silkie chick foot deformity

[midoris]

I thought her toes were curled under, but it turns out they're just... odd.
The fifth toes are really long, almost the size of the other toes. The outer toes of each foot are just tiny stubs. She's noticably clumsier than the other chicks, but manages to get around. She also seems to be having trouble with her right leg. It sort of lags behind if that makes any sense. Like she's having trouble moving it forward all the way, it tends to get left behind resting on it's front toes with the back of the foot up in the air.
I don't suppose anyone has any advice on how to help her out?

 

[BamaChicken]

I know this doesn't sound pleasant but I usually cull them if they have a problem that severe. I have tried to save them early on when I first started raising chickens only to see them suffer more the older they got. Would not be a good breeder.

 

[midoris]

How can I tell if she's suffering? At this point she just looks a little clumsy.

 

[BamaChicken]

You will have to make the decision. I had one that ended up getting about three months old then couldn't walk anymore and just had to lay buy feed pen. It was very sad and I wish I had just culled early on. I had one EE from a hatchery one time that had a crippled leg but moved okay and could get in the nest and lay. I gave her away so I don't know what happened to her. I tend to cull early if they are injured or deformed as I am trying to breed to upgrade my flock.

 

[arlee453]

You could try bracing the two legs together like you would for splayed leg and see if that helps. do a search for 'splayed' or 'spraddle' and you should find a couple threads where bracing with bandaids is described.

I have a similar situation with 'hoppy' who is now 8 wks old. She's a silkie too.

I'm not sure I've done the right thing by not culling her early on when the leg issue was apparent. She can eat and drink enough to keep herself going, but shows no interest in doing any 'chicken' things like pecking around the ground and mostly just stays in the coop with her head in the corner. I don't know if 'quality of life' matters to a chicken or not... she's not in pain but isn't really living much of a life now either.

Sigh...

Things like these make you wish life was more black and white and less shades of grey...

 

[midoris]

I have a small yard in a big city, so we're probably only keeping 4 chickens anyway. They're pets who will hopefully give us a few eggs once in awhile, not breeding stock. If she gets to the point where she can't walk or seems miserable, we'll put her down. Until then we'll just wait and see I guess.

I've taped her legs closer together with micropore tape, maybe that will help. Right now she's having a pretty hard time adjusting to the hobbles, but it's only been a few minutes.

Thanks for the advice

 

[crysmom]

I have issues with one of my silkie chicks, long long toes on one foot, and they are curled to the side (not curled under) the chick is 4 weeks now and still doing fine doesn't really seem to be affected by it. I thought it was an incubation issue, but honestly every one of my silkie chicks has a foot issue that would make them disqualified in a poultry show so maybe its just bad genetics?

 

[midoris]

Thought I'd post an update.

I found that the tape didn't work so well on such fluffy legs! I switched to using a pipe cleaner hobble and it really seemed to help. After a couple of days I removed it, and she seems to be doing just fine. She's about 6 weeks old now and so far she's keeping up just fine. Thanks again for the help.

 

[goosegirl18]

Over the summer I got four silkie chicks. All of them had deformed feet. Some toes were to long, some stuck out to the side and some were double toes with a very tiny toe growing about halfway up a normal toe. Their bizarre feet didn't seem to affect them in any way so we let them be. Last week I noticed one of them was wobbling. Two of her toes had crumpled and were just dangling there. She had no feeling of them so we thought she got frostbite. We cut them off, well okay my dad did as I cowered in the kitchen,

and bandaged her foot. There was no blood. She eats and drinks normally and hobbles around. We have been keeping her in a box while she heals and we were hoping to put her back with the flock shortly. Then today I found another one of my silkies hobbling around and 3 of her toes had crumpled and were hanging there. She was eating and drinking and going outside. We live in the northeast and it is January. What is causing this and what can I do?

 

[Poulets De Cajun]

HOLY RESSURECTED THREAD BATMAN! This is from 2 years ago!