Silkie Chick With Leg Deformity

[lkcaffery]

My five (day old) chicks arrived on Tuesday and that day I noticed the black silkie was limping, but getting around just fine and didn't seem in any pain. I did a search here for limping and thought we'd wait it out and hope she got better. Well, tonight I ascertained that one of her legs is just fine and the other seems like it is attached to her body where it shouldn't be and thus it doesn't extend all the way. She does get around just fine, she is eating, drinking and healthy otherwise, or so she seems. She just moves with a funny gait. I've read about spraddle leg and this actually seems to be the opposite because her left leg is not all the way detached from her body. Her right leg is just fine. Is there anything I can do? Will she be fine as she grows and just learn to adjust to deal with this deformity? Advice?

 

[lkcaffery]

I've added a few pictures of the black silkie's leg. It the first two pictures you can see how the leg doesn't sit normally. The left leg is fine. The right leg doesn't bend or extend normally. It seems like it is attached to the body where it shouldn't be. You can also see a brown goo around the leg where it should detach from the body. I don't know if this is from her attempted use of the leg and it trying to pull away from the body. In the last two pictures, you can see that she holds her leg back behind her.


Help! What do I do?

 

[WI FarmChick]

I am no expert so take this with a grain of salt, this is what happened to me........... I had to deal with one of my chicks that had a genetic disorder.
For some this is where it gets hard. I ended up having to put her out of her misery. I knew it was going to be more pain full as she grew.
I couldn't just leave her grow up this way, It was better for her in the long run.

You could also post in the emergency section to see what they say.
Good luck

 

[lkcaffery]

I thought I'd give a good news update. After watching the chick's leg decline, and being such a softy that I could not myself put the little one out of her misery, I took her to an avian vet this afternoon. Turns out that at one time she must have had something like a small thread wrapped around her leg such that it cut into the leg and tendon. It then scabbed over, attaching the leg to the body. The vet sedated her, cleaned the scab off, cleaned out the wound (couldn't find what was once wrapped around the leg) and sent us home with surgical cleaning solution and antibiotics. My $3 chick cost me $185 today, but I am so glad I took her to the vet today. We go back for a recheck in one week.

 

[Peeps4me]

Good news! Good luck to you and the little one.