Duckling with a twisted leg??

[casportpony]

I have a duckling, named Beverly, who is about three weeks old now who has had a rough go at life so far. Her mother was sitting on a nest outside of their pen, so for her safety I confiscated the eggs so she would go back to the pen. Only two showed signs of life so I put them in the incubator and only this poor little duckling made it. I actually had to help her hatch and ended up doing most of the work (I usually try to open the egg just enough to resolve whatever they are caught up on and let them finish kicking themselves out). From the time she was hatched, it seemed like she had problems with her legs. I gave her B complex vitamins in her water which I do think helped to some degree.
She also came down with a respiratory infection almost immediately. I treated that with tylan 50 and she has recovered from that just fine.
Now it appears as though her leg is twisting at a weird angle. Most of the times it is bent inward but sometimes it seems to bend outward. Her hock also seems enlarged. My guess is it's a slipped tendon but I have never had this before and I would think she would be less mobile if this was the case so I'm not sure. She has tons of energy now and can actually get up some speed when she's walking but she walks really goofy and very often trips over her own feet. I have some pictures but she is always on the move so it's hard to get a good shot! The pictures below don't seem to show the extent of how much the leg bends at the wrong angle (inward instead of backward).
I've seen a couple people mention wrapping or bracing the leg but I couldn't seem to find many pictures or to many details. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!!

Pictures here:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/1092979/peachick-with-slipped-tendon/10#post_16817050

-Kathy

 

[mirandaleecon]

Just an update on Beverly; I attempted to correct the tendon but it was so swollen it would not budge. I took her to the vet on Friday. She took an x-ray but that didn't show anything. She also prescribed an anti-inflammatory and antibiotic (because the joint was warm and swollen). She felt as though splinting at this point might do more harm than good...

As of right now, Beverly is still walking but it's clear that she is having trouble. She is overcompensating with her good leg and that one is starting to turn inwards (think pigeon toed). I'm hoping she will be able to keep walking but I'm not sure how long she will be able to manage the way she's walking now. Not sure what I should do at this point...

 

[wallawu]

I had a young duck with similar issues. Respiratory infection, tripped over himself because his feet were turned in, and was the bald victim of some bullying. How old is she? He was probably around a month when I began getting concerned about his legs. He did a lot of sitting. two things I did to try to reverse that: Less protein through adding oats to their food (2 parts feed, 1 part oats, ~16% protein), and adding a tablespoon of Brewer's Yeast EVERY time I fed them, which was twice a day. I also did the electrolytes in their water every couple days. I was really worried like you are, but after about a month of that his walking was substantially better. Now he's a beautiful 5 1/2 month old Welsh Harlequin, completely healthy, keeping up with his fellow ducks. Beverly's case seems a little more severe, but that doesn't mean she can't turn around, too. It seems from my experience and what I've read that too much Protein and not enough Niacin can really mess up a duck's legs. Swimming seems to be helpful with most leg issues, but I don't know about slipped tendons. Good luck, and I hope the medicine the vet gave you improves her condition quickly. Get your hands on some Brewer's Yeast ASAP.

Edit: Just to give you an idea, when he would stand the top foot almost completely covered the bottom. That's how far inward his feet turned and how bowlegged he was.