(Edited) Slipped tendons in chick! Please help!

Kit-Kat

Songster
8 Years
Apr 4, 2012
63
42
116
Troy, NY
One of my silkie hens hatched four little chicks yesterday- I went in to check on their food and water this morning and found mama hen hanging out with three of the chicks by the water, but one of them was flopping around in the nesting box and couldn't get its legs to work properly. Turns out the little guy has splayed legs. I made it a leg splint thing out of a hairband and some tape and put him back in the nest- but now I'm wondering if that was the right thing to do? Should I have kept the splayed leg chick away from the others and mama hen? The nesting box is full of wood chips and doesn't exactly provide the best footing for the chick to recover/figure out how to walk in. If I take it away and keep it in my old brooder with a more solid floor, will I be able to re-introduce it to mama hen or will she and its sibs pick on it?

Please help, I'm worried about this little nugget! Thanks! :)
 
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I would try to keep the bird in with its family. Re-introductions can be fraught with difficulties, so I like to avoid that particular problem at all costs.

Just my two cents.

Good luck.
 
I looked around BYC more and it looks like this little chick has slipped tendons rather than splayed feet. I took it away from mama hen and its sibs and attempted to do the little leg stretch exercise described to make the tendons go back into place. Can anyone give me more information on this? Are the legs supposed to go back to normal after that or what? Because this chick's legs just pop right back to the way they were before- so I put little splints on them and put it in a chick chair to keep the weight off.
What are the chances of recovery and how long does it take? Any help would be so appreciated!!

 
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