Slipped Achilles Tendon in Hock Joint or something else HELP! pictures

[redhd077]

So I have a 4 week old rhode island red chick that i think has a slipped achilles tendon Or maybe twisted leg? I have tried to get the tendon back in place, but i don't think i have got it. I read about it here https://sites.google.com/a/larsencreek.com/chicken-orthopedics/, but i just not doing it right or something. How hard do you pull their leg back? It gets around OK and is eating fine. It can even run pretty good. Should i just leave it alone? I think it is possible that its a rooster, but not 100% sure. any advice would be great!

 

[BrownSheep]

If at all possible fix it! I have no clue how to fix it though. Im in south central ID and hatched one out 5 weeks ago and never did get his leg fixed. He is stunted in growth but is happy and healthy and gets around. If your close toIdaho falls there is a chickenstock at the fairgrounds there tomorrow. Perhaps somebody there could help.

 

[lynn1961]

You could try vet wrap. Cut it in a small enough strip so that you can wrap the leg to support it while it heals, don't wrap it too tight and change the wrap a couple of times a week. this has worked good for me in the past for chicks with chicks with bad legs and toes, it is hard to get them wrapped up, but seems to work.

 

[redhd077]

I am close to Idaho falls. Maybe I will check it out. I thought about wrapping it, but I don't think i am getting the tendon back where it is suppost to be so im not sure wrapping it would do a lick of good.

 

[klmclain1]

I used to love the Eastern Idaho Fair! Ate my way through it every year and gained 5 pounds. Yum.. I don't know anything about how to fix tendon problems. If you're in the Rigby area you could go see Dr. Kinghorn!

 

[redhd077]

Well this little chick just kept getting worse so we had to put it down.

 

[SpeckledChick26]

Hello, I just wanted to put this information out there...... I have a peachick with this problem and we have been "night taping" and it seems to be healing. I also slipped his achilles tendon back into place, once the swelling went down - he yelped - but I knew it must have worked. My fingers are still crossed though - don't wanna speak too soon.

Night taping is taping the legs together overnight for at least 10-12 hours (for a twisted tibia) Then I read about the slipped A Tendon and it seems he had that too. It takes 7 days or so to see results, if it works. You must catch it within 24-48 hours to have any chance of it working - the younger they are the better apparently.

www.peafowl.org has a poultry orthopedist that is incredibly helpful and you can search other's posts and his solutions. (for any fowl)

Hope this helps for any future chicks with problems

 

[DylansMom]

We had several peachicks develop twisted tibias last year, no slipped tendons, but each had 1 leg rotating out away from the body. They were aged 3, 4, and 5 weeks old. We night taped all of them for 4 weeks straight, 12 hours taped 12 hours free. We really couldn't see any improvement until the third week and from there they did just wonderfully. I took some pics of the night taping. At first we used firstaid tape, but we eventually changed to narrow width vet wrap, which was much easier. All of them recovered completely and there is no sign that they ever had any problems at all. Just thought putting the pics on here might be helpful, sorry they are a bit fuzzy. There is a piece of foam between the legs to keep the hock joints from rubbing while the legs are taped so closely together. By the time 4 weeks were up the chick's legs had gotten so strong that in the morning they would have pretty much busted the taping loose, that's how we knew it was time to stop and see what would happen. Very happy ending on this one.

 

[Luckybaby]

We had several peachicks develop twisted tibias last year, no slipped tendons, but each had 1 leg rotating out away from the body. They were aged 3, 4, and 5 weeks old. We night taped all of them for 4 weeks straight, 12 hours taped 12 hours free. We really couldn't see any improvement until the third week and from there they did just wonderfully. I took some pics of the night taping. At first we used firstaid tape, but we eventually changed to narrow width vet wrap, which was much easier. All of them recovered completely and there is no sign that they ever had any problems at all. Just thought putting the pics on here might be helpful, sorry they are a bit fuzzy. There is a piece of foam between the legs to keep the hock joints from rubbing while the legs are taped so closely together. By the time 4 weeks were up the chick's legs had gotten so strong that in the morning they would have pretty much busted the taping loose, that's how we knew it was time to stop and see what would happen. Very happy ending on this one.

My chicken is walking on his left leg hock joint and I think it is cause by an injury rather than bacteria and viruses. Do you think that will work. How do they sleep when they are taped?

 

[DylansMom]

How old is your chicken? My chicks were quite young and the twisted tibia we experienced was most likely due to our overfeeding them and thus putting too much weight on too quickly while their young bones were still somewhat soft. We cut down the feed on subsequent hatches and didn't have anymore cases of it. If your chickens problem is an injury it may need a splint or some other type of support for the leg while it heals. Our chicks were so young they had not started perching to sleep yet, they slept on the floor under a heat lamp while their legs were taped. They were not happy about the whole process and complained noisily, but it did correct the problem.