Peachick leg issue and lump?

[Selenity]

My 4 week old peachick’s right leg has me concerned. It bends inward not like his left. Hopefully the picture helps. Is there something I should do, should I be concerned? Also, it’s feathers have started to change and he is starting to grow his head feathers. But I noticed a lump under his neck, on the top of his chest. It leans to the right which you may see on the picture. Is this normal?

 

[Selenity]

Here are pictures I just took.

 

[KsKingBee]

It has a full crop, it is eating good.

 

[Tonyroo]

Maybe you can setup a leg brace, but at that age it might be on the brace longer than if it was a new born.

Where did you get it? And what age was it when you got it?

 

[Selenity]

I got it from a lady in Nova Scotia who has owned peafowl for many many years. She didn’t have the space to keep them this year as she rescued a pony and it’s foal. It was 4 days old when we got it.

 

[Selenity]

It has a full crop, it is eating good.

Thank you! After I posted here, I was reading about crops but couldn’t confirm peafowls had these but was thinking they must have. For humans, finding a lump is something to worry about automatically.

 

[Selenity]

Found the only vet that would see/treat a peachick. Vet confirmed it's a split tendon that is now solidify... she gave it supplements and now that it is eating his wild bird game feed exclusively it could help (was adding a boiled egg each day before because he hadn’t started to eat a lot of his bird feed). She feels it could still live a full life. But I’m heartbroken reading on others posts here they had to euthanize… my peachick is limping so bad today which it never did before. I’m hoping the vet is right about it’s future and her intervention and it’s food help. Our family is really attached to the little guy.

 

[KsKingBee]

How old is the chick and when did it start limping? Can you take a pic of the hock? A close up is much more helpful.

 

[Selenity]

How old is the chick and when did it start limping? Can you take a pic of the hock? A close up is much more helpful.

It’s 5 weeks old today. I noticed a slight bend inward of its right leg a few weeks ago. I was keeping an eye on it to see if it was just me or it was an issue. We were away last weekend and when we came back, it was clear it was not normal . I’ll try to take closeup pictures.

 

[KsKingBee]

We like to assume that a Dr. of any kind is going to know every fix to a health problem but unfortunately they just don't. That is why they call it 'practicing' medicine. There are one of two different problems that cause what your bird is suffering from, one is called a 'slipped tendon', the other is a blown hock. A Slipped tendon is where the main tendon that lays in a track on the back side of the hock slips out to one side. This is fixable if caught within a day or two of it happening by taping the tendon in place and keeping it immobile for 12 to 24 hours. We have great luck by taping the tendon in place and splinting the leg straight then keeping the bird immobile so the tendon remains in place. A little PT will be needed the first time the leg is bent in a normal position.

The blown hock is where the top of the leg is attached to the body, the ligaments that hold the leg in place can tear and the leg hangs away from the body. In bad cases the leg can actually rotate 180*.

You will hear many people insist that you have to raise peachicks on wire off of the ground. Most of the bent toes, blown hocks we see here are injuries from being on the wire. I promote putting young peas on the ground as soon as possible to avoid those problems. You can raise healthy chicks on the ground as long as you pay attention to the early signs of sickness or by using a strict regimen of regular deworming and preventative cocci treatments.