Chick hurt its leg ..... Limping, toes curled up

[aaggjg]

Yesterday I got home to find some sort of mayhem had happened in and around the coop while I was gone. I noticed that one of the week old chicks seemed to be limping .... Upon closer inspection it is holding its foot curled up and sometimes walks on the "ankle" with toes curled ..... This morning the 8 week old chicks started picking on her so I removed her from the coop as I had to goto work. I have given her vitamins & yogurt ... I plan to put her back with her mother for bedtime.

I have no idea what happened to her foot there is no swelling, no cut ... nothing... Maybe she got stepped on in the mayhem?
Any suggestions on how I should proceed with her care??? Should I keep her with her mother??? The problem is the 8 week old chicks are wild teenagers, so I worry for her health.

Here is a picture so you can see what her foot so you can see what I mean....

Thanks in advance for any help!!!

 

[15shenyl]

I read about this in my chicken book, I'll tell you what the book says. It's called crooked toe, it's hereditary or from too warm or cool incubation hatching temperature. The book says to use first- aid tape or band- aid cut so you can wrap it around the chicks toes so they point out to look like a normal chicken foot. As the bones harden, the bone in the toes will grow straight. This could only take a few days to a week to heal. The book also says not to use the chicken for breeding as it can pass that to the other chicks. If you want to known where I got the information from, I got if from a book called The Chicken Encyclopedia. I hope this helps.

 

[aaggjg]

For anybody who's interested I decided to take the wait and see approach to treatment for the chick. It was acting normal and walking on its curled up foot.... And the good news as of yesterday it is walking normally again.... So obviously the chick injured its foot but it's all healed now!!