Something useful that I use for splay leg, I have a hard time making a

[Knix6468]

hobble brace like this page UPA article (http://www.peafowl.org/ARTICLES/1/)

Here is a pic of one of my chicks with splay leg, the chick cant stand on feet by itself, it kind of hobbles around on its "knees" or that joint. when you handle check and look at legs evertything seems to
be in the right spot, and when you stand the chick up, and kind of hold his/her legs together the chick can stand but then wobbles and drops down to knees again.

see how leg is way off to the side.

I cant make a hobble brace to save my life, well I can make it but I cant seem to get it on the bird in any condition that looks like it will do any good. I think its just my lack of skill to get it on.
I read an article or forum post that the lady talked about placing the chick in a long narrow box. in 2008 I had a chick that I had worked on for days, trying to get his legs in a normal position, bad
hobble brace after bad brace, I had defeated....... so I thought I would try the silly looking box, as a last resort.

This is a pic of a peachick that I put in the box this year that had splay leg, it couldnt stand and was waddling around on his knees. Its a pizza box, cut, widened at the top to accomadate a wider than expected peachick, taped on each outside end. I put shelf liner in the bottom because he seemed to be slipping a bit too much. This is a pic of the first box I made, it was a little too short, so i made one a little taller that the bird could barely see out of if he had stretched his neck out

here is a pic of the same peachick after several treatments in the box, of about 2 hours each. I did put a bit of food in the box. and made sure he could get to heat if he got cold, but by walking to the hot end of the box. Each time right out of the box the chick stands well, then slowly starts to splay again, so more treatment in a few hours, or the next day.

But here is a question, How long do you let the chick waddle around before you go,, OK, I have to act now and work on him?

How long do you wait for toes to spread out, or straighten?

I had one chick, that was way overdue out of his egg, and I had to help him,, I know we not suppose to but I had just lost his hatchmate after 3 days of being pipped, He came out with feet curled up, splay the whole 9 yards. I went to work first on his feet - spreading out his toes from clenched fists, then narrow box time, now he is running around being just fine. But, How long do you wait?

 

[frenchblackcopper]

I use scotch tape on crooked toes,,,and actually tape all 3 together for 1 day,,then take the tape off and see if it has helped,,if not I dip it's beak in water,pour some crumbles in front of it,and re-tape again for 24 hours. Splayed leg I use small 4" zip ties immediatedly after they emerge from the egg if they are noticably bad.I tie both legs together and put the peachick slightly away from directly under the heat light and check several times to make sure it's not getting too hot.I leave the zip tie on for 12 hours,,then remove and give the chick an hour or so to see if when it tries to stand,it can hold it's legs under it's body,,if not,dip the beak in water and zip tie again for 6 hours.Normally 24 hours is all it will take and it will begin to walk,wobbly at first but after a few hours a big diffrence can be noticed.

 

[Knix6468]

zip ties wonderful idea, Thank you for more options for us all.

One more thing I discovered this week. I had a real late hatcher, well I had to help him I could tell he was getting weaker as his chirps were becoming less and less vigorous.
He was one of our purchased eggs and as we havent been having a very good hatch rate from shipped eggs I was determined that this guy would make it.

He had pipped, then sat there while 4 of his 6 other eggmates hatched. I helped him out, he was weak , he had clenched feet and kept bobbing his head in a weird
way that I thought he would not make it. but he dried off in the hatcher, and we moved him into the small cage with the other 4 peachicks, he scuddled around on his stomach
for about an hour, and kept wobbling his head weird.

I tried to make him drink but, it didn't look promising, so I bundled him up in a towel and used a needless syringe to
feed the side of his beak, or sometimes the end of his beak, and I got him to drink a substantial amount of water, I taped his toes flat, and put him back in the pen with the
others. I then went about my day thinking i would come home to find him dead in the cage.

But to my surprise when I got home, and looked in the cage, the little thing was sitting on his belly, he stood up and wobble balanced and walked over to me. He is still alive
and has grown to the same size and acts just like all the other chicks we have.

Happy Ending

 

[deerman]

i use zip ties, one on each leg ,then one thru each to hold legs together, just like 3 rings together, got the idea off of COPS when they use them in place of hand cuffs.

 

[lilchick]

Band aids work well for me on chicks, baby ducks, geese and turkeys. It doesn't leave any marks on their legs and they can still get around while wearing them.

I wrote the article for last months Backyard Poultry magazine. Cure Spraddle Leg With A Bandaid.. Got 50 plus responses in e-mails of successes. Only a couple failures.....

I recently noticed one of my 3 week turkey poults was getting a wobble in his walk. The legs were going out and one was starting to turn backwards. I used 2 bandaids joined together since he was so large. He got around the brooder just a little slower than others. Every 3 days I changed it out because of fast growth. Last evening I took them off for the last time and he seems cured. So it can work on older ones as long as joints are still flexible, not frozen in place.

 

[Kdub86]

Pipecleaner, but zip ties sound good may have to try in the future.

 

[Aunt Rhodies]

Hi, Have my first peachicks, doing zip-ties right now for one with splayed legs. Now he can sit up at least. I may have curled toes. Does anyone have pics of what you do for the toes? I am not understanding the use of pipe cleaners?
Thanks!

 

[Knix6468]

Auntie the pipe cleaner bent in the shape of where you want the toes to go. like a chicken foot. then they tape around each toe to the frame. I didnt have much luck with that, the other suggestions are just use tape to flatten them out, or bandaid, maybe use the pad to help make flat. Good luck, I haven't hatched out peafowl for a long time.

the zip ties is to help hobble the legs to help with splay leg, basically the same as my box suggestion, both things force bird to have legs together instead of on side. sometimes you have to treat curled toes as splay leg at same time.

 

[casportpony]

This is how I deal with curled toes: