- May 28, 2009
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Today I went to our local pet store to pick up something for our guinea pig. The owner, (she has many chickens herself) had ordered a bunch of straight-run ornamental bantams. She was trying to get her employee to take home one of the chicks b/c something is wrong with it, it's not walking correctly. It takes a step and stumbles forward. It's about two-ish weeks old based on the amount of feathers it has. The other chicks were starting to peck at it, and she could not take it herself since she's going away for a week. She then asked me if I wanted it (right in front of my 6 year old daughter so of course I couldn't say no!) so we took him/her home. Once I got it set up in a little cage in my living room (since it's just one, I decided to keep it inside so I didn't have to keep it alone out in the barn with a brooding lamp) I was able to take a closer look at its issue. On its left foot, the toes seem to be curling under the foot and when it tries to take a step, it stumbles. It prefers to lay down, but can get around to the feeder and to the water. ( i am actually using a water bottle so I didn't have to dig out a small waterer and it's working great, no messy waterer filled with pine shavings!) The chick appears healthy otherwise, eating/drinking/preening/pooping/peeping all the stuff normal chicks do. I've had chickens that have hatched chicks, I've done bator hatches, have never seen a chick do this before. Obviously it's made it this far, so I'm not sure if it just needs to be alone to get stronger, or should I try taping the toes straight with medical tape? Any thoughts/advice/info, greatly appreciated! Thanks!
Sharon
Sharon
