UPDATE:Silkie chick... What should I do?? Need advice PLEASE

[19hhbelgian]

I finally got one of my silkie ducklings to hatch, but his feet are both curled up and it seems that his "ankle" joint is turned in so his toes point towards eachother. I will be posting pics tomorrow (dumb camera battery went dead), but wanted to pick anybody's brain, who is reading this, tonight yet...

This little guy wants to live something terrible, and is as mobile as he can be. I want to do anything possible for him, so any ideas would be more than appreciated! I don't want to keep doing all kinds of stuff - it just seems like torture, but if you guys think it will really work, I don't want to put him to sleep (he's been sitting on my shoulder all night - I'm already so attached to the little bugger!). Thanks SO much!

 

[Morri]

Naww poor man, lucky hes got a good mummy whos gonna make him beter

Heres a link designed for peacocks but can be helpfull with other poultry with same principles applied:

http://www.peafowl.org/ARTICLES/1/

Alsso with the chick toe, in a ducklings instead of pipecleaners cute a disk on cardboard and taoe it to the feel for a while....

Goodluck and keep us posted how he goes!!!

 

[Bleenie]

I had a chick like this once. I had to cut out cardboard to fit the bottom of his foot and tape it down. sort of like a Splint. I am not sure if it would work as well for a duckling but probably if you had soem good tape to hold his outside toes where they need to be.

are they stiff or can you move them easily?

 

[BoerneChickens]

First - I know nothing about ducks - but I have seen on the chicken posts that for curled toes they splint them? Can you uncurl his toes and splint them flat? Maybe with gauge and a piece of carboard or something cut to the shape of his foot? So adorable I hope you get some feebcak to help!

Does anyone know if splinting works for ducks or how to do it?

 

[19hhbelgian]

I was thinking about doing splints, but DH said I should check with you guys first

Off to make splints! Trust me, I will do anything I can for this little guy... He's the first I've gotten to hatch and live.

 

[duckyfromoz]

I had the same thing happen to a duckling I hatched last year. I went to a chemist and found some little sticky foam pads used for human feet callous and corns. Anyway I trimmed down the size and stuck them onto the bottom of little ducks feet. Thety were sticky enough to keep the feet in the correct possition long enough- about 3 days- to correct the problem. But when they did come off I did replace them for a futher 2 days just to make sure his feet were kept flat.

Duckie could still walk very well in his "shoes" and although one toe was always a little bent- he never had any further problems walking.

 

[19hhbelgian]

Quote:
That's a great idea! Thank you for the info. Your duckling couldn't walk properly, correct? Right now my little guy is basically flounders to get where he wants to be.

 

[duckyfromoz]

Found a photo I took of the little guy wearing his shoes. Its looks a little rough - but it certainly did the job. Luckily I had them on his feet from when he was just day old before he was really trying to walk around much- but he could walk at all before he got his shoes. It took a few minutes to help him get used to standing on his feet- but once he worked it out - there was no stopping him.

 

[Morri]

hehehe