Weird but succesful treatment of chick with wry neck, crooked toe, AND spraddled legs

[beneduck14]

This is Pip, a Cobb500 born with a Wry neck and Crooked Toe and Spraddled legs from being in the egg too long. Pip was actually incubated with a huge crack that was taped with package tape. Other cracked eggs died from mold growth.

ANYWAY, to treatment!

Day 0​

1. Taped his crooked toe with a single section so that it was uncurled and appeared more natural. Cut extra unnessasary long pieces off
2. I cut out two small leg holes on top of a box tall enough for him to dangle his legs and taped him down to the box using medical tape. Yes the tape was touching his fluff and yes it was painful taking it off at the end but hey, he lived.
3. Then taped to the back of something sturdy (brooder) so it doesn't tip over.
4. Cut a cardboard toilet paper roll evenly into 3 sections and used one of the sections to put his neck through so his head can be automatically elevated by him resting on top of the cardboard. I also cut a deeper curve so he can put his head a bit lower if he wanted to. Mind you he can still turn his head but not his body.

Day 4
​

1. Took him off of the tape and transfered him to another level. Learning how to stand up. At this point the spraddle legs were gone and his neck is straight. Tape on toe was still there
2. Gave him a box and a "pillow" made of tape to rest his head. If I were to take away the box, he would fall over and not be able to support his head weight.
3. Started giving water with brown sugar, baking powder, and salt and gave him choice of scrambled eggs.

Day 6
​

1. Pip starts to challenge himself but lifting his head and walking forwards a couple of steps, then falling. Always have to be around to put him back on his box and pillow. Yes he sleeps like this.
2. Took him all around the house with his box and pillow, he liked to rest his head while watching me cook in the kitchen. Warm scrambled eggs is his favorite.
3. Drank water himself (I placed water inside a juice cap on top of the box next to pillow)

Day 9
Slowly weaned him of and before you know it, he is running around with his head up!! He even met my bunny. Took tape off of his toe. At this point, toes are all straight. Even though he still rocked back and forth, he was faster then everyone else. He is doing well and he is 5 months old now!

Message: Did one of your chicks hatch deformed? Try new things if you can't find anything online useful. Don't overthink it and do what you have to do to save a life, no matter how bizzare it can be: chickens don't judge.​

 

[Alabama Fly]

Good job. Glad you didn't give up on him.

 

[beneduck14]

Good job. Glad you didn't give up on him.

Thank you! I try my best to not give up (unless they are in pain). But most importantly, he didn't give up on me and was willing to try hard for it

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Interesting

Thank you for sharing. How many other meat birds do you have, did they come out o.k.?

fwiw- next time, if you have to follow a similar course of treatment - use some baby or mineral oil to help remove tape.

 

[beneduck14]

Interesting

Thank you for sharing. How many other meat birds do you have, did they come out o.k.?

fwiw- next time, if you have to follow a similar course of treatment - use some baby or mineral oil to help remove tape.

Yes they did and I had 45 others. They were all healthy and hatched for my research project.

Hmm..Good to know! We tried to use warm water but that worked to some extent. Hopefully I find a better treatment idea then this lol

 

[Wyorp Rock]

In case you haven't seen these, they may be helpful in the future if you run into any more problems.
https://sites.google.com/a/poultrypedia.com/poultrypedia/poultry-podiatry
http://www.backyardchickens.com/a/leg-foot-and-toe-issues-in-poultry-of-all-ages