slipped tendon technique?

[CityGirlintheCountry]

I have a two day old chick that is limping. I don't think it is spraddle leg. I'm starting to suspect slipped tendon. My search of past threads indicates that you should slip the tendon back into place, but nothing tells how to do that. Will someone please give me a play by play on how to do that?

Thanks!

 

[threehorses]

Quote:
First, I'd evaluate your bedding. He should be on a towel, paper towel, or that rubberized shelving liner (the stuff with holes in it - looks like this: http://www.emblibrary.com/EL/elprojects/project_images/pr1256_14.jpg )

If the bedding is shavings, hay, or newspaper - I'd switch to one of the above for now - til day 5. You have to keep them cleaner though - but it helps them stand more easily and less chance of slipped legs or spraddle time issues.

I would have to see the baby to know about the tendon; usually in such a young bird this would be accompanied by heat and a little bit of inflammation. Do you find any such thing?

I would also consider two issues: eating, and nutritional deficiencies. Many times, if the parents of chicks are fed laying feed, they're not being given enough to put good nutrition into the egg. They can hatch chicks, but chicks fall behind quickly on nutrition. Is the toe of the foot at all curled or even in the least bit less strong than the other chicks' feet? If so, I'd look into B vitamin deficiency.

First thing though is at day 2 he is still "eating" the yolk inside, and should start eating. Have you seen him eat? It might help the situation just to use your medicated chick starter (nothing else) and dampen it, get him to eat that. The B vitamins in the starter should help with B deficiencies possibly and give him strength to 'have legs under him'. I would highly recommend watching him eat a full meal til his crop has contents at least once. Then monitor his food intake (and those of his peers) for the next few days seeing that each one eats the same.

It wouldn't hurt to put a vitamin/mineral supplement in their water. I usually do NOT like to use those in brooders because the water just gets bad, and the light degrades the vitamins. But for three days it could help. Make sure he drinks.

Also, to help your babies (and give them some extra riboflavin) I'd give a teaspoon of yogurt (plain unflavored) and get them used to eating it early. I always give my hatched babies this on their second day of eating. It gives the GOOD bacteria a head start in their gut (their guts are nearly sterile at birth - and bad will take over first if you don't give them good bacteria as their mothers did - only we have to use yogurt). It also provides a little extra riboflavin for those first important days of leg development and use.

Can you possibly get a picture, too?

So my advice / SUMMARY:

Evaluate and correct, if necessary, the slipperiness of the bedding.
Give yogurt to all chicks on day 3 and then weekly through week 8.
Give this baby a mash of crumbles and water; make sure he eats it.

Please let us know if you do this and what, if any changes (good or bad) take place by updating *this* thread as you have at least one subscriber waiting to help you. it'll help bump your post up further if you update the same one.

Thanks!

p.s. What kind of chick is he? I love new babies.

 

[CityGirlintheCountry]

Thanks so much for responding. I figured I had gone to the Dead Thread Morgue.

The chicks are all out with mama. They are on deep shavings at night and out in the run (hard dirt) during the day. I would really prefer that all the chicks stay with mama if possible. She does a much better job of it than I do. Hmmmm... is it better to leave them with mom or to control their bedding?

There was not noticeable heat involved. The chick is really, really tiny. (She's a black ameraucana, by the way. Impossibly cute with those fat cheeks!) I will check again tomorrow for inflammation. There are two black chicks and they are identical. When I helped everyone to bed tonight it seemed a little better. Unless I had the wrong one.

I don't know about the protein levels as I bought the eggs from someone else. She has an awesome reputation, so I'm assuming her hatching eggs are healthy. One leg is definitly weaker than the other though. The toes aren't curled. The one leg is just noticeably weaker.

I believe all the babies are eating. Mama has had them out in the run teaching them to scratch. She has had them all at the feeder. I'll make doubly sure tomorrow (they are all asleep right now). They aren't on medicated feed as mama and some of the other hens have been pilfering from the chick feeder. Won't it hurt the older hens to have medicated food?

I will take them some yogurt tomorrow. I know mama loves it so she will likely be quick to teach the babies to scarf it down. Good stuff!

I'll try for a picture of the limping chick tomorrow. Right now all my pictures are just a mash of little black and blue chicks. They all blend together.

Thanks again for the help!

 

[threehorses]

Honestly I'd prefer to see the hens eating the starter than the chicks not having it. The medication (a low dosage of an anti-cocci aka anti-protazoa med, not antibiotic) won't hurt them in the least.

Good on her doing better. She might have just been stepped on by mom. Since she's with mom, she shouldn't *need* yogurt - but she and the babies and everyone could sure have some and it always helps.

She could also have gotten on top of the hen and jumped off. Hopefully she'll be better tomorrow though. Good on the toes not curling yet.

You know, you could just also give her an individual drop of polyvisol baby vitamins (the non-iron fortified kind - from Walmart or CVS or Walgreens in the vitamin section, not the baby section). The B in there might help her through this week. I suspect she'll be fine. Maybe she just needs a little boost.

Boy, oh boy!! Ameraucanas are just the cutest babies!! Most of the first babies I raised were hen-hatched Ameraucanas and I agree that they're painfully cute with those cheeks!

Here I've changed my advice: You should give that baby to me, right now! /cuddle

 

[CityGirlintheCountry]

Well, as of this evening she seems to be better. I can't tell the two of them apart anymore so that means we aren't limping noticeably. All 6 were zinging around mama tonight. She even took them out of the run for a short free-range session. I do love silkie mamas!

Some pictures for your viewing pleasure!

 

[threehorses]

They look wonderful! Thank you especially for sharing the great pictures.

 

[CityGirlintheCountry]

You are very welcome! The injured chick is one of the black ones in the second pictures. I felt the joint earlier today and nothing felt weird (not that I would know what weird felt like...). It also didn't feel all that hot. Perhaps it wasn't slipped at all. They are doing lots of zipping about with the flock. Perhaps, as you suggested, she got stepped on. Dunno. I'll keep an eye on her and just make sure she stays mobile.

Thanks again for the help!