What to do with club foot chicken?

[OkotoksChicks]

Hi everyone,

we got our first chicks four weeks ago. They are all doing well. But one came with a deformed leg/clubfoot that is sticking out to the side, and most often held up in a 90°angle from its other leg. "Limpie" wasn't growing as quickly as the others, probably because it wasn't eating as much as the others. While the others were already turning into awkward teenagers, Limpie still looked like a chick. Other than that, it seemed fine. Not as active as the others, understandably, but willing to live. When the other chickens started pecking it, we decided to put it in a separate "chicken nursery" to have it recover and gain strength/grow. We definitely don't want to turn Limpie into a pet chicken that lives in the house with us, separated from the others. Right now Limpie is in fact with our second batch of baby chicks...But as we are not intending to become professional egg farmers we also don't need to get rid of any chick that cannot "deliver" right away. We would like to give Limpie a chance, and hope it will be just fine around the others once grown up.
Our concerns are: is it suffering? Is the clubfoot causing it pain? Will it always get pecked on by the others?

 

[farmerRyan]

Hi I had this problem with two of my chicks. I did a little research and it said to make a splint. 1.cut small peace of card board the size of the chicks foot. 2. Put a band aid on top of the foot with the card board on the bottom.(make sure the stickie stuff does not touch the chicks foot) While doing this make sure the toes are spread. The splint might fall off the first few times, but be patient and it will work just keep trying. hope fully your chick does better.

`Ryan

 

[OkotoksChicks]

Thanks so much for the tip, Ryan! I think we will try to attach the splint underneath the joint and not the foot, cause that's what Limpie is using as foot already, and where most of the weight goes. We'll get started on it today and will keep you updated on how it goes.

 

[farmerRyan]

Great, hope it works out good. Our chicks nease were not working very good but now that the feet are splinted, there nease are working just fine. Like I said hope your chick gets better.

~Ryan

 

[luvmychixandducks]

I think what you are describing- 90 degree angle- is called spraddle leg or spraddle foot.
Caused by a baby chick walking at an early age on a slippery surface and doing a "split" from which it cannot recovere due to lack of strength.
People use string, yarn, tape and even wire (like little handcuffs) to bring the involved leg back to a near normal position to allow it to recover strength and function. Sometime it works, if caught soon enough.
Sometimes all of our efforts are for naught, and we end up with a crippled bird that needs to be culled for lack of quality of life. In the wild nature removes these unusual specimens for us.
We had a one legged turkey- a wild bird - a hen - that flew all over town last year, perching on peoples roofs, eating from their gardens, basically just being a turkey, and not appearing to miss the leg at all. Birds can cope with all kinds of infirmaties, so don't give up too quickly-
Do what you can to help your bird to thrive but don't feel responsible if you have to cull - that's all part of raising livestock.

 

[ladynthestamp]

I have a 2 month old silkie "Tiny Tim" that I believe had a club foot. We didn't know what to do about it, until now. We didn't even know what to call it. Will splinting work on a chicken on this age? Thank you...

 

[Eggcessive]

I have a 2 month old silkie "Tiny Tim" that I believe had a club foot. We didn't know what to do about it, until now. We didn't even know what to call it. Will splinting work on a chicken on this age? Thank you...

Try some poultry vitamins for a few weeks in case it is a riboflavin deficiency or rickets. Since it is late, the vitamins may not help, but I would try that and some splints for the foot, since it won't hurt. Just make sure the splints are not painful. Most toe problems are permanent after the first week or two. Below in the first link (which can take some time to download) shows some of the common bone disorders:
http://nhjy.hzau.edu.cn/kech/synkx/dong/2bao/Bone disorders in poultry.pdf
http://www.thepoultrysite.com/articles/1051/leg-health-in-large-broilers

 

[ladynthestamp]

Thank you for the help. I really appreciate it.

 

[tanyab1]

I have a chick that One foot is growing normal but the other is growing backwards as if it's doing a split.. he can't perch or walk without dragging it's leg.. I don't know what to do please help...

 

[Eggcessive]

Could you post a picture? How old is the chick?