chick won't walk on feet

[socram]

We have a chick that won't get on his feet. My wife says it was spraddled legged and so we taped its legs with coban, and its been taped for 2 days now. I have yet to see it get up on its feet. It still seems quite vigorous and noisy (but it is still young and won't be like this for long as its not eating/drinking much). This one did take longer to hatch, and at almost 24hr after pipping, we did help it out of the shell. So its quite possible that this one wasn't supposed to make it. But it did and its here and I'm wondering if there is anything better to be done than the spraddle brace. I've seen the pics of chick sandals for crooked toes and I don't think its a toe issue. it seems like an ankle issue. Currently it gets around on its knees/hocks with the help of wing movements. I was thinking of a sandal that keeps the foot and ankle at a 90deg angle (as right now it doesn't bend the ankle much unless I bend it for it).

I've been lifting it up 5-6x/day , using one finger to put its feet on the ground and another finger behind its legs to make the ankle bend and then trying to keep the rest of the body up and let it sometimes do some of the work. I'm not sure its doing anything, I haven't seen any improvement yet.

Any thoughts. I'll post a video of it hobbling around if you want.

 

[socram]

 

[Eggcessive]

Get some poultry vitamins, BComplex tablets, or polyvisol without iron, and start the chick on some right away. SaveAChick is also good. It may have a riboflavin deficiency. I would also take off the spraddle brace and try him in a chick chair. Do the legs splay out when the tape is off the legs? He is walking on his hocks, so I think it is something different from spraddle leg. Pictures of it without the taped legs might help us. I will post some pics of chick chairs in a few minutes.

 

[Eggcessive]

 

[socram]

Ok looking into chick chair. We have been using a vitamin mix but I realize now that doesn't physically mention riboflavin as an ingredient so we'll pick up some saveachick tomorrow.

I took off the brace. I do think there is some straddle, not fully though.

I took a short video without the brace.

 

[kuchchicks]

Ok looking into chick chair. We have been using a vitamin mix but I realize now that doesn't physically mention riboflavin as an ingredient so we'll pick up some saveachick tomorrow.

I took off the brace. I do think there is some straddle, not fully though.

I took a short video without the brace.

Are you able to straighten out his legs or are they fused in the bent position? I had a chick in the fall that had this with only one leg and walked on his hock. The knee was not fused and I was able to straighten it out. I took it and kind of stretched it out behind the chick like when you see chickens stretch their legs. It turned out it was a slipped tendon. I am not sure but am wondering if this little guy has bilateral slipped tendon. Read up on the signs and symptoms of slipped tendon and see if this applies to your little chick. If it does the way I fixed it was I straightened out the leg behind the chick like it was stretching its leg, and taped it in place using vet wrap. I then made a chick chair and left the chick in it for a couple of days. You need to make sure that you are feeding and watering the chick every couple of hours. I also gave Poli Vi Sol without iron. You need to make sure that you do not put the wrap on so tight that it cuts off circulation, but it also needs to be tight enough that it keeps the knee extended. Also check the feet every few hours and look for any color change. These chicks grow very quickly at this age and circulation can be cut off before you know it. My chick did very well and is living in the coop with all of my other birds now. She is almost to laying age and if I did not tell you she had a problem you would never be able to tell. You can find complete directions in an article that I wrote on this site called "Treating a Chick with a Slipped Tendon: One Chicks Story". https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/treating-a-chick-with-a-slipped-tendon-one-chick-s-story. If it is a slipped tendon you need to fix it sooner rather than later. There is a better chance of success the earlier you catch it. I started treating this chick on day 3 post hatch. It took about a day and a half to correct the issue but may take as long as a week I have read. Good luck. Let us know how he does.

 

[socram]

I'm fairly certain you're right @kuchchicks. I am ticked at myself because I considered this yesterday and dismissed it. It was already in the brace and so I never did the exam necessary.
Anyway I did examine and I do think it's bilateral slipped tendons. Chick is in the chair I whipped up from the recycle bin and coban.

 

[kuchchicks]

Did you wrap the legs with the tendon extended? That is vital to fixing it. Also make sure you are giving vitamins. Let me know how she does.

 

[socram]

Haven't spent as much time with it tonight as I was over the weekend, but I would say its less vigorous today. pooping some, which I take as a good sign, its taking in more water than I've been seeing.

I removed the braces, its been 24hr roughly with the legs wrapped with tendon extended and sitting in a chair. definitely some foot swelling, but I don't think vascular compromise. I set it back down under the light in its little private room to rest, it just looks tired. Toes are starting to pink back up again.

I'm giving it a bit to see what it does without any bracing. honestly I'm not optimistic.

 

[socram]

Final update -

Last night I retaped its legs after giving it a rest without wrappings. I tried taping a bit differently because while holding and manipulating the slipped tendons, instead of the 3/4" wrapping around the knee joint, it seems like you should be able to brace the tendon with a small (3/8") wrap just above the knee, which would leave some mobility. So I tried that along with a spraddle brace because the spraddle was quite evident.

I actually think it was probably as close to standing as it ever got with that brace on, it was almost able to balance and I was cautiously optimistic for a time. But it became obvious as the night wore on and this morning came that it was simply too weak, and wasn't going to improve without drinking/eating more/etc.

I culled the poor thing this afternoon. It will help my squash grow this year.


It's made me interested in slipped tendons and alternative braces that would allow the chick to walk around...gonna have to research that.

Thanks for the advice folks.