hock joint injury to keet..hugging left leg to body

[daxigait]

42753
I did not find the rubber band through a straw, but check that post in Sally's thread incubating with friends(over 112,000 posts to ID it). I will look later. The link to that post is on the first page in the notes section.

 

[casportpony]

@DylansMom and @Garden Peas might have some suggestions for you.

-Kathy

 

[daxigait]

With thanks to @DwayneNLiz and @Chaos18 who found and quoted Jessimom's quote and YouTube link to the rubber band and straw n
Method. I can't link, but it is in post 123181 from 12:20 CST on the incubating with friends thread. I hope something works for your Keet.

 

[Chaos18]

post #123181 of 123203

 

[Garden Peas]

Hi @charid , sorry you're having a bad time with this. Your chick has a slipped tendon. I'm out of town right now, so it's hard for me to post.

It is definitely treatable (well, it is unless the chick has further injured itself or the swelling has cut off circulation, or other complications...)

Here's a thread from the peafowl forum where I posted pictures. I treated two peachicks this season (well, actually, the vet did the first one) and both recovered. What you have to do is straighten the leg (and with that, the tendon should either go back in or be able to be put back), then tape with a slight bend using a flat taping technique, giving the swelling a chance to go down AND the groove to deepen, which will eventually hold the tendon where it belongs. The tape will need to stay on for 4 to 5 days, with the caveat that as swollen as your chick's leg looks, you may have to deal with that.

Forget the sling. My peachick got out of every sling & chick chair I built. Vet said just let it be -- once splinted, they manage to get around on the other, and once they are up, the splinted bad leg will help hold them up. Just make sure there's soft places to rest. No little friends, unless there's a really quiet one that won't pick on it.

Here's the link, you are looking for post #12

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/1092979/peachick-with-slipped-tendon/10

I wouldn't recommend straws, rubber bands or other splinting materials. The flat taping technique works really well and is how the vet did it. Also, DON'T use tiny pieces of tape -- I lost a chick to ingested tape, despite fairly heroic efforts to save it. That was hard.

Good luck. Use my name in post if you need more help, otherwise I may not see it right now, sorry!

 

[charid]

@Garden Peas

This occurred on July 2nd with a 3 wk old keet. I have stretched it 2-3x daily depending on my schedule and then held him so his legs might dangle. He just keeps it tucked. I want to take him to the vet. Do you think he would survive the stress of an hour round trip drive? The vet is not retutning my calls for some reason. Is it too late to mend at this point? He is using his wing to walk/fly. It was looking good but now he is just adapting yo his limitation. I think the stretches were too much. I never could get it back in place.

 

[Garden Peas]

I think you can still fix it. But he's probably got a lot of swelling.

I took mine to a vet after my first tries at home doctoring didn't work, and I learned enough about how to fix it to have been well worth the cost. Went to a vet who had never treated a peafowl before, and had never treated a slipped tendon before, but she did well.

Did you read thru that thread I posted? There's good info and pictures there. Also an explanation of how I got my peachick safely to the vet and back... I used a plastic box and a heating pad with a thermometer and towels, and I practiced at home to make sure I wouldn't roast or freeze my chick on the way there. Had a long drive too.

You can see the dislocated tendon in your photos, so I have no doubts what this is. Tendon does start to draw up and shorten when off the hock. But straightening leg usually gets it closer to where it needs to go. Unfortunately, the swelling could be preventing it from really seating itself. There's likely some malformation of the joint that contributed to it slipping or not staying in - sometimes you just have to buy enough time for those grooves to develop on the hock joint. Guineas are really susceptible.

If you can get to a vet who knows a bit about birds, by all means, do so! If not, read all that stuff I put up about the flat taping technique, and let me know what questions I can answer about it. There's pictures of our road trip, too! Best of luck, and let me know.

 

[casportpony]

@charid , did you see Garden Peas pictures?
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/1092979/peachick-with-slipped-tendon/10

-Kathy

 

[charid]

Updated images.

Yep. I looked at her link. My sling was a colossal failure. He gets out. I tried 4 or 5 now. It risks injury as he fights it. Having problems posting so i may have posted the same entry 81000x now. Sorry.

Got our exercises in. Wanted to splint the leg but I cant get tendon in. I looked at the link AFTER tonights treatment which was mostly another failure. He was kicking both legs though which is a very good sign. He is resting. Next treatment is tomorrow morning. I will snuggle him to keep him calm. Fingers crossed. This guy is feisty. Only reason he is still with me. If he isnt giving up, I am not giving up. Vet is supposed to call tomorrow.

I honestly believe the sibling visitation hour is keeping him active. Funny thing I have 17 keets that will eat out of my hand but the one that I need to like me, wont.

 

[Garden Peas]

@charid, forget the sling!!! I said that in my first post!!!

The flat taping technique that the vet used on my peachick and that I used on another peachick this year, works well. There's photos and a detailed explanation of how to do it. You can try alternate methods, but I didn't have success with anything else. Flat taping is the same way a vet repairs a broken bird leg.

If you can't get leg splinted with tendon in correct place, the keet needs to go to vet, or it will likely be permanently lame if it even survives.

Good luck, hope it pulls through!