Chick not adjusting to wearing a leg band?

[Sefirothe]

This is Gimpy.

Gimpy hatched Oct 14th and seemed fine on arrival on Oct 16. The next day she seemed to have a bit of pasty butt so that was cleaned up. When I put her back in the brooder just after that she was favoring her left leg.

I gave it 24 hrs and checked her again, seemed fine on weight bearing on both legs so I gave her a leg band on her right leg to help differentiate between my multiple mostly black chicks.

Since then she barely ventures out from under the heat plate but does to eat and drink. She doesn’t seem to want to bear weight on her right leg now (the one with the band). All the other chicks that got a band were over it in an hour or less. This has been days of Gimpy…either not accepting the band or something wrong.

When she does walk from the heat plate to the food and water she seems to more hop and flap her wings to get there. Yes the other chicks bounce around and flap their wings but it’s play interspersed with normal walking/running. Gimpy ONLY flap/hops. When bumped she flaps her wings and seems wobbly. She never does fall over or seems to struggle to get up. In the video below, she’s the black one that breaks from the pack and flap hops to the food. This is her apparent normal mode of travel? Legs look fine, no redness no swelling.

I’m going to remove the band when I get home from work and see if that makes a difference. Otherwise I’m clueless what could be going on.


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[AnneGirlGG]

I don't have any input about whether she may not like the band. She's going to the food and water on her own so that's good.

At the end of the clip, is the other black chick pecking Gimpy while she's eating? If she's being picked on, that could be why she's not coming out from under the plate often.

I hope you are able to figure it out. Hopefully taking the band off will help, and she's just picky about it

 

[Sefirothe]

At the end of the clip, is the other black chick pecking Gimpy while she's eating? If she's being picked on, that could be why she's not coming out from under the plate often.

No, I don’t think she’s being pecked or picked on. I think that was just a clumsy body slam. The other chicks bounce around like little ping pong balls and seem to just bounce off of one another. Some pecking as normal as they explore their world, but nothing excessive.

I’ll update once I get home from work and get the band off. I hope that is the issue. May have to change her name to Drama Queen if that’s the case.

 

[AnneGirlGG]

No, I don’t think she’s being pecked or picked on. I think that was just a clumsy body slam. The other chicks bounce around like little ping pong balls and seem to just bounce off of one another. Some pecking as normal as they explore their world, but nothing excessive.

I’ll update once I get home from work and get the band off. I hope that is the issue. May have to change her name to Drama Queen if that’s the case.

Okay, definitely good. I wasn't sure from the video. I definitely understand the bouncing off each other. Mine did that in the brooder too.

Looking forward to the update, and I hope the little one is just fine!

 

[FunClucks]

Consider using the elastic bands instead of the zip ties. They are much lighter and easier to apply and remove. You have to size them appropriately for the size of the bird's leg, and change them as they grow, same as with the zip ties. Like this, I have the small and medium, and they work great.

 

[Sefirothe]

Consider using the elastic bands instead of the zip ties. They are much lighter and easier to apply and remove. You have to size them appropriately for the size of the bird's leg, and change them as they grow, same as with the zip ties. Like this, I have the small and medium, and they work great. View attachment 4237634

How easy are those to put on a chick by yourself, meaning one handed?

I went with the zip ties because I knew I could manage one hand to hold the chick and one hand to tighten the zip tie.

 

[FunClucks]

How easy are those to put on a chick by yourself, meaning one handed?

I went with the zip ties because I knew I could manage one hand to hold the chick and one hand to tighten the zip tie.

You hold the chick in your first hand with its leg outstretched and ready, pick up a clean band with your second hand, grab it with your teeth and put it around 2-3 fingers of your second hand. Then use your second hand to grab around the foot and work your fingers around all the toes, then roll the band off the outside of your fingers onto the leg. You can bend the leg to the body so you hold the chick against your chest with your arm(s) and use your first hand to get the last part of the elastic off of your second hand to be sure you don't stress the leg.

It does work best with two people, but you can do it with one person without much trouble. It's the same way I put those little tiny elastics into small pieces of child or dog hair (I have a poodle, and he gets those small elastics a lot - one hand for the band and one hand for the hair).

You can also wrap the chick up like a burrito with the leg extended, and hold them in your lap for a minute and use two hands to put the band on the leg.

When done, they can come off the same way and be reused, or you can cut them.

 

[Sefirothe]

The chicks that came from the hatchery banded had those types of elastic bands. I couldnt for the life of me figure out a way to stretch them off over their toes with out putting pressure on their fragile legs, so I just cut them off with a sharp pair of wire cutters.

Maybe when I run out of the 700 pc multi color zip tie set I just got...

And as for little Gimpy, the band is off and she's still gimpy. Removing the band wasnt an instant fix. I'll see how she is tomorrow.

 

[AnneGirlGG]

The chicks that came from the hatchery banded had those types of elastic bands. I couldnt for the life of me figure out a way to stretch them off over their toes with out putting pressure on their fragile legs, so I just cut them off with a sharp pair of wire cutters.

Maybe when I run out of the 700 pc multi color zip tie set I just got...

And as for little Gimpy, the band is off and she's still gimpy. Removing the band wasnt an instant fix. I'll see how she is tomorrow.

Does she appear to be feathering and growing at the same rate as everyone else?

I've lost 2 chicks now, both at 1 week, and both stopped growing and feathering. Every day, everyone looked more feathered and slightly bigger, except for those 2. They were in 2 different broods.

I'm not implying you're going to lose her at all. Those were just my clear indicators that something was not right.

 

[Sefirothe]

Does she appear to be feathering and growing at the same rate as everyone else?

I've lost 2 chicks now, both at 1 week, and both stopped growing and feathering. Every day, everyone looked more feathered and slightly bigger, except for those 2. They were in 2 different broods.

I'm not implying you're going to lose her at all. Those were just my clear indicators that something was not right.

She seems to be on par with the others. I'll keep an eye on her growth tho over the next few days/weeks.