ducklings born with leg bent please help

[zachbelle]

how do i go about splinting when i cannot unbend it? i can open it a bit but then it gets tp a point where i feal like itll break if i try to openi more...will the vitamins hurt the healrhy ones if theyre all in together? im assuming u add it to the water?

 

[peacockfeather]

the vitamins will not hurt any of them. yes, they go in the water. you can use a popsicle stick or a measured piece of thin cardboard wrapped in vetwrap to splint it as far as it will go. if uncomfortable with that, just put them on the vitamins and give them all a little bit of cooked hard boiled egg (that also has nutrients they may be deficient in, such as choline, and won't hurt them at all). this may have been due to incubator conditions, if its not slipped tendon. you can actually feel a springyness at the back of the leg, above the hock if it is in fact slipped. if not it may be a genetic defect, which there isn't much that can be done. they'll just be a.little different from the others but should live healthy just the same.

 

[zachbelle]

ok ill try the vitamims i tried feeling last night for a sliped tendon but wasnt really sure what i was looking for one was deffinatley born this way as i noticed it the minute he came out of the shell he had a very long fifty some odd hour hatch tho the other two i didnt notice until i took them out of the bator when dry so im not sure on those ones

 

[peacockfeather]

the sooner the better in regards to the vitamins. you can use the other good leg for reference. the tendon above the hock feels loose and mushy/springy like. ive been really working with my chick, as it has not healed on its own. but she's happy and healthy and I've been doing little physical therapy exercises to strengthen both legs. her strength has improved at least.

 

[zachbelle]

i tried feeling again just now and think i felt that springiness bit again im not ahundred percent what im looking for...i notice when im touching that "springy" part they seem to be in discomfort...could it be slipped tendon and if so what do i do?

 

[peacockfeather]

not much you can do for the slipped tendon except for the vitamin supplement. you can try to push it back on the bone (you should feel a liitle click) then vetwrap it in place and it may heal. but like my chick, they might just remain that way. you could try a little physical therapy of gently stretching and bending each leg.