Day Old Chick - Slipped Tendon or Splayed Legs?? I Need Your Help PLEASE

[alyssaallycat]

Just some basic info- are the chicks sexed, and do you know if they have been vaccinated againist Mareks disease? This is important, the vaccination part, anyway. Mareks is fatal, and it can show its self with paralysis in the joints first.

 

[thailand]

 

[thailand]

No on both counts. The chicks are not sexed, and more than likely have not been vaccinated against Mareks. They are shipped eggs, Black Australorps which are very rare here (imported from Australia by a friend).

 

[yellowblack]

Its a sad story That happend to me when i bought my baby chick.. white silkie without checking how it was and how its movement was. It kept hopping around and falling over just like it was in the video. and then it died the nextday. I cried.. :,( I'm so sorry. I wish I could of saved my silkie. I wish I could of knew how. They were best friends :, (**

 

[alyssaallycat]

Yes, it looks like a pretty bad case of splayed leg. Without treatment, the chick will never walk and will die. BUT we can treat it pretty easy with a hobble.
1) take the chick by the back. It is easier if you have another person to hold him/her, as chicks don't like to be on their back for very long!
2) I used a bit of very thin foam or gauze around about 2/3 of the lower leg (Not around the joint or haulks) leaving the inside of the leg without gauze or foam. This makes it so the hobble does not cut off circulation.
3) use medical tape, the sticky part of a band aid, or vet trap *it doesn't work as well* and wrap around the foam or gauze to space the legs at a proper distance from each other. The legs should be placed under the chick now, but if it is having to much trouble, you can loosen the hobble a smidge and gradually tighten it over about 2 weeks.
4) place the chick back in the brooder. You will need to assist with drinking for the first day, and the chick will be quite wobbly and fall over ofter as it learns to walk properly.
I would suggest before you make the hobble to look up some Google images of what a proper hobble looks like. The sooner you can get the chick in the hobble the better, as their bones get harder and take more to fix over time. Send me a picture after the hobble is completed and show me how the chick walks afterwords. Sorry for the long post... There's just a lot to say! Your chick can get through 'hobble thearpy' and walk perfectly normal for their entire lives!

 

[alyssaallycat]

I'm so sorry about your silkie yellowblack... I recently had to put both my chicks I was raising down due to a rare concentrated blend of salmonella in the joints passed from the eggs from the breeder we got them from. );

 

[alyssaallycat]

It sounds like your silkie chick has Mareks. Which is what I'm worried about for this chick in question

 

[yellowblack]

I'm scared and I have questions ((!! I had my silkie with my 4 week old yellow chick that day white silkie was struggling would it affect my yellow chick or the black silkie chick?? Since Mareks is a type of herpes. It died with her legs straight. I took it out afterwards. I feel kind of stuffy too. I sleep with my chickens, cuz they are babies. *yellow chick sometimes have a problem breathing!! Would breath from his mouth!! And his chest is puffing. He protects black silkie though. They sleep together!! *black chick would sleep under yellow chick for warmth

 

[alyssaallycat]

Mareks is an airborn disease that is not transferable to humans. It is extremely contagious to chickens and even more contagious to chicks. Make sure you disposed of the silkie properly. Are your other chicks vaccinated? Sometimes the vaccine doesn't take and that would explain the first chick

 

[alyssaallycat]

Watch your other chick, the one that has breathing problems. That is an early symtom of mareks.The disease is spread with chicken dander, and can be spread VERY easily to another adult flock that you may currently have. If you notice a lack of interest in food, paralysis in the wings or legs, or darkening of the comb and feet, isolate the bird immediately. Chances would be very high that the bird has Mareks if you notice those other symptoms.