Disabled Baby Month old Chicken!

[luggsbuggs]

Hello to every one and I wanted to say thank you for letting me be here. I am new to owning chickens. I just got one that is Special needs and I have been trying to find her a home. I do not know if she is male or female. She is a month old. If I can not find her a home I will keep her. I have special needs ducks and I do hatch out chickens and ducks. She came to me from my friend. She was under a nest and there might have been temp issues. Her one leg sticks straight out. I am working with her by helping bend her leg, it is a little stiff from not being moved and just laying on it. The other leg she hops and jumps on. Does any one have any advise

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

Sounds like it could be slipped tendon.

Check this website out and see if it matches- there is a treatment (scroll down for slipped achilles tendon):
https://sites.google.com/a/poultrypedia.com/poultrypedia/poultry-podiatry

 

[Uniontown Poultry]

Sounds like spraddle leg to me. I just nursed a naked neck chick that had exactly the same problem - hopped around with one foot stuck straight out in the air. And the leg that was in the air was also twisted.

This is usually fixable with hobbles (and in my girl's case, chick shoes to re-orient the leg forward). My girl had to spend a week or two hobbled, wearing chick shoes, and in a makeshift "chick chair" to let her legs hang w/o supporting her weight (although she got daily exercise wearing the hobbles and shoes). I returned her to her owner last week, and she was walking clumsily but regularly on both feet. Her stance is wide, but she's got the foundation of a normal walk - as they get bigger and gain muscle and weight, the gait improves. Often they end up walking normally as adults - it just depends in how soon you get to them. A month old is not too late, but may take awhile longer to get her using that other leg, since her muscle isn't built up or her tendon stretched. I think somewhere there's a thread on chick chairs for spraddle leg, and you may find it very helpful. If you like, I can send you a photo of my naked neck chick in her chair (made from a tupperware bottom). She had three sets of hobbles (at ankle, below hock & above hock) to space her legs, cardboard chick "shoes" that were really just a strip of cardboard her feet were taped to, and a "chair" that was really a hammock in an upended plastic container that kept her off her feet. She lived on my desk for 2 weeks with a friend. She's running around with the rest of her hatchmates now. It can be done. Good luck to you!!

 

[luggsbuggs]

Please you can email me a picture! My friend had her for 4 weeks she did not want to take her away from her mother. The chicks mother was really great mother and really cared for the little Carlito/carlita?