Help! First house chicken, joint issues!

[family4christ]

Hello,
We joined here specifically to get some help with this issue, but we're glad to be here!

So my wife got a chicken for our kids, and since it was a brand new chick it has lived in a small parakeet cage (for lack of a better way to describe it). roughly a month ago it developed the condition shown in the picture. I took it to the vet and the vet gave me antibiotics for an infection, because it was infected, but didn't offer to or instruct me to wrap the knee or splint it or anything like that. I'm curious as to whether or not any of you folks have had this specific kind of injury happen to one of your chickens and what you did.

Thnks in advance!

J&M

 

[family4christ]

Can anyone share some insight?

Thank you...

 

[Eggcessive]

Welcome to BYC. I'm not an expert, but the chick might possibly have a slipped tendon from a leg bone deformity. Hock swelling and an outward or inward turned leg can look like that. Another possibility is mycoplasma synovitis, or MS, an infection of the joint. MS can be treated with Tylan or oxytetracycline antibiotics. An injury would be the third possibility. Giving Poultry vitamins in the water is always good to do with leg problems. Durvet and Rooster Booster are common brands of these. Here is some reading for you:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...chick-anyone-ever-try-to-fix-this-experiences
http://chickenheavenonearth.weebly.com/slipped-achilles-tendon-treatments-in-chicken-legs.html
http://www.thepoultrysite.com/articles/1051/leg-health-in-large-broilers/

 

[family4christ]

Thanks!
Yeah we have the oxytetracycline from the vet, but it's getting pretty bad.

This is where it's at now. She's almost completely bent in to the other knee joint at a normal stance.

Should I sports tape wrap it over her feathers or something?

 

[Eggcessive]

It really is looking like a bone deformity, such as varus valgus deformity. I really wish there was more you could do for it, but many deformities worsen with age.

 

[family4christ]

So would the end result of this be that it can not be repaired and she will have to be put down?

Thanks...