Help, newly hatched chick with hurt leg!

[Big Mama K]

My chick knee area is red and swollen and its toes are kinda crooked. It can move it's hip area just fine but is not able to but pressure on it! It keep trying to stan up but falls over!! I need to know what cause this and what to do! I am thinking it was a tight squeeze in the egg or got hurt working its way out from under momma, she is sitting on her nest pretty tight!! But please I want this chick to be able to stand on it and function normal!! It is only our 2nd baby!!

 

[Big Mama K]

any advice on what to do? I am thinking about wrapping it but I don't know how or with what??

 

[CaliBlueChicken]

Here are some links that may help...

http://www.poultryhelp.com/spraddle.html
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=318395

Here is a thread with a picture of little shoes someone made for thier chick
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=51112


I also heard of someone taping a q-tip to a chicks leg as a splint, careful not to cut off circulation though. Good luck!

EDITED TO ADD MORE INFO---- Is the knee bent to the side? Do you think it could be dislocated?

 

[CaliBlueChicken]

Oh here this looks like a good site... the whole site seems good but for your situation.....
COPIED FROM WEBSITE http://sites.google.com/a/larsencreek.com/chicken-orthopedics/leg-braces
"Fix Slipped Achilles Tendon in Hock Joint

•Use to treat Slipped Achilles Tendon (tendon that runs down through the groove on the back of a chick's hock has slipped out of place off to the side). If a leg has this problem, the joint will look swollen and the back of the hock will look flat (Compare to other leg to double-check). The chick can't straighten its leg if this is what's wrong with it.

•Gently pull the upper part of chick's leg a bit behind normal position and then carefully straighten the leg as though chick were stretching its leg back. The tendon should pop back into place pretty easily and cause little if any pain.
◦Some sources recommend pushing the tendon back in place just by pressing with your finger. However, stretching the leg back is a much less painful method.

•Swelling on hock:
◦If infection is part of what is causing joint to swell, you will find pus. Recovery would be very difficult and the chick should probably be put down.
◦If it is just caused by displacement, swelling will go down in 2-4 days.

•Put the chick in a Chick Chair and/or put its leg in a cast (such as one made from a drinking straw) for a few days (~5) while re-alignment stabilizes.
◦It is important that the legs not be able to touch the ground at all. The chick needs to hang with them bent and be discouraged from using its legs until the tendon has stretched and adjusted back to the right place and shape.

•Note: It may take a few days for the groove to be fully developed on a young chick and you may have to fix the tendon more than once.
•If there is pus in the joint,

•[More info needed.]"

 

[Big Mama K]

CaliBlueChicken, thank you so much for doing that research for me!! That is all I have been doing since I but my (human) ladies to bed!

Earlier I put a pipe cleaner brace on it think that would be better than nothing!! I went back a little while later to check on it but it was under it's momma! I am sure it was sleepy after it's big day! So in the morning I am hoping that it is ok but if not between your reasearch and mine I have several ideas!! Now I just need to decided whether or not to leave it with it's momma! I think I should take it out and bring a friend with it but the only problems is that only two chicks have hatched so far...so I leave momma alone of the injured baby alone!! Ugh! But I really appreciate what you have done for me and my chick! I can tell that you love your critters as much as I love mine!! Thank you very much and I will keep you updated!!

 

[CaliBlueChicken]

Great

No problem... best of luck to you and the chickies! I also read on other pages that peoples chickens grew up just fine with a funny leg. So as long as it is eating and drinking and pooping, and getting around I would keep it. That is just me though, if its just broken it doen't mean I just throw something away. Life is perfectly imperfect

Good luck!!!

 

[Big Mama K]

CaliBlueChicken,

I went out and checked on my injured chick them am to find it in bad shape. I brought it in the house and put in in my brooder box to see what it did, poor thing just laid there. After I while I picked it up and decided to put it down. Went to go get my husband, because there is no way I could do it and I came back and saw it had passed on it's own! Now I feel bad for leaving it in the box with it's Momma. I think the poor little guy got under her at night time and could get it's self back out! Thanks though for all of your research last night!!

 

[sharol]

You could also look at it like this: the chick was already dying when it hatched, and you allowed it to be with its "mother" for a little while before it passed. Certainly that would be less frightening than being alone all night in a brooder. You did the best you could with the hand you were dealt.

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[Mrs. Feathers]

Quote:

I am with Sharol....You did the best you could and there may have been issues above and beyond the leg.

 

[Big Mama K]

Ok, I have another question. Went out to check on my Momma Moe and her eggs. She was pecking around in her box and fixing it like she does several times a day but she hit one of her eggs! She cracked it so she started peeking at it. I finally stuck my hand in and removed them egg and it was peeping. Her and I just looked at the egg. I finally decided them best thing to do would hatching it early. So it looks like it my have feet and leg problems too but I am more worried about the gob of white and clear slimy stuff in the egg and still attached to it belly! What is that and will the chick be ok. It was suppose to hatch some time this coming week so less than a week away!