- Mar 25, 2009
- 1,299
- 15
- 171
I appear to have a new chick (3rd day from hatch) with a slipped tendon. I attempted to reduce it with no luck (I feel it slipping around in there, but can't get it to set back into the groove). I feel like crap because I piddled around for 48 hours thinking it was curly-toe because of the way he was holding his foot and didn't really look at the hock until today. I'm looking for advice on one of two things:
1. Does anyone have a reference with photos or diagrams of how this groove thing is supposed to work? I don't feel I have a good enough grasp of the anatomy to be sure that I wasn't doing something wrong. I straightened the leg per instructions at http://sites.google.com/a/larsencreek.com/chicken-orthopedics/leg-braces, but the tendon didn't pop back -- applying pressure on the tendon while straightening the leg also didn't work. After trying this a dozen times I was feeling a little ill and the chick was shaking, so I put him back.
2. This little boy-o (and I'm fairly sure he's a he; Dominique with a fairly diffuse spot on head) is destined for the dinner table anyway, as my friend and I ordered 25 dual-purpose breeds with the plan of pulling the best looking pullets for replacement layers and being taught by someone she knows how to process the rest. If I cannot reduce the tendon, is there the possibility that through careful management I could get this guy to weight so that at least we don't take a loss on him? Yeah, I know the danger of becoming attached to something that you put extra care into. He is drinking (I've seen him do it) and eating (crapped on my hand
). My primary difficulty is that he will need to be separated from the others.
1. Does anyone have a reference with photos or diagrams of how this groove thing is supposed to work? I don't feel I have a good enough grasp of the anatomy to be sure that I wasn't doing something wrong. I straightened the leg per instructions at http://sites.google.com/a/larsencreek.com/chicken-orthopedics/leg-braces, but the tendon didn't pop back -- applying pressure on the tendon while straightening the leg also didn't work. After trying this a dozen times I was feeling a little ill and the chick was shaking, so I put him back.
2. This little boy-o (and I'm fairly sure he's a he; Dominique with a fairly diffuse spot on head) is destined for the dinner table anyway, as my friend and I ordered 25 dual-purpose breeds with the plan of pulling the best looking pullets for replacement layers and being taught by someone she knows how to process the rest. If I cannot reduce the tendon, is there the possibility that through careful management I could get this guy to weight so that at least we don't take a loss on him? Yeah, I know the danger of becoming attached to something that you put extra care into. He is drinking (I've seen him do it) and eating (crapped on my hand
). My primary difficulty is that he will need to be separated from the others.
