Help! Chick's leg stuck backwards! *Pics*

[KaitlynChick55]

Please help!
Today I got 14 new 3 week old chicks... or thats how old we were told they are. But there is one chick thats left leg is like, twisted backwards, and sticks straight out, and its extremely stiff. The knee joint doesnt even bend. We figured she doesn't have much feeling in her leg, because she barely responded when we poked at her. She seems to act fine, like it doesnt hurt, and she just wobbles around, and she can stand on one foot and balance her self, but she cant walk around on one foot. We got them from a woman who worked in Great Explorations at the local school and hatched them as a fun experience for the kids. She doesn't know whether this chick hatched out with the leg twisted backwards, or if one of the kids dropped it or something happened,

but she said that this chick has had this problem for a while.
Now for pics:
See how she can balance and stand on just one foot...

Front View...

I really wish we had a vet up here (and around here) that could help this poor little baby, all the vets we have up here are vets for animals like dogs, cats, and thats pretty much about it ._.

I'm hoping this leg can be fixed, but i don't know if this chick will live her life with this leg like this and just has to wobble around. Problem is, i don't know how to fix this leg D:

 

[chickenlovefever]

Is It spraddle Leg? It might be. I have a chick, month old, who cant be with the older chicks so he stays with the newly hatched chicks. Its pretty sad, because it's like putting a teenager in with a whole bunch of 5 year olds. But, he keeps the chicks warm at night. His leg is lipped around like that too, but its like popped out of place, ever since he was hatched. and he uses it for balance, and the inner thigh part of his leg is scratched and raw from where he drags around on it. I had to wrap it up. All I can think of is when I get my chicks all sold and my older chickens sold and I go to put my two month olds in the bigger pen, I'll just kil him. I can't make a breeder out of him, and I can't make a layer out of it. You chick doesn't look as bad. So I consider you lucky

Is It a few days old? Because I know a very easy sort of cure for things like that. Only if it sticks out sieways and is bendable, but if it is what it looks like in the pic, it can't be cured.

 

[KaitlynChick55]

Thanks
She is 3 weeks old, so the leg might be past curing The leg joint moves, but only a tiny bit, and the knee joint is completley stiff. I don't really care if this chick won't be able to lay nd such, I'd rather not put her down, as long as shes not in pain, however we can't really tell if she is in pain or not, but she doesnt scream when we wiggle the leg, I'm just hopin shes not in pain.

 

[chickenlovefever]

Yeah, I can never tell that my chick is in pain. I have tried to pop the leg back in place(Ouch!) and he just sit there and stares at me, like, "Why am I upside down again?" I do believe that it was a proble with when he was developing. He has no sense of movement in the leg,and I hve come to the conclusion that the leg has no nerves or joints in it. The leg just hangs loose. But I hope your chick doesn't have it as bad as mine seems to have it!

 

[chicmom]

She looks like she's in a little ballerina pose! How cute, and if you're willing to keep her, I think that's great.

Good luck with her,

Sharon

 

[PoultryPedia]

I've never seen a chick with a leg stuck straight like that. It looks like the hock was severely dislocated and then rotated, and the tendon also slipped out of place. It seems that mis-handling by a young child may have caused it.

There is info on my website (linked in my sig below) on putting a slipped tendon back in place, but I would personally discourage that in this case. Trying to fix the tendon should be done only if the joint itself is correctly positioned, I would think.

Trying to twist and push after the joint's been displaced so long seems like it would cause MUCH pain and probably damage as other elements of the leg are probably wedged between parts of the joint by now.

My guess would be that surgery would be required for any prospect at all of fixing the leg.

The "working" leg will likely develop in an unusual way over time as it tries to compensate for the leg with the problem, and the chick's body may come up with a fairly workable structure. However, abilities that the chick develops while young may be lost when the chicken's body grows heavier.

The Poultry Podiatry page on my site has some tips that might help if you decide you're going to raise her.

It's hard to deal with hard situations like this one. Best wishes