Slight Case of Spraddle Leg in Chick, have questions

[ChickensAreSweet]

I'm still here rooting for your little chickie!!!

 

[Sphinx]

Awww, thanks so much, ChickensAreSweet. I appreciate the cheers.

No, you haven't mishelped at all. You've really done sooooo much to help, and I can't tell you how much I've appreciated all of the advice and help. I think without you, it would've been far worse. What I really think messed her up the most was me using the rubber band. I wish I'd stuck with the cardboard hobble from the beginning. I put the bandaid on her the first day, the elastic the second day, and I think that's where the real damage happened.

 

[3cutechicks]

I love all the pix and advice. I put a band-aid on mine last night since she had a leg curled in. I don't know if it will work but it is worth a try. Yours is cute in her little brace. I named mine Forrest. Forrest Gump.

 

[Sphinx]

Oh, I love the name, 3CuteChicks. Any update on Forrest?


I have felt so bad for poor Hulksmash. She's just been acting more and more defeated and more and more emotionally down. All day today, she's basically just been in the corner, not really trying to do anything- she'd half heartedly pick at her food, but that was about it.

I decided to take her hobble off for an hour or two for a couple of reasons: First, to see how her leg looks without it (ans: still pretty bad) and second: to see how it would affect her emotionally.

HUGE difference emotionally. She's trying to walk around now a lot, trying to stretch, eating a LOT more, drinking more, trying to scratch around.

I'm thinking that I need to give her some "free" time each day so that she keeps her spirit up. I think she was about to the point where she'd given up.

Tonight, I'm thinking I may try to just brace her leg so that her foot is in line with her hock, but not connect it to the other leg, and see how that changes things.

 

[Sphinx]

Update on my chick:

Her leg seems to be worse. I took it out of the hobble for a little while, and her leg is actually worse- it seems like it's almost twisted backwards at this point.

I let her go without it for a couple hours, and she seemed almost to have even more trouble walking, so I put the hobble back on her, as it seems to help. Walking seems to be very difficult to her, though she can get around.

However, she is smaller than her nestmates.

At this point, I'm wondering if it's kinder to cull, or should I let her try to live this way? The idea of killing a living thing is abhorrent to me (I don't even kill spiders unless they're poisonous), but the idea of her suffering seems cruel as well.

 

[kays chicks]

i have followed your post as i have a chick with this problem and its just rolling around trying to get the tape off , when he / she does stand still it does stand ok but it is to busy trying to get it off and ends up falling a sleep in all kinds of positions , any advice as i know this is an old post ??

 

[Sphinx]

Sorry, I didn't see this post til now. They devote a surprising amount of time trying to get the tape off. Chicks fall asleep in weird positions all the time, even the ones without braces. They eventually get stronger and kind of hobble along.

Unfortunately, this chick didn't make it. However, I learned a lot from the experience, and when a friend hatched a chick in May with the same issue, I was able to successfully treat it.

 

[DBrown]

I have a chick that I think has spraddle leg. The position of the leg makes me think so. She hobbles along but when standing wont put her foot down all the way. When I turn her over, her left leg goes out to the side and doesnt tuck up under her like the other leg.I got her at Tractor Supply two days ago. I am not sure how old she is. She is still little but of course I can already see she is growing.

 

[PoultryPedia]

I would check her for a slipped tendon in her hock, also.

There is info on treating that, as well as splayed leg, on the Poultry Podiatry page on the website linked in my sig below.

Best wishes for your little one!

 

[DBrown]

thank you! We will check that out.