What should I do with a chick with a backwards leg?

[Renada_]

What should I do about this? I separated her, but she wants to go back with the others. She’s able to move around and everything, her leg just concerns me. This randomly appeared a week or so ago, and I’m just worried about it. She can right it, but then she slowly rotates back until her leg is backwards again. I’m think about putting her back out with the rest though because she is not happy being inside.

 

[nuthatched]

I think he had a tendon issue. It usually take surgery to correct.

 

[LizzzyJo]

So, here’s the thing. The longer we keep chicks like this and the older they get -culling for health and well-being becomes more difficult. At the same time, if this issue is not impacting her mobility and she can walk well, then it may just be that she is flexible.

In summary, if this is impacting her mobility now, you may want to look into putting her down sooner rather than later.

 

[Renada_]

So, here’s the thing. The longer we keep chicks like this and the older they get -culling for health and well-being becomes more difficult. At the same time, if this issue is not impacting her mobility and she can walk well, then it may just be that she is flexible.

In summary, if this is impacting her mobility now, you may want to look into putting her down sooner rather than later.

She can move quite well, her leg just bends around. She can turn it back to the front and and moves quite quick when she wants to play with the others. It just twists when she stands still for periods of time.

 

[BastyPutt]

I think he had a tendon issue. It usually take surgery to correct.

I think that is a little extreme. Tendon issues can be corrected with splints quite often?! Or at least to where the chicken is mobile enough to live a good life as well as roost.

 

[BastyPutt]

She can move quite well, her leg just bends around. She can turn it back to the front and and moves quite quick when she wants to play with the others. It just twists when she stands still for periods of time.

Hi there

Research the forums for "splay leg" and look at the splinting. Chickens grown and develop so quickly that if you hold a twisted leg in place for a long enough time, it has the ability to correct itself.

Disregard all the grim reports and advice until you are certain conventional methods won't work chickens are very resilient

 

[nuthatched]

I think that is a little extreme. Tendon issues can be corrected with splints quite often?! Or at least to where the chicken is mobile enough to live a good life as well as roost.

With young chicks but the older the bird, the more difficult it is to correct by splinting.

 

[BastyPutt]

With young chicks but the older the bird, the more difficult it is to correct by splinting.

True, but as pictured, this one (as long as the splint material is appropriate) still has a great chance for correction.

 

[nuthatched]

True, but as pictured, this one (as long as the splint material is appropriate) still has a great chance for correction.

The bird is now four weeks older than when this thread was started, any likelihood of correction by splint has dropped considerably. The same threads you suggest the op look at also commented by the same people you tell op to ignore. Those people are experienced to tell when something is likely fixable, if it will cause pain and considerable risk, if it needs a vet or just might be better to put it to sleep. We care about the health and quality of life of the birds, it's an insult to insist that we don't.

 

[aart]

@Renada_ what happened with this chick?