Hello everyone My 6 week old chicken has a twisted right leg that points to the side, almost backwards. He (pretty sure it's a rooster) eats and drinks normally and doesn't appear to be in pain, not even when I touch or examine the leg. I first noticed it when he was about 4 weeks old and thought I was just going to see if it was getting better by itself. But it appears to be getting worse in that it turns backwards further and further. He eats and drinks normally but I'm worried about it getting so bad that he can't walk properly anymore. Already now he seems to sit down and rest much more than the others do. A bit of background information: - Breed unknown, brown colour, probably a bit of Isa Brown or Rhode Island Red in it - Wasn't on any slippery surface when young therefore splayed leg should be out of the question - Fed with commercial chick starter feed therefore should have adequate nutrition - Hatched in incubator, was a day late but temperature was stable during incubation and hatching was without problems - Had funny looking droopy wing when young, was advised parents could possibly have been slightly inbred but the wing looks normal now - None of the others from that batch have weird legs - Was the first to grow feathers and was fully feathered at 5 weeks old - Allowed to run around backyard twice a day for about half an hour and eats grass and gets the occasional silverbeet or cabbage plant leave as a treat but the treats wouldn't be enough to throw nutritional balance out of whack I will try and take a good photo tomorrow and post it here. I've looked it up online and I don't think it's splayed leg (no slippery surfaces) but it could be perosis from what I've read? What's your experience with this? Can you treat it, if so, how? Your advice is very much appreciated. Cheers Mkawa
Perosis is becoming an outdated term, but there are many leg bone deformities in poultry, especially in meat birds and turkeys, but also in layers. Most of the twisted or rotated legs get worse with age because of tendon damage. Very few people have success treating these because most are hereditary or due to mineral or vitamin deficiency in the parent stock. The most common defect is called a varus-valgus deformity, and tibial dyschondroplasia or TD is another. I would give your chick some good poultry vitamins that also contain trace minerals such as Poultry Cell, and Poultry Booster both made by Rooster Booster which Tractor Supply carries. Here are a couple of links to read about leg bone deformities--on the first link click on each page , especially p. 256 to enlarge pictures: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1790586/ http://www.merckmanuals.com/vet/pou...nfectious_skeletal_disorders_in_broilers.html http://ps.oxfordjournals.org/content/79/7/982.full.pdf
X2. Sometimes it is genetic, and sometimes it can be nutrient deficiency due to parent stock used, or nutrient deficiency in chicks being raised in house. I am adamant about supplementation for chicks as well as adults. Animal Science Products from TX produced an excellent supplement for years known as Avian Super Pack. They now formulated a supplement line easier to measure and mix for those who have smaller flocks. Here is a reference: http://www.asp-inc.com/osf/