Bad leg on a baby chick

[bn37]

The wife stopped by the feedstore for something and "just stopped to look at the chicks". Yea you guessed it...she brought some home. There was a freebie chick thrown in that has a bad leg. The cashier said it was fixable...I'm just not sure how. She just sits on the floor paddling with the good leg and going in circles. I attached some pics below...any advise? Thanks!

 

[waddlehead]

It's called spraddle leg I think. You'll need to make a brace for the baby. There are tons of instructions online.. I haven't done it myself yet..

 

[Eggcessive]

It might be one of many leg problems. Pictures of both legs from the front with you holding her in a standing position would be good. If both legs are wide apart, that is splay legs. If one goes out to the side, that can be a slipped tendon. There are also leg bone deformities, such as varus/valgus deformity and twisted tibia.

 

[Eggcessive]

Here is another thread about a chick with a possible slipped tendon that contains several links for information:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/baby-can’t-walk.1352273/

 

[Friendly_Lurker]

If you take a half inch strip of vet wrap and tie one end around each leg so they’re the right distance together, after a while her legs should be fine. Make sure you use a neutral color, I tried bright green once and the others kept pecking it.

 

[bn37]

The wife found a fix on-line. It involves putting a small rubber band through a short section of drinking straw and putting the chick's legs through the rubber band loops. The pic I have here was the first try. Version 2 was a slightly longer section of straw and seems to work better. There may be better solutions, but that's what we've found so far. I'll update the progress.

 

[Eggcessive]

Have you ruled out a slipped tendon on one leg? I prefer the vet wrap or the bandaid cut lengthwise for splay leg. There is a risk of the band cutting off circulation if it slips. B complex vitamins or a chick vitamin with riboflavin (B2) would be good to use for awhile in case of a deficiency.

 

[bn37]

Here's a look at the chick. The good leg is to the left and the bad leg is to the right and goes back.

 

[Eggcessive]

It is hard to say for sure what is wrong, but the left leg tuning inward could be a leg bone deformity. Is the right foot curling under? Or turning out? That doesn’t look like splay leg, but it may take some observance.

 

[bn37]

The wife had the chick standing better this am than last night. We've kept her seperate from the other chicks since she kept falling over and getting run over by them. She didn't find any vetwrap so we're staying with the rubber band and short straw, at least for now. The rubber band didn't stand out and we used a clear straw to hopefully avoid her getting picked on. I'll update as things progress.

Thanks everyone for the input we really appreciate it.