Five month old chicken with splayed legs

[Penelope0871]

I have been caring for a 5 month old chicken which developed splayed legs at 4 months old. It puts one in front and one behind as though it has double joints. For the past 4 days I have had its legs in a simple splint made of a straw and rubber band about hip width apart. I have also tried a ‘jolly jumper’ home made so that it has to put weight on its legs, and tried it in a jar, wings outside, and tempted it with meal worms so that it put weight on its feet. Is there anything else that I can try to help it strengthen its legs and stop splaying them? when I take the splint off it goes back to its old position - legs splayed. I am also feeding it vitamins. All suggestions appreciated. We did take it to the vet and they just suggested vitamins.

 

[Sloane Chickens]

Do you have photos?
I’d definitely take the suggestion of vitamins because vitamin deficiencies can cause soooo many issues.

 

[Debbie292d]

I have been caring for a 5 month old chicken which developed splayed legs at 4 months old. It puts one in front and one behind as though it has double joints. For the past 4 days I have had its legs in a simple splint made of a straw and rubber band about hip width apart. I have also tried a ‘jolly jumper’ home made so that it has to put weight on its legs, and tried it in a jar, wings outside, and tempted it with meal worms so that it put weight on its feet. Is there anything else that I can try to help it strengthen its legs and stop splaying them? when I take the splint off it goes back to its old position - legs splayed. I am also feeding it vitamins. All suggestions appreciated. We did take it to the vet and they just suggested vitamins.

Hi, and welcome to BYC!

Did this chick by any chance get into some extra calcium by way of oyster shell? I ask because this sure sounds familiar! If that happens, there's nothing you can do as the leg nerves run through the kidneys and are damaged.

If not, then B-Complex should help. You could give about 1/4 to 1/2 of one daily.

For the usual chicks that get splayed legs, those are usually fixed within a day or two. For yours, I believe that's going to take a couple of weeks. I would keep the "binding" on it for a few days, then test it without for a bit, then back on. We had a bad one that we kept taking it off daily, saw no improvement, then finally left it on for around four days, then tried it and a definite improvement.

For chick chairs, here's a thread with a lot of ideas.

 

[Penelope0871]

I doubt that Jack Jack had oysters or oyster shell. Would have had access to shell grits though. I have been giving her a ‘mega-mineral’ supplement contains various things but in terms of Vitamins A, D & E. Just picked up liquid vitamins includes B1,2,6,12 Vitamins amongst others, says 1ml per 1Litre of water. Will swap to that, maybe making it a little stronger, and give her some with a dropper. She is such a sweet bird, I do hope she gets normal mobility back. I will post some photos, and look up the chick chairs. Thank you very much.