How to splint a slipped Achilles tendon?

[adamziegler]

I just started this thread:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/764062/why-wont-our-chick-use-her-legs

We have discovered that the problem is a slipped achilles tendon on both legs. We can feel it slip into place when we gently push it back, but we can't make it stay when we let go and the chick tries to move her legs. How can we splint it to hold the tendon in place while she heals?


Thanks!

 

[aayto1]

You can cut a toothpick the size of the inside legs and the place it there and firmly secure is with bandades or wound care.

 

[adamziegler]

ok thanks!! We also have her in a sling, as her hocks were getting more and more swollen from her resting her weight on them...

 

[adamziegler]

well, we tried a few things: a sling, splinting, "physical therapy" of the tendon several times a day. For a while she seemed like she was improving, though still never to the point of using her legs, but then she somehow injured the inside of her wing during the night, and her condition rapidly deteriorated to the point where she would only lay on her back, and she stopped eating and drinking. So we put her down last night, quick and painless.

thanks for the help.