curled toes & spraddle legs

[horsejody]

Tuesday night 3 chickes hatched. last night I came home and saw 1 marans chicke had spraddle leg. They were on paper towels, not newspaper. Upon closer examination I discovered that the toes were curled on both feet. I put bandaid boots on him to straighten the toes and bandaid braces on his legs. The poor thing cannot stand at all with his orthopedics. I am also giving him polyvisol drops dribbled on his beak. The others roll him around the brooder, so I brought him to work with me. I have a few questions:
1. should he be able to stand with his orthos? One foot is very bent.
2. when should I take the orthos off to check for improvement?
3. What is the proper amount of polyvisol?
4. Is there anything else I can do?
5. Have I lost my mind?

 

[katrinag]

The orthos should be left on for at a week before checking for improvement.
I have had no luck when they are as bad as your little guy and usually cull at 2 weeks.
All you can do is try. I know somewhere on here someone took panty hose and made s sling for the chicken to sit in to help its poor legs. I will see if I can find it.

 

[cimarron]

horsejody,

sorry about yer spraddle chickie. i had a chick that didn't get leg problems til about 2 weeks old, so it may or may not have been the same condition that yours has...

but i fed her about a teaspoon of vita flight (a bird vitamin concentrate you can get at the pet store or online), dissolved in water in a very small dropper bottle (like two ounces...?...the size you get a tincture in). i gave the bird as much as it would take via the dropper, maybe 3 droppers at a time, about 4 or 5x a day for about a week. i'd say it went through the whole small dropper bottle in a day.

after about a week she was showing improvement. at this point i dosed the chick with vitamins about twice a day, and was giving vitamins in the main waterer to all the chicks.

it seemed like a long shot but it did work for my spraddle chick, she is totally fine now. i based the treatment on some very good advice i got here at the forum. it was based on a suspected riboflavin deficiency.


good luck to you!

 

[MissPrissy]

Some chicks come along quick and manage to stand with their little leg braces. Some don't.

Just besure it is eating and getting plenty of water along wiht the vits.

Good luck with this one.

In a week it should be almost perfect.

If not, well ... you know.

 

[horsejody]

He has drank a little for me. Last night he ate 4 bites of cooked egg yolk and one crumble. Today he doesn't want anything yet. I know he is still using the yolk he absorbed before hatching, so I'm not too concerned about that yet. He is a big loud vigorous chick, so I hope that is a good sign. One of my coworkers has named it Gimley. Gimley is sleeping in a box with a stuffed duck right now. There is one of those heated neck wraps under a towel for warmth. I have been trying to keep his feet underneath him, but this seems to be the resting position of choice.

 

[MissPrissy]

How cute. Don't let him lay flat onhis back. The lungs are in the backbone and he will get pnuemonia and that'll be the end. Try to prop him in such a way as he is sort of up with his head more elevated.

 

[horsejody]

Thanks. He's not flat on his back. He is more on his side, and his head is elevated by the towel. I'll make him a bit more upright though, just in case. A co-worker and I just redid the leg braces. We used a softer bandaid. I set him down to see if there was improvement while the braces were off, and it appears that the left leg is now pretty good. The right one still needs work. We were careful to not let the legs slip much so the healing wouldn't be undone. Then we came back to my desk and he has brunch (crumbled cooked egg yolk). He didn't eat alot, but what he did eat was eaten vigorously. Then he passed out asleep. He is probably the only chick in the world that ate his brunch today watching the market on a quote machine.

 

[MissPrissy]

That just makes me smile a big goofy grin.

 

[gumpsgirl]

Jody! That is too cute!

 

[Wynette]

Awe....sorry you're having a problem with this little one, but it sounds like you have the situation well in hand. You might try proppig him up with the towel wrapped around him, so that he's in an upright positon; I would think if you wrapped it fairly close to him, it would force him to a standing position and this may help strengthen his legs.

Linda Hamid, a Marans breeder, had a chick that was severely spraddled; she put in a water glass for a few hours a day; he's a vigorous and gorgeous roo now!

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