chick with broken leg or slipped achilles tendon?

[samzoost]

hello! please please help!! i was given a silkie chick for free yesterday at my local farm because she has either a broken leg or a slipped achilles with a twisted foot. a vet visit would be upwards of $200. I'm wondering if I can stint it, amputate it...just fix it myself so she can live. she is hopping around and eating and drinking like normal. she is about a week old i was told, and that her leg had been like this since she arrived from the breeder. for some reason they didn't feel the need to do anything to prevent it from getting worse. i believe she had a slipped achilles and due to it not being treated, her foot twisted. please let me know if you think otherwise. i have no problem housing a disabled chicken for her lifetime and just want her to be okay. here are some pics:

 

[samzoost]

i bought a silver laced wyandotte of the same age to keep her company and she has been doing a wonderful job of stabilizing and offering support

 

[muddy75]

one of my guys arrived from the hatchery with similar problem. He is still doing well in the brooder with the 14 other chicks at 1.5 weeks. I opted for no treatment and raise him with the other chicks like normal. He doesn’t like to be separated from the group and I felt attempting a splint would place additional unnecessary stress on him. He still doesn’t use that leg but his other leg and wings have gotten much stronger and he is able to maneuver around the brooder box for food, water, and warmth as needed. He is no less active than the other chicks, just a little slower. update: we just went out and observed our babies and little hoppy is not holding that leg as close to his body and has started putting it down some while moving around. .

 

[Hen Pen Jem]

Greetings samzoost,

Even if the chick is a week old, I would try to correct the leg and foot issue. The chick has time on its side, it is still growing, and may grow out of this with your help.

Here the link to an excellent article, written by TwoCrows, on leg, foot, and toe issues and treatments.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/leg-foot-and-toe-issues-in-poultry-of-all-ages.68093/


I hope this is helpful.

God Bless

 

[Eggcessive]

Leg bone deformities such as varus or valgus deformity, or a twisted tibia are usually not treated successfully. But many chicks can get along well enough to eat and drink and get around to live normally. Splinting can be painful if the deformity is not fixable.

If you can get a clearer picture of how the chick stands it would be good. Feathered legs always make it harder to see deformities. Use some chick vitamins in the water or a couple of drops of PolyVisol without Iron daily which may help improve the legs.

Here is some reading about leg bone deformities:
https://www.researchgate.net/public..._of_the_Intertarsal_Joint_in_Broiler_Chickens

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

 

[samzoost]

thanks everyone for your help. It seems almost dislocated...is that normal for valgus deformity? when I touch it she doesn't seem to protest so I don't think it hurts her anymore. which kind of worries me because I don't want her muscles to have already formed around it...but I also don't want to cause her any unnecessary pain by trying to undo something that can't be undone.

 

[MissChick@dee]

To me it looks like the longest toe curls up at the second joint (hard to really tell) if he was mine and a tape cast couldn’t correct it I would just let him be unique in his walk and give him a really cool name like skipper or Forest. Good luck. He’s adorable!

 

[samzoost]

To me it looks like the longest toe curls up at the second joint (hard to really tell) if he was mine and a tape cast couldn’t correct it I would just let him be unique in his walk and give him a really cool name like skipper or Forest. Good luck. He’s adorable!

okay. thank you so much!!

 

[Chickem707]

Here’s some of my cockerels, the one in the foreground has an extremely bent leg that goes out to the side, and has a big lump on it. He wandered into my yard at about 8 weeks old, so I’ve raised him since them. Recently, I managed to find who originally hatched him (luckily she let me keep him!) and she said he hatched like that. He does fine now, has an adorable run, and is head rooster!

 

[samzoost]

Here’s some of my cockerels, the one in the foreground has an extremely bent leg that goes out to the side, and has a big lump on it. He wandered into my yard at about 8 weeks old, so I’ve raised him since them. Recently, I managed to find who originally hatched him (luckily she let me keep him!) and she said he hatched like that. He does fine now, has an adorable run, and is head rooster!View attachment 1530609

also, i have another question, if you don't mind...the silver laced wyandotte i've paired with the silkie is very loud and protective of her. they're both only a week old...but do you think this could be a sign of her being a rooster? there's food and water in their brooder all the time. everything is perfect, the chick just chirps quite a bit more than the silkie. i can't keep roosters and that would be so horrible to have them bond and then have to get rid of it.