New baby with leg problems

[klk1225]

Hi All,

I have a new hatchling (appx ~ 10-12 days old) that has some leg problems. He hatched late (I believe it was day 20?) and was the only one to hatch out of the 20+ eggs I ordered. He pipped while I was making breafast at 0630 and he had fully emerged by 0830. The incubator was lined with shelf liner. He appeared to have curled toes and "odd legs" from the beginning but they have progressively gotten worse and it seems over the last 48 hours have gotten 1000x worse. Both legs lay straight out and at an angle almost behind him (in the wrong direction). The toes are straight and the feet are curled under. When he tries to move his legs don't move on their own - he flops like a fish. I have tried hobbling and shoeing but they were unsuccessful. While hobbling, he was unable to move because he just kept getting stuck on his face, he couldn't get himself up. I have tried to put him in a small dish to train his legs but he peeps non stop when I do and I am afraid I am causing pain trying to force his legs in that position.
We have tried shelf liner, wood chips and a towel, paper towel for bedding in his brooder and nothing seems to give him enough support to get himself up and he had some bloody spots from a sore on his leg so I am not sure what the best option is at this point.
Does anyone have any other ideas. He seems healthy otherwise, eating/drinking normal, loves to snuggle. I can take him to the vet if need be, but Cornell University is not cheap so I would like to try all other options first.

Thank you.

 

[FloorCandy]

I’m no expert, I just had my first hatch. I had one with 1 bad leg that looks like the left leg of yours, straight out, curled smoothly, toes very tight. I put the cardboard shoes on him, and I put him in a small paper cup, the cup had too much room, so I put a cardboard tube roll in, flattened to make the space smaller. I kept him like that for several hours, then I put him back in the brooder before bed. In the morning his shoe was off, but his sole of his foot points down and his toes are separated. The leg is not splayed anymore, but it’s not normal by any means. It’s twisted and looks like a grasshopper leg, but both soles touch the floor and he can walk and run, even if he looks funny.

now the other leg of yours looks bad, like twisted all out of whack, you might be able to move it into place and hold him in your hands that way for a few hours, and if you get it shaped relatively well, you can try to flatten the foot out. I think the best you can hope for is he can get to food and water by himself, he will probably have mobility issues, like can’t jump or climb. Good luck though!

 

[FloorCandy]

Some pics of little Wobbles:

you can see his leg is still a bit turned, and that’s because his actual leg is bent, not broken or dislocated, just crooked. He holds a wing out a bit when he walks because the leg sticks out funny.

Here you see the foot is still a bit twisted, but this leg looked just like yours, I should have taken a before photo. What really helps my little guy is that he has 1 good leg. He does all his work with the good one and uses the other for balance.

when he was born, he couldn’t walk at all and I thought he would die of dehydration. I made sure to give him sugar water while I worked on his leg.

If I had more experience, maybe I could have shaped it better, idk. I’m not sure that a vet could even really make one with 2 bad legs better.

I have another thread where I also repaired the legs of 1 chick with both feet curled, but neither was as bad as Wobbles, and he wasn’t splayed. He still has a hitch to his step but he’s more or less in the realm of normal.

 

[Quailobsessed]

Usually, it's best to fix these issues when they first hatch, but I had a quail chick with crossed legs that I fixed when she was a few weeks old. The problem only happened when she was a couple of weeks old. I tried all sorts of leg braces, but she just got in the wrong position again. I ended up fixing them by holding her in the correct position for about a day.

I don't really know what to do for your poor little chick. Perhaps @Kiki or @Nabiki could help.

 

[Fenrisulfr]

I had 3 of these in my last hatch... splay legs AND both feet curled toes.
Tried to tape them and made shoes, but they just were rolling and couldn't eat and drink.
Also tried to sat them into cups for couple of hours. No effect.

Sadly I had to culled them. I didn't want to wait till they die, this would be torture.

 

[Nabiki]

I've fixed minor cases of curled toes and splay leg, but this one looks really bad. You can try taping the legs, but I would cull this one.