Hi folks -
I'm SUPER new here but thought I'd post this update on Petunia. Petunia is 5 days old, "assorted feather leg" (what does that mean anyways?), was fine til day 3 when she starting limping. She would put almost NO weight on the foot, and the toes were sort of curled in.
Yesterday Agway said we could "exchange" her for a healthy chick - the idea of this generally horrified us - we just couldn't do it! We decided we had to give her a chance to get better and hope for the best. We made a "hospital room" for her in the brooder (cut up a small box, 3" wall, covered the exposed edges with white duct tape so they wouldn't eat the cardboard edges - figured that wouldn't be good for them?) and put her in there yesterday with her own food & PolyViSol enriched-water. The other 3 girls were VERY concerned about this whole thing and jumped in and out of the room, visiting her. This morning I noticed that she was PERCHING on the side of the little food bowl - something she needs TWO working feet to do! And she's seeming to be eating/drinking more and gradually sort of flexing that foot out and placing it on the floor...putting a little weight on it.
Obviously she's not out of the woods yet, but these little signs we take as hopeful. I tried the flexing her leg behind her incase it was a slipped tendon, but that didn't seem to change anything. She can actually do that on her own, it's just putting weight on it is tough.
This morning when I checked on the, she FLEW/HOPPED out of the hospital room to join her friends (doing a funny chick somersault at the same time!). I decided I didn't want her to hurt herself, so we took the room divider out. So she's seeming to get around OK, and is eating and drinking with her girlfriends.
Just thought I'd post for any other newbies that are here - I know there are a lot of us and this board it LOADED with experienced folks. I think the extra rest and nearby food/water helped her gain a little more strength.
Thanks for reading - hope everyone is doing well today!
Kara
I'm SUPER new here but thought I'd post this update on Petunia. Petunia is 5 days old, "assorted feather leg" (what does that mean anyways?), was fine til day 3 when she starting limping. She would put almost NO weight on the foot, and the toes were sort of curled in.
Yesterday Agway said we could "exchange" her for a healthy chick - the idea of this generally horrified us - we just couldn't do it! We decided we had to give her a chance to get better and hope for the best. We made a "hospital room" for her in the brooder (cut up a small box, 3" wall, covered the exposed edges with white duct tape so they wouldn't eat the cardboard edges - figured that wouldn't be good for them?) and put her in there yesterday with her own food & PolyViSol enriched-water. The other 3 girls were VERY concerned about this whole thing and jumped in and out of the room, visiting her. This morning I noticed that she was PERCHING on the side of the little food bowl - something she needs TWO working feet to do! And she's seeming to be eating/drinking more and gradually sort of flexing that foot out and placing it on the floor...putting a little weight on it.
Obviously she's not out of the woods yet, but these little signs we take as hopeful. I tried the flexing her leg behind her incase it was a slipped tendon, but that didn't seem to change anything. She can actually do that on her own, it's just putting weight on it is tough.
This morning when I checked on the, she FLEW/HOPPED out of the hospital room to join her friends (doing a funny chick somersault at the same time!). I decided I didn't want her to hurt herself, so we took the room divider out. So she's seeming to get around OK, and is eating and drinking with her girlfriends.
Just thought I'd post for any other newbies that are here - I know there are a lot of us and this board it LOADED with experienced folks. I think the extra rest and nearby food/water helped her gain a little more strength.
Thanks for reading - hope everyone is doing well today!
Kara
