rooster chick swollen knee

[dave harrison]

hello
we have a 2.5 week old rooster chick with a swollen leg. it will not walk on it and hops around on one leg - but mostly sits and is probably in pain.
any one have any clues because we do not wish to have it in pain so may have to put it down.
thanks.

 

[dave harrison]

Hi, I have been looking at other posts....can someone let me know if they think what I have here is a slipped tendon?

 

[bobzant]

Any way you could post a pic? And are there any visible sores near the area? Does the joint move at all?

 

[bobzant]

Okay now I see a picture. It almost looks fluid filled, is it hard oe squishy?

 

[dave harrison]

Hi, Thanks for the response. It is hard, there are no sores at all. The joint has very limited movement. I should also mention the leg is being held out at an angle.

 

[bobzant]

Sounds like maybe it was almost dislocated in the egg when it was developing. Idk if you could try and splint it where it belongs or something.

 

[dave harrison]

he was ok when we got him at a day old.....we only noticed the problem 3 days ago...prior to that all seemed well (we are new at this tho, so very possible we missed something)

 

[bobzant]

If you have a lot of chicks he may have gotten trampled by the others. Id say give it a few days and see if he gets better. I always try to give them the benefit of the doubt.

 

[ryebread119]

If the tendon feels like its slipped out, put it back in place (by extending the leg joint and pushing gently on the knee with your thumb). Tape the joint to keep the tendon/knee cap in place and put it in a chick chair so it doesn't have to put weight on the leg. Hopefully the chick will recover in a few days, It may just need to form the knee further to accommodate the joint better. If it doesn't fix itself in a few days, it may never. Sorry.

 

[dave harrison]

thanks for the tips everyone....we will try putting the leg back in place as suggested. fingers crossed.