Chick born with foot twisted in...is it fixable?

[reaver]

I am new to owning chickens, but have read quite a bit on owning them before I brought them home this last Friday. I took in a hatchery choice (aka don tknwo what breed yet) bantam day old chick as an adoption. It was free because both of its feet were twisted. The left foot had all of the chicks toes curled under, so it was walking on clutched fingers. The right one's ankle joint is actually twisted so that the toes roll in. well we had read about splinting toes and tying legs for spraggle-legged chicks, so we went ahead and put some cardbord shoes and taped em on for it. We have not tied the legs yet as we tried taping both feet as well as tying the legs and the chick could not move enough to get to water (plus the little bantam is with other standards, so we didnt want it getting run over and not being able to get up). The left foot that had the toes curled under got straightened up within a couple hours after splinting it, so that one is just fine. But we are still splinting the right leg, and are no tsure if it is fixable. The joint is twisted, so is there any way to correct a twisted joint? The toes are straightening out, but we still have to splint the foot. I've read that this could be a permanent defect because of a lack of Ribuflavin in the mother hens diet. Even with his twisted foot though he is a strong little bugger. Runs around just liek the others do, eats, drinks and poops. And he LOVES to be held! If you take your hand away form him he cries til you bring it back. Thoughts/suggestions on correction of his foot?

PLEASE HELP! MY CHICKY IS GIMPY!

 

[chookchick]

I don't really know if that can be helped, but sounds like you are doing the best you can. Here's an article that may give you some more ideas:
http://sites.google.com/a/larsencreek.com/chicken-orthopedics/leg-braces
Also, I would give him poly-vi-sol twice a day--I dilute it by half and give one drop twice a day. Put a drop by his beak until he slurps it in. That will help in case there is any deficiency problem.

 

[reaver]

Where can I purchase Poly Vi Sol? Ive never heard of that before, is it a vitamin supplement?

 

[HorseFeatherz NV]

Poly vi sol is an infant/toddler vitamin. I had to ask in the RX department for it (no kids), and it was out on a shelf. Get the kind with NO iron.

for you and your little chick. Do not have any answers for the twist, but I would continue to work on it. If you have other bantams, or smaller large chicks - you might want to divide the brooder so Twist is not run over.

ETA: put a small chick or bantam with Twist so the chick is not lonely.

 

[reaver]

He is actually a tough little cookie. I was thinking about seperating him the first day, especially ebcause he is a particularly small bantam baby compared to the 2 others i brought home. and he did get run over a few times the first day, but then he would chase the bigger chicks off if they got too close to him. Now he doesnt have to do that, and he is not getting run over or picked on either. So I do not really want to seperate him unless the others end up picking on him.

I will go ahead and pick up some of those vitamins today. Thanks guys!

 

[reaver]

...also, the chick is obviously not sick, just has the twisted leg. Giving him this vitamin supplement twice daily will not harm him will it? And how long do you guy think I should give it to him for?

 

[reaver]

Ok, so I have now had my little bantam chick with hobbles on for three weeks. We put the shoes on his feet to flatten out the tisted foot to no avail, I am sure that his foot is permanently twisted (looked completely fused since day one, but we still tried). We have also been giving him teh vita drops every day. He is eating well, drinking well, and mainly uses his wings to help him flutter and bounce around. but if we take the hobbles off, his legs immediately spay right out sideways. Is there anything else I can do? I can take pictures if necessary, but this is my first batch of chicks and we took this one in as an adoption (cuz the hatchery would not have been able to take the time to care for him). Anything else we could do? Also if anyone has any designs for a more sturdy, non disposable set of hobbles that would be great, we have been making him new sets of hobbles every day for three weeks XP.

 

[nickynoonoo87]

How is your chick?