Spraddle, splay leg duckling. HELP!

[EllieandOlive]

Our mama duck hatched out a duck with severe spraddle leg. Thankfully I had a batch of chicks hatch the same day, so this ducky is in with the chicks in my garage where I can keep a close eye on it. I heavily researched spraddle leg, watched YouTube videos on how to help fix it, etc. I put a homemade leg brace on him and he is being supplemented with niacin and electrolyte water, and regular water. Naturally he just flops around to get place to place. I had the braces on for 48 hours, took it off to check and saw no improvement. Left another 24 houra (till tonight) and took off permanently because I read they can't be in them indefinitely. Well his legs are even worse now. One is splayed to the front and side, the other to the back and side. Full splitz. What else can I do? He is 3 days old now. I have him back in the brooder for the night, no braces.

 

[Trisseh]

Thanks for the tag @Isaac 0 !

This link should bring you to my thread about my guy. I’m not sure what exactly happened to cause his spraddle leg, although in hindsight and looking back at pics of him, he didn’t have a normal stance from hatch. His legs were very widely spaced and he kind of walked on the edges.
With him, I let him swim a lot in a container that was shallow enough he could stand in it. He strengthened his legs a bit that way, without having his full body weight on them.
when he was in his brooder (alone because the others ran him over if he was with them) he wore vetrap hobbles. I placed them between his foot and hock, and made them wide enough that they encompassed most of that long bone in his leg. The spacing between his legs was such that he could shuffle forward only, but his legs were in a normal position under him. There’s a bit of stretch to the vetrap, so it’s ok to have it a little snugger to make sure it’s holding properly. Depending on how the legs are splayed with your duckling, you may need to put a secondary hobble above the hock, if that part of the leg remains bowed out. My duckling wore his hobbles for 48 hours, then I removed them and watched him. I put a second set on for an additional 48 hours, a little bit looser so he still had some support but was able to move a bit more. By day 5, he was moving relatively well with no hobbles, although I did make sure he had a solid grippy surface to stand on. Shavings and straw often don’t help because when they slip, the bedding does too. I used the grippy shelf liner stuff and that worked well.
my little guy got vitamin supplementation as well just in case, but I don’t know that was necessarily the issue. He hatched from a rather small egg and was unable to hatch on his own, so that may have contributed as well.

here he is now!

 

[Isaac 0]

Since the outward leg angulation occurred shortly after the hatch, that itself is suggestive the problem is not related to the environmental substrate used, but likely the ducklings positioning inside the egg during the incubation period that caused the legs to form in such away. The difference in etiology may prove to make the problem harder to treat.

The first step should be implementing an external device to pull the legs into their natural positioning; if you found your first bandage to be too restrictive of the duckling's movement, try a different setup and see how it works. Regardless of the bandage, it should not be too tight on the duckling's leg.

In addition with the bandage, the duckling's pen should have firm bedding with traction. If the duckling is unable to stand well, some folks have had good success making a sling for them. Vitamin supplementation may be initiated if the problem is related to a genetically passed on a nutritional problem. I believe @Trisseh , has had a splayed leg bird, hopefully, she can provide some of her experience.

 

[Magnolia Ducks]

I've used a hair scrunchy. Put one leg through, do a couple or three turns put the other leg through. I like them because they are soft and easy to put on. but I have never had a severe case as you described.

 

[Ratchnick]

Spraddle leg is caused by a slippery walking surface. Blue shop towels work very well with my quail as a bedding. Regular white paper towles do not work it has to be the blue shop towles. I think the gause around the leg may interfere with the walking. You want the brace to look like handcuffs not a full on leg cast.

 

[Trisseh]

How can I check for these?

There’s a good description of it on This page - scroll down til you find it. If you have a normal duckling to compare to, it makes it a lot easier to see and feel the difference as well. The tendon feels like a rope along the back of the hock. If it’s slipped off, the leg will deviate either outward or inward, depending on which way it slipped, and you’ll be able to see and feel it over the side instead of “snapped” into place along the back of the hock joint.
With my chick, I was able to replace the tendons and then wrapped the legs to hold it in place, and put her in a “chick chair”. This may be something that could be helpful for your duckling as well, but it also may not. Each situation is going to be a little different.

 

[Trisseh]

I also forgot to add, make sure you double check for slipped tendons as well. I had a chick that hatched with bilateral slipped tendons as well as splayed legs. Sometimes those ones that have legs sticking out at weird angles have one or the other, or both.

 

[EllieandOlive]

Spraddle leg is caused by a slippery walking surface. Blue shop towels work very well with my quail as a bedding. Regular white paper towles do not work it has to be the blue shop towles. I think the gause around the leg may interfere with the walking. You want the brace to look like handcuffs not a full on leg cast.

Okay, thank you! I was worried the gauze was too long myself. I brought the ducky in straight from the mama's nest, almost immediately after it hatched (first time mama was pecking on him and I didn't want to leave them alone together). It's never had a slippery surface and I noticed it was spraddled almost immediately.

 

[EllieandOlive]

How can I check for these?

 

[EllieandOlive]

I also forgot to add, make sure you double check for slipped tendons as well. I had a chick that hatched with bilateral slipped tendons as well as splayed legs. Sometimes those ones that have legs sticking out at weird angles have one or the other, or both.

How can I check for these?