Chick with turned in feet??
Hi everyone, i'm looking for help again!
This little chick hatched two days ago but it has something wrong with it's little legs....at first glance it appeared to have only three toes, i thought two were fused together and turned inwards....however i can now see it does have four toes but it's two little feet are completely turned inwards (same problem on both feet)- it was hard to take a photo as the chick is tiny (pekin chick) but hopefully ye can see the problem. Other than this, the chick appears very healthy and is running around, eating and drinking like the rest. Is there anything i can do about this and is it likely to be a problem as the chick gets older?
Thanks in advance for any advice :)
http://i.imgur.com/05ODr.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/UyaWY.jpg
BusyIzzy
Thursday, April 26th, 2012 Happened to one of my silkie chicks last year. I would kill it off
smurph
Thursday, April 26th, 2012 God, i really don't want to do that if there's anything i can do to help it.....i couldn't kill it myself anyways!, will have to bring it to a vet. I'll be keeping it as a pet and won't breed from it obviously, it's just that if it's not going to have any quality of life i'd rather do the right thing for it now.......i do remember reading something about using pipecleaners?!...but was that splayed legs maybe?
BusyIzzy
Thursday, April 26th, 2012 in all honesty, the best thing to do is cull the chick. Looking at the pics it appears to be very badly twisted and i can think of nothing which will help improve it.
Goodluck
Desy
Thursday, April 26th, 2012 The same thing happened me last year and I was debating to cull it or not cos it couldn't even stand up without falling on its back as all its toes were curled inward, in the end I didn't cull it and I just kept it propped up in the corner of the brooder with a teddy and fed it with a syringe. After awhile it improved and all the toes straightened out and he's a pure pet now, so glad I didn't cull him.
keith2011
Thursday, April 26th, 2012 when you say running around are the feet flat on the floor or do they remain curled and the chick is walking on it side
cwfarm
Thursday, April 26th, 2012 Is the chick trying to stand ?
If you get a small piece of masking tape and place it under the feet and carefully spread the toes out evenly and bring the tape over the toes it will position them correctly.
Leave on for a few days.
If the chick is constanly on its lower limbs crawling around it may be to late as the knees would start to wear.
best to cull.
If its splayed legs you can put a space between the legs also.
Just be carefull not to put it on to tight.
Scott G
Thursday, April 26th, 2012 I have had chicks with curled toes before and have used the tape as Scott says above. Remove and replace every day or two as the feet want to grow and the tape can restrict them. You need to deal with it asap, and it still doesn't always work. If you fix the feet and keep the chick, try not to breed from it in case it produces more chicks with the same weak toes.
Susan Mc
Thursday, April 26th, 2012 Thanks for all the replies...i really appreciate the help and advice....the little chick is full of life and tearing around the place with the others. It's walking on it's stubby feet and not falling over but it's legs are completely turned in so the chick is walking on the sides of it's feet.
I'm going to give the masking tape a go (thanks Scott!) in the next hour or so or definitely tomorrow morning if i can't manage it myself...make take two! The chick has tiny feet so i think it'll be very fiddly but i'm going to give it a try and hope for the best...i keep all my chickens as pets (don't comment!! :)...i'd definitely be as bad as Keith with the chick TLC!! ) so will only cull as a very last resort and even then will be bringing it to the vet to do!
I'll let ye know how it goes...fingers crossed and thanks again! :)
BusyIzzy
Thursday, April 26th, 2012 Gud luck BusyIzzy, keep us updated on the progress
keith2011
Thursday, April 26th, 2012 I had youngsters last year and one of them (wellsomer) had same problem.l was told to make up a splint to hold toes in place till they set.l never did and she's one if my best layers.she gets on grand,only slight problem was adapting to the roost.splint was to be made up of sponge between the toes and plasters wrapped around them.don't know if this is of any help but might help you decide what to do.
mork
Thursday, April 26th, 2012 Thanks guys! Susan, thanks for saying to change it every few days, i would have left it on longer but if make sense the feet might be growing....sponge between the toes sounds like a good idea too Mark...i'll try that at the next change. What i did in the end is got a really light piece of electrical cable (it's soft on the outside) for the splint and tried to align the main (bigger) toe with the foot. Then i just spread out the other toes on the insulating tape (i had no masking tape)....i only had red tape which in hindsight wasn't the best as i know chickens are attracted to red and the other little chicks went mad pecking her splint!! This morning the chick is waddling about....i think i've made her little feet very heavy but i'll leave it on another day and see if there's any improvement. The little feet are tiny so it was sooooo difficult to manage.....i'll get someone to help next time! Photo attached of my "effort"! Thanks again :)
http://i.imgur.com/i0UCP.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/qXdpd.jpg
BusyIzzy
Friday, April 27th, 2012 Best of luck with it BusyIzzy.
Rho b
Friday, April 27th, 2012 That little guy reminds me of animation Happy Feet haaa . meant to say Liz to use with the splint them flexible spongy things girls use in hairdressers for curling hair into shape. (sorry don't know name of them)
mork
Friday, April 27th, 2012 Just a quick update...i removed the splints from both legs this morning and there's a major improvement in one foot and a lesser one in the other, but an improvment all the same! So, i'm going to persist...i've reapplied the splint in a much lighter version (useing masking tape...thought i had plasters but didn't!) so fingers crossed! Chick is still in great form, eating and drinking like the others. I tried to take pic but they're all too blurry. Thanks again everyone! :)
BusyIzzy
Saturday, April 28th, 2012 Hey Buzy, keep this story osted, I thinkits great to see how well you presisted to keep the chick alive.
Gerry Dolan
Thursday, May 3rd, 2012 Glad to hear they've been improving Izzy.
Susan Mc
Thursday, May 3rd, 2012
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Chick with turned in feet??
Hi everyone, i'm looking for help again!
This little chick hatched two days ago but it has something wrong with it's little legs....at first glance it appeared to have only three toes, i thought two were fused together and turned inwards....however i can now see it does have four toes but it's two little feet are completely turned inwards (same problem on both feet)- it was hard to take a photo as the chick is tiny (pekin chick) but hopefully ye can see the problem. Other than this, the chick appears very healthy and is running around, eating and drinking like the rest. Is there anything i can do about this and is it likely to be a problem as the chick gets older?
Thanks in advance for any advice :)
http://i.imgur.com/05ODr.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/UyaWY.jpg
Thursday, April 26th, 2012
Happened to one of my silkie chicks last year. I would kill it off
Thursday, April 26th, 2012
God, i really don't want to do that if there's anything i can do to help it.....i couldn't kill it myself anyways!, will have to bring it to a vet. I'll be keeping it as a pet and won't breed from it obviously, it's just that if it's not going to have any quality of life i'd rather do the right thing for it now.......i do remember reading something about using pipecleaners?!...but was that splayed legs maybe?
Thursday, April 26th, 2012
in all honesty, the best thing to do is cull the chick. Looking at the pics it appears to be very badly twisted and i can think of nothing which will help improve it.
Goodluck
Thursday, April 26th, 2012
The same thing happened me last year and I was debating to cull it or not cos it couldn't even stand up without falling on its back as all its toes were curled inward, in the end I didn't cull it and I just kept it propped up in the corner of the brooder with a teddy and fed it with a syringe. After awhile it improved and all the toes straightened out and he's a pure pet now, so glad I didn't cull him.
Thursday, April 26th, 2012
when you say running around are the feet flat on the floor or do they remain curled and the chick is walking on it side
Thursday, April 26th, 2012
Is the chick trying to stand ?
If you get a small piece of masking tape and place it under the feet and carefully spread the toes out evenly and bring the tape over the toes it will position them correctly.
Leave on for a few days.
If the chick is constanly on its lower limbs crawling around it may be to late as the knees would start to wear.
best to cull.
If its splayed legs you can put a space between the legs also.
Just be carefull not to put it on to tight.
Thursday, April 26th, 2012
I have had chicks with curled toes before and have used the tape as Scott says above. Remove and replace every day or two as the feet want to grow and the tape can restrict them. You need to deal with it asap, and it still doesn't always work. If you fix the feet and keep the chick, try not to breed from it in case it produces more chicks with the same weak toes.
Thursday, April 26th, 2012
Thanks for all the replies...i really appreciate the help and advice....the little chick is full of life and tearing around the place with the others. It's walking on it's stubby feet and not falling over but it's legs are completely turned in so the chick is walking on the sides of it's feet.
I'm going to give the masking tape a go (thanks Scott!) in the next hour or so or definitely tomorrow morning if i can't manage it myself...make take two! The chick has tiny feet so i think it'll be very fiddly but i'm going to give it a try and hope for the best...i keep all my chickens as pets (don't comment!! :)...i'd definitely be as bad as Keith with the chick TLC!! ) so will only cull as a very last resort and even then will be bringing it to the vet to do!
I'll let ye know how it goes...fingers crossed and thanks again! :)
Thursday, April 26th, 2012
Gud luck BusyIzzy, keep us updated on the progress
Thursday, April 26th, 2012
I had youngsters last year and one of them (wellsomer) had same problem.l was told to make up a splint to hold toes in place till they set.l never did and she's one if my best layers.she gets on grand,only slight problem was adapting to the roost.splint was to be made up of sponge between the toes and plasters wrapped around them.don't know if this is of any help but might help you decide what to do.
Thursday, April 26th, 2012
Thanks guys! Susan, thanks for saying to change it every few days, i would have left it on longer but if make sense the feet might be growing....sponge between the toes sounds like a good idea too Mark...i'll try that at the next change. What i did in the end is got a really light piece of electrical cable (it's soft on the outside) for the splint and tried to align the main (bigger) toe with the foot. Then i just spread out the other toes on the insulating tape (i had no masking tape)....i only had red tape which in hindsight wasn't the best as i know chickens are attracted to red and the other little chicks went mad pecking her splint!! This morning the chick is waddling about....i think i've made her little feet very heavy but i'll leave it on another day and see if there's any improvement. The little feet are tiny so it was sooooo difficult to manage.....i'll get someone to help next time! Photo attached of my "effort"! Thanks again :)
http://i.imgur.com/i0UCP.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/qXdpd.jpg
Friday, April 27th, 2012
Best of luck with it BusyIzzy.
Friday, April 27th, 2012
That little guy reminds me of animation Happy Feet haaa . meant to say Liz to use with the splint them flexible spongy things girls use in hairdressers for curling hair into shape. (sorry don't know name of them)
Friday, April 27th, 2012
Just a quick update...i removed the splints from both legs this morning and there's a major improvement in one foot and a lesser one in the other, but an improvment all the same! So, i'm going to persist...i've reapplied the splint in a much lighter version (useing masking tape...thought i had plasters but didn't!) so fingers crossed! Chick is still in great form, eating and drinking like the others. I tried to take pic but they're all too blurry. Thanks again everyone! :)
Saturday, April 28th, 2012
Hey Buzy, keep this story osted, I thinkits great to see how well you presisted to keep the chick alive.
Thursday, May 3rd, 2012
Glad to hear they've been improving Izzy.
Thursday, May 3rd, 2012