Chick not bending legs

[kcassidy]

Help please.
Baby chick was born a few days ago. She is unable to bend her legs into the correct form on her own. With help from me, they can bend but I do feel some resistance.
She just sits with her legs straight out in front of her and just falls back anytime she tries to walk or fall asleep. Has a hard time moving around. Afraid she is not getting the water and food she needs. We do give her a couple of drops of Polyvisol a day.
What can we do to help her? Do we need to take to vet? Preferably a home remedy we can try?

 

[sylviethecochin]

Welcome to BYC. Have you heard of a chick chair and leg brace? The chair will help her stay upright and eat while she gains some strength, which is sometimes all they need.

Picture of chick, please? (Especially back of legs/knees)
Where did you source the eggs?Do you know what the parents were fed?

From Poultry podiatry, a description of slipped tendons:

"

• Symptoms:
  • The back of the hock will look flat (Compare to other legs to double-check).
  • The bird won't be able to fully straighten its leg by itself.
  • The bird will likely exhibit pain at least the first few days after injury. Birds may peep or cry repeatedly.
    
  • The joint will become swollen after a while.
  • Hold the joint between your thumb & finger and roll it back and forth. If the tendon has slipped, you will feel it snap back into place (and back out again, if the bone is not sufficiently developed). If you don't feel the tendon pop in, your bird may instead have a rotated femur, which requires surgery.
    
  • One leg may rotate out to the side or twist underneath the bird (showing Splayed Leg), depending on whether the tendon has slipped to the outside or inside of the leg.
  • If the tendons are slipped in both legs, the bird will stand & walk hunched down / squatting on its hocks ("elbows"), and may use its wings for balance.
• Treat this problem as soon as possible, so the joint doesn't swell as much (making healing more difficult) and the tendon does not end up shortened or deformed.
  • If the tendon has been out of place more than a few days, it may be unbearably painful to the bird to try to fix it or may cause damage. You could try gradually stretching the leg the leg a number of times a few days to lengthen the tendon, & then try correcting the placement.
    • This is especially true of young chicks because their legs are growing so quickly. Various bones, tendons & muscles will have done a lot of growing in just a couple of days and may have become too short, long or twisted so they can't allow the Achilles tendon to be back in the correct location."

EDT:
I would also recommend, in addition to the poly-vi-sol, B-complex vitamins. You can crush a tablet, if you have them in the house, and add it to a quart of water. Or you can buy it in liquid form from a livestock supply store. Since it's water-soluble, it passes out of the body quickly and you don't really have to worry about overdosing.