Help Needed 4 week old Chick with Injured Leg/ Hip

[littlesuzie]

I need help with my 4 week old Speckled Sussex Suzie. She was fine 3 days ago. Two days ago I found her lying in the bottom of the brooder, not moving much. When I took her out she was cold and felt skinny so I separated her from the other chicks and kept her close to the heat lamp all day. I also fed her chick electrolyte mix and hard boiled egg yoke which she would hardly touch. I did not realize she was injured at this time because she was just so sleepy and not moving. I didn't expect her to make it through the night. I have no idea what happened to her.

Well Suzie did make it and yesterday I feed her multiple times chick electrolyte mix with a medicine dropper and got her to eat a tiny bit of hard boiled egg yoke and plain yogurt.

Today she seems more alert and was interested in eating this morning but still cannot stand up and is favoring her right side. Her leg/hip/foot seems normal to me but she can barely move but a couple inches and has to extend her wing to the ground for balance. She keeps falling over and can't prevent herself from rolling over when she lies down.

I am pretty sure she has injured her leg or hip but nothing seems to hurt her when I touch it. There is no injury that I can see.

All the other birds are fine.

Suzie has been barely eating or drinking and has not shown much interest until this morning. Her poop is watery (I think because of all the electrolyte mix I have been giving her) and green and brown.

Does anyone have any suggestions for a chick with a hurt leg? I have no idea if anything is broken or if anything else is wrong with her. This is my first time raising chicks. I hope she will be okay.

 

[CMV]

Give her a few days of TLC and see what happens. Chicks injure their legs all the time. Usually the issue resolves on its own with no intervention. It sounds like she may have gotten trampled by her brooder mates. She's lucky she lived to tell the tale. Trampling often leads to death if the chicks are injured and not removed from the flock.

Cut out the electrolytes. They are only good in the very short term. If she has diarrhea then she has had enough.

Let us know how she does.

 

[littlesuzie]

Thanks for your help. She was very sick for a while and could not walk and dragged her wing. Both were injured. I had her propped up in a towel ring for about a week so she would not fall over. But amazingly she pulled through after a few weeks of healing, a lot of hand feeding and some antibiotic. She is now completely recovered and back with the flock. You would never know anything was ever wrong with her. I did not think she would make it. Pretty amazing actually!

 

[CMV]

Chickens are amazingly resilient. I am glad to hear she made it.

Good luck.