Chick wont walk on foot?!?!?

[Gromit99squi]

So recently a Silkie got off her nest after hatching out six chicks but left one behind, who had only started pecking a hole in the eggshell. By the time anyone found the poor little chick she was cold, so we warmed her up and helped her hatch out of the shell. When she was a day old I noticed her leg starting to slip to the side when she was sleeping, so every time I saw this I tucked it back under her body. The next day we noticed it was getting worst, so we got a rubber band, tied a knot in it and put her feet in the little loops and have therefore fixed her slight splayed leg by doing so. However, by the time we noticed that it wasn't the splayed leg that kept her from walking and that she in fact wouldn't step on her foot, she was already 4 days old. We made her a "chicken shoe" using some small round band-aids and a piece of thin cardboard (like they do when a chicken has curled toes) to see if this would encourage her to stand on it. This idea unfortunately didn't help one bit.

She is five days old today and i'm worried that soon she'll be too old to fix this problem. I know that if we leave it too late we'll have to put her down as this is no way for a chicken to live as she wont be able to scratch in the dirt, access food and water or even sleep on a perch. It just seems that the problem is that she hates stretching her leg to put her foot on the ground, and constantly keeps it folded up as if she were sitting down. If anyone could find any way to fix this problem I would be extremely grateful as I know she will grow to be a friendly, kind companion in future months.

Thanks in Advance

 

[mrchicks]

Poor baby. It's possible that she has a slipped tendon. I believe there are threads here regarding it, but hopefully someone that knows how to help will post.