Is this spraddle leg or something more?

[chics in the sun]

I'm having a terrible hatch. The batch that hatched yesterday (or were supposed to) are not even mine, and so far I have only two little Araucana chicks out of 12 eggs. Some were in an incubator and some were under broodies (its a long story). The one that hatched under the broody has legs that stick out to the side and the toes are curled up. Here is the picture:

As you can see, I used the band-aid thing to splint them together, but it keeps just flopping over onto it's back. It is also not very energetic. I have it sort of propped up on a rolled up wash cloth now. Any advice? It's heartbreaking to watch it flop over and not be able to get back up.

 

[gritsar]

Bump and good luck

 

[BrattishTaz]

I have not dealt with this myself but the link in my signature line may help. Good luck.

 

[emvickrey]

I've dealt with it. If the toes are curled you can put boots on it's feet. Usually after about 3 days they are all good. What you do is you can use the tape part of bandaids but I use the cloth tape for puting on bandages. I cut 4 square pieces and Spread out the toes as if they would be if the chick was standing and place the tape on the front toes on the bottom of the foot. Make sure the toes are straight then put another piece on the top of the foot. I trim the edges so there isn't any tape that will stick to the floor of the brooder or to the chicks down. I also put that rubber-like shelf liner on the floor of the brooder so the chick can get a better grip.

I had a chick that had spraddle leg worse than i've ever had one and I didn't boot it's feet mainly because it's a silkie and has feathered feet, but I did hold it in my hand with it's legs in the normal position for as long as it would let me without trying to get away. About 10 minutes. It kept streaching out it's legs in front of it. I had to keep putting them in the right position. Then I would take each leg and move it like it's peddling a bicycle with the foot on my finger to spread out the toes like it would be if it was standing right. It took 3 days and it's now doing fine. Standing and running like the rest.

You should be careful having it with others because they can trample the legs sticking out and break them. Or they may pull it around by it's legs. They can be pretty mean to the weaker ones. You'll want to put it by itself if that happens.

I hope this helps. Good Luck

 

[chics in the sun]

Thank you so much for all your help. I had seen the thread about the little 'shoes' and the bandaid trick. They were just so deformed looking that I wasn't sure if that was spraddle leg or something else. She is still alive, and I gave her pol-vi-sol. She is with the woman that they actually belong to now, so she'll have to take over from here.