Turkey chick doing backflips!!!

[Eggtastic]

I have a 3 day old Bourbon Red Turkey chick who has something wrong with one of his feet. At first I thought it was just straddle leg so I put a straddle leg splint on his legs but now I think its something else.

Straddle leg is where the chicks legs are splayed out, right?? Well thats NOT whats wrong with this chick. One of his legs is perfectly fine, its straight but the other leg point or twist off to the right at a angle.

Because of this he keeps flipping backwards and this morningI found him lying on his back, he could have been like that all night so something has to be done.

He is eating a drinking fine when he manages to make it to the meal feeder, he has been like this since he was born. he wasn't put on a slippery surface when he was hatched...........suggestions please??

(I was going to posta picture but you can't really see what I am talking about in a picture)

 

[ivan3]

Sounds like spraddle leg and `Poult Flip-Over'.

I'll post a link on standard Spraddle fixes: http://www.poultryhelp.com/spraddle.html

And another (using a cup) that might be of use in your situation.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=88155&p=1

If you are not feeding a high protein Gamebird Starter get some. If you don't have it feed a bit of macerated beef and or meal worms. Get a bottle of Pedialyte (electrolytes) add a few drops of Corn Syrup. Polyvisol enfamil vitamins (without iron) three drops a day for a week and then taper off.

If you can keep it upright enough over the next week or so, it might well make it. Can you separate it from the others (if any)?

Flip-over poults exhibited depressed heart weights and plasma thyroid hormone concentrations compared to controls. The reduced cardiac weight was associated with cardiac energy metabolism in Experiment 2. It is suggested that the treatment of flip-over poults should involve management conditions that foster cardiac health and growth. Suggestions of such conditions from prior research may be the use of differing sodium and chloride concentrations in diets, altering growth post-hatching or avoiding prolonged holding times prior to removal from incubator.

http://www.scialert.net/qredirect.php?doi=ijps.2003.7.14&linkid=pdf

Good luck, and hope to see pic of this BR over in TURKEY subject line in a few months!​