Taped her hips & she can't walk...how long? Help!

[Knock Kneed Hen]

I'm adding to my original post. I discovered my bird actually has hips that are a bit deformed, they are growing outward a little instead of laying flat against her body. I've taped her thighs to her body (horse wrap) but in doing so she really can't walk. For tonight I made her a nest with a t-shirt, wrapped her so she won't move, have her in a quiet cage on a heating pad to keep her warm.

I obviously can't keep her like this for a week straight. So my questions are:

1) Will it help her to keep her taped 12 hrs. then undo it for the daytime hours, taping her again in the evenings?
2) If I keep her taped for several days and hand feed her will this cause her too much stress?
3) Should I not stress over it and just see how it evolves, cull her if it gets much worse?

She lays down more than the other birds. She can get around just fine. I don't know if keeping her taped will help her more or hurt her more...I mean, it seems that being upright and walking around should help her grow normally. However, because she spends a lot of time laying down I don't know if this will happen.

She has a hatch mate that is real bad and will have to be culled. Her legs are growing really away from her body.


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Original Post:


I have a 5 1/2 week old pullet that I just picked up at the feed store (someone else returned it). She looks like her legs are splayed a bit but I know that it is more of a genetic issue than having been on a slick substrate.

Would she benefit from trying to correct this or is it too late in her development? I don't want to cause her undue stress at this point. Please advise. Thanks

 

[duckyfromoz]

It cant hurt to at least try. I once fixed up a friends gosling that was a few weeks old. It was so bad it couldnt walk or move at all anymore- in in just a week it was back on my friends farm running around with the other goslings.

A few days of taping may result in her living a comlpetely normal life- which would be alot less stress in the long run.

 

[Knock Kneed Hen]

I really got my hands on her today and did a thorough exam. It appears to be her hips more than her legs. She has a clutch mate that has the femur protruding outward from her body. It's very prominent on that bird. On my bird it's less prominent but seems to be the same problem. I tried taping her lower legs but it seemed to me that it forced her hip out more. I then tried binding her thighs closer to her body but it wouldn't stay. To make it stay I had to go up high on her body and it interfered with her crop. Does anyone have any thoughts on this?

 

[duckyfromoz]

Sorry I cant help you more...Fixing my goose was pretty straight foward. I sure hope someone can help you and you hen is ok.

 

[Knock Kneed Hen]

I'm bumping myself (can we do that) because I updated my OP and really, really need some input on this.

 

[newwithchickens]

sorry about your hen but i have no idea what to do but on the positive side ill help bump you till someone comes along with some info for you

 

[jjrabbit2]

Could it possibly be spraddle leg? You can do a search on it. I had one with it and I used yarn to tie the legs together ( where they were the right distance apart) so they wouldn't go outward or spread. After a few days of growing they corrected to the right position and I cut off the yarn. Yarn is giving just don't make too tight.

 

[Knock Kneed Hen]

Thanks JJrabit2. It does seem to be similar. I didn't get this pullet until a few days ago so I don't know it's history. I know it's 5 1/2 weeks old. Is it too old to try to "fix". Do these get progressively worse or will they eventually just kind of stay the same? If this gal stays the same she might be okay...any worse though and I don't think there's hope for her.

 

[Knock Kneed Hen]

Decided to update this post. This bird was discovered to have ricketts due to a bad batch of feed that was tested at UCDavis. The other birds were euthanized after tests were ran on them. I have one that I kept, pumped her full of vitamins and am giving all the birds calcium as well. She seems to be doing ok for now.