Slipped tendon in week old chick

[Brahmabeau]

I have a bantam chick that hatched 8 days ago with very splayed legs. I hobbled to fix the splayed leg however the next day when I took them off I noticed she had slipped tendons on both legs. She was walking around in her hocks.

I splinted both legs and it her in a chick chair. The next day the right legs tendon was fixed but the left still needed longer. I splinted the left leg and left it another day before doing physio. The left leg appeared to be fixed so I put her back in the brooder walking really well. The next morning the left tendon had once again slipped. I tried splinting it and putting her back in the chick chair but she keeps escaping out of the chair by pulling her good unsplinted leg out of the chair and launching out of the chair. She’s done it multiple times.

I’ve left her to out for a day and stretched her left leg routinely backwards and tried toput the tendon back in place but it keeps popping out again.

She gets about really well and is very bright but doesn’t bear much weight if any on the left leg and used her right leg and wings to balance.

Should I try and splint both legs to stop her escaping from the chick chair or us it too late at8 days to fix the left leg. She’s s light weight bantam, could she survive with the left leg as it is.

 

[staceyj]

Found this for you which might give you some ideas!

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/versions-of-chick-chairs-please.1166308/

Are you supplementing vitamins?

 

[Eggcessive]

Leg problems in chicks are very difficult to deal with, especially if you have read much about them. It would be good to see a couple of pictures of your chick standing on a table the way it normally looks. Is there any swelling or redness of the hock in the leg? Leg bone deformities are very common in all poultry and those can affect one leg or both. One type causes legs to appear knock kneed, while another causes them to appear bowlegged, especially as the chick matures. Many people mistake a leg bone deformity in one leg for a slipped tendon.

 

[Brahmabeau]

Thanks for replies. She’s had vitamin supplement from day one syringed.

I’m pretty sure the tendon has slipped as can feel it moving off joint when I straighten and put on hock and she then bends the leg it slips off but could be caused to some other leg deformity I’m unaware of.

Will take some photos and video later as I’m out at the moment. Thanks

 

[Eggcessive]

Make sure that your vitamins contain riboflavin (B2) which is very important in leg health. I will look forward to seeing photos. Here is a good thread about treating a slipped tendon with pictures of splinting:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/peachick-with-slipped-tendon.1092979/

 

[Brahmabeau]

Please excuse the quality of the photos. On picking her up I’m not sure if she has nerve damage in that leg as her foot and lower leg was vibrating and I don’t think she has much feeling in her foot. She had a difficult hatch and managed to get her membrane stuck around her head and foot.

 

[Brahmabeau]

A couple more photos. I can’t post a video due to file size but she moves very well considering her disability she is still fast and runs about with the other chicks. She’s half the size of the other babies though !

 

[Eggcessive]

Difficult to tell from the pictures, but it does look like her right leg is scabbed at the hock. The feathered legs make it more difficult to tell much. I would try the vitamins and read the link on the slipped tendon in the peachick. Here is some reading that might be helpful:
https://www.chickenheavenonearth.co...u-can-do-to-help-chicken-heaven-on-earth.html

This link is about a chick with a thought slipped tendon that is actually a leg bone deformity called varus deformity, which can be in one leg or both:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...yone-ever-try-to-fix-this-experiences.879233/

 

[Eggcessive]

The links below have pictures of varus and valgus deformities in one or both legs, and the bottom link has very good pictures if you scroll down the article:
https://thepoultrysite.com/articles/leg-health-in-large-broilers

https://www.merckvetmanual.com/poul.../noninfectious-skeletal-disorders-in-broilers

https://www.researchgate.net/public..._of_the_Intertarsal_Joint_in_Broiler_Chickens

 

[Brahmabeau]

Thanks. Have taken her to vets and they think it’s just the slipped tendon. They’ve splinted leg and will review on Monday evening. Fingers crossed tendon stays on hock joint. Little chick is otherwise doing well and hoping about in the brooder. Other chicks seem to know she’s injured and don’t pick on her, if anything one of the pekin chicks I’m guessing a cockerel runs at my hand if I go to pick her up! Will take photos of vets splint later.