Peachick With Foot Knuckled Under

[Shepicca]

I have a peachick that was born on Friday. It was in sad shape and I was sure it would die. I left nature take it's course and it seems to have rallied and is eating and drinking fine now. One of it's feet was curled and I taped it to straighten out the toes but that is no longer the problem. It looks like the foot at the ankle (not sure what it's called in a bird) is bent under. The tape can't seem to straighten it out.
Is there a way to straighten this or will the bird be like this forever? If it can't be straightened should it be culled or will it get around fine on one good foot and one curled under? If it is kept can it be bred (not sure what it is yet) without it passing this on?
Thanks

Irene

 

[chickenzoo]

If you could post a pic we might be able to give you an idea how to help it. I would think taking a thick wire, bending it in a horseshoe shape, vet wrap the foot on top of the U shape, then bend the wire to keep the foot at the right angle on each side of leg and vet wrap up the leg. You might want to put one wrap around the leg first to keep the wire from rubbing.

 

[Shepicca]

OK, here are some pictures. As he walks it tends to turn under more

 

[Choctaw Valley Farm]

This was something that should have been taped about 30 min after hatching and taped for about a week, You will not be able to do anything for it now.

 

[chickenzoo]

It might be difficult, but I would give it a shot. You might try the brace I suggested, but instead of a U at the bottom make 3 U's so each toe can be taped to it. Tape around the "wrist" joint very securely. You might have to take it off for awhile, massage the joint and toes to help strengthen them, then re tape it.

 

[Shepicca]

Quote:
He stayed in the hatcher for 24 hours after coming out of the egg and just lay on the wire and didn't move. Like I said, I figured it would die but I guess it is too stubborn When it did finally stand it was obvious that there was something wrong and I started taping then. Too bad it was too late. I will tape a bit longer and see if I can get a bit of an improvement before I make a decision as to what to do with it.

Irene

 

[Shepicca]

Quote:
Thanks, I will keep taping for a bit longer and see if I can get any improvement before I make a decision.

Irene

 

[Frosty]

Hmmm... need to figure out a little orthopedic brace to slowly straighten it... Otherwise, birds get around ok with just one foot, I think it would probably survive as is and adapt?

 

[Kedreeva]

I'm not saying it's an awesome idea, but I know there was someone recently who had a majorly bad chicken foot problem that was along these lines (maybe worse, I will see if I can find the post again), and they ended up amputating the foot. It seemed to work all right in that situation, if you can't get it to straighten and it can't get around well enough and you don't want to cull it.

Here's one of them (not the one I was thinking, but one with a really bad food situation):
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=106942

Another (again not the one I was thinking of)
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=119399

 

[chickenzoo]

I have a turkey hen with a fused "wrist" (from her jumping off everything as a poult) she does just fine. my worry would be walking on the toes as it gets older, them getting infected and having infection problems. Amputation of some of the toes might be called for later on if the splinting doesn't correct it......