happy to hear them.

 

[Eggcessive]

The leg does appear to be twisted more now. Twisted tibia is a common leg deformity. People have been very creative to make little wheelchairs and stationary slings for chickens. If you know someone creative that likes to build things, it would be worth a try to make a wheelchair, sinc e they can cost a fortune.

Here is a junior size

Feed and water cups can be attached to some models

 

[Tiffy316]

Actually, I thought about using some wooden rods from the craft section at Wal-Mart. I was going to use pvc pipes, but Lowe's closes soon, thanks to the coronavirus. She's not that big, and finding the right bits to put wheels on a pvc pipe seems like a huge pain in the ass, I'll just use wood. I'm thinking I can still a home onto some round wood rods for the caster wheels, put an old t-shirt or towel across a square frame, and secure it with screws. So basically, I'm going to try to make a square wooden frame, screw some holes in it for the wheels, then put a piece of cloth in the middle, like a hammock. I was inspired by the simplicity of the plastic design, so that's gonna be my test wheelchair. Though I'm sure that limpy butt will probably be happy with anything since she's usually quite chill about me supporting her underside or putting bandaids around her leg. Except for the wrap, of course. She absolutely hated the idea of having a wrap on. But in her defense, I did have her on her side, trying to wrap a piece of cloth around her leg multiple times, and tried to put tape on it all at once. It didn't help that it was too thick. Anyway, I read this post about someone repeatedly stretching the leg of a chicken with a similar condition to help it, in addition to the wheelchair, so that's something else to try.

 

[Tiffy316]

I've got all the bits for a sling and wheelchair. Now 8ve just gotta try not to go crazy while I try to put it together.

 

[Tiffy316]

Well, she didn't like the chicken sling idea. I tried covering a small basket with fleece with leg holes cut out for her, and she tried to escape. I also tried several variations, to no avail. I put folded fleece in a basket, cut up fleece from trying to modify it, and all sorts of things. She finally settled on a large piece of folded fleece on the floor of the chick box. She tried to escape from everything else. It honestly seems like she prefers sitting on the floor, instead of the basket or the fleece. But if that's what makes her happy, what can I do. I left the folded fleece on the floor in case she wants it, but she didn't seem particularly enthusiastic about it. I might try to put together a chicken wheelchair for her tomorrow, but she might just spend all her time trying to escape from that too. Also, here's a pic of her sitting on her bit of fleece. The other pic shows how she prefers to sit.