Week old chick with bum leg

[chickenmatt84]

I currently have 5 baby chicks that are 1 week old today. 4 of them are doing great, lots of energy and all about the same size. One of them I noticed about 3-4 days ago seemed almost lethargic and always sitting down. Not much energy. She will still get up and move around for water and food. Just not as often as the others. She is also noticeably smaller now. She is favoring her left leg but will still limp around on it. I can't see anything obvious wrong with the leg. I don't really have the stuff to be able to isolate her right now. I have been giving the chicks scrambled eggs a couple times a day and I make sure she gets her fill. She seems to slowly be getting better now but she still lays down a lot and I just want to make sure there is nothing else I can do to help her.
The other chicks like to surround this one which worries me sometimes. But she has the strength to push them off or move out of the pile usually. I put a small amount of ACV in the water and scrambled eggs daily. Is there anything else I can give this chick to help her heal?

 

[Eggcessive]

Could you post a picture of her standing on a table at eye level. She may have a slipped tendon, leg bone deformity, or injury. The chick below has a slipped tendon. Here is an article that tells how to fix a slipped tendon, then you can tape the leg to hold it in place. Do not get tape or vet wrap too tight.
https://www.chickenheavenonearth.com/slipped-tendon-in-baby-chicks-leg-what-you-can-do-to-help-chicken-heaven-on-earth.html
Picture by fuzzie creatures BYC

 

[chickenmatt84]

They all just laid down for a nap. This is when she gets the best rest. I will get some pictures once they wake up. She does sort of stick her leg out like this but not as much. More of just holding it up to keep her weight off it. Thanks for the quick reply!

 

[Eggcessive]

This thread about a peachick with a slipped tendon may help with pictures of splinting the leg. I would try just a figure 8 taping at first if you can put the tendon in place:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/peachick-with-slipped-tendon.1092979/

Here is some reading about leg bone deformities, such as varus or valgus deformity which can occur in one leg or both:
https://thepoultrysite.com/articles/leg-health-in-large-broilers

https://www.merckvetmanual.com/poul.../noninfectious-skeletal-disorders-in-broilers

https://www.researchgate.net/public..._of_the_Intertarsal_Joint_in_Broiler_Chickens

 

[Eggcessive]

Varus deformity right leg

Valgus deformity righ leg

 

[chickenmatt84]

It's not as bad as the deformity above. And she doesn't stick her leg out as much as the slipped tendon but slightly. I think its more of her just trying to keep weight off it.
It's her left leg (right side in pics)

 

[Eggcessive]

I am not an expert on slipped tendons, but that would be my guess. Leg problems are seldom cured with treatments, but I would try some of the methods in the links. Also give vitamins that contain riboflavin and other B vitamins. Vitamin B complex are good to crush or grate over food, and safe for the others. The leg bone deformities can worsen in appearance with age and growth, so may be easier to diagnose with a picture later. As long as she is able to get enough nutrition, and not picked on, she may do well.

 

[chickenmatt84]

I tried to separate her a few times but she just cries non stop. The other 4 also just huddle together like zombies in I Am Legend in the corner until I return her. They wouldn't even budge for fresh scrambled eggs. I tried for about an hour and they just all had to be together.
She is still gimping around but lays down a lot. She's getting food, water, and I just started poly-vi-sol (no iron) today. At this point she is about 10-11 days old. I'm pretty sure it's slipped tendon but I can't seem to feel what I should be feeling from the directions on the slipped tendon article.

• Hold the joint between your thumb & finger and roll it back and forth. If the tendon has slipped, you will feel it snap back into place (and back out again, if the bone is not sufficiently developed). If you don't feel the tendon pop in, your bird may instead have a rotated femur, which requires surgery.

I don't feel anything so maybe its a rotated femur? As of now I feel its too hard on her to separate her. But its clear the other chicks constantly bump in to her. Do I just deal with the chicks being depressed until they get over it? Should I make a little hammock and put her in it to dangle her feet a couple days? Or just make sure shes getting food and vitamins and hope for the best?

 

[Leigti]

I had a chick that also had a leg issue just like yours. Her left leg stuck out to the side and she had a hard time walking. Are used a straw and a rubber band to keep the legs closer together. I’m sure there’s an article on here somewhere about that. But another really helpful thing was a suggestion I saw online somewhere. Find a glass just big enough for the chicken to stand up in it and touch all the sides. Put a paper towel or something easy for the chicken to stand on at the bottom of the glass and put the chicken in there. The chicken will keep trying to stand up and push through both legs to do it. This way they get stronger and stronger. You do it for a few minutes at a time, The article actually said an hour but I couldn’t stand it that long. I then put the check in a smaller pen inside the larger router so that she was isolated but not isolated at the same time. She got steadily better. I took the straw rubber band thing off after seven days. She is now outside running around with the other chicks with no problems.

 

[chickenmatt84]

I tried the rubber band/straw thing but it is so hard to get around both feet alone. I will give that another go. I think the cup trick is great for physical therapy. I got some wire mesh left over from the coup build so I can use that to keep her in the brooder with the others but separated. Its like they just bump her every second.