Spraddle Leg - Splay Leg Treatment Instructions

[roseythings]

Thank you for the suggestion. I have a chick now that I am going to try this method on. Twice it's managed to get a bandaid off.

 

[Eggcessive]

Thank you for the suggestion. I have a chick now that I am going to try this method on. Twice it's managed to get a bandaid off.

Vet wrap or cohesive bandage strips from the first aid aisle in drug stores can be mush easier to use than bandaids, and safer than rubber bands. Here are some good sites to click on about splay leg treatment:
http://www.fresheggsdaily.com/2012/04/spraddle-leg.html
http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/2012/02/spraddle-leg-in-baby-chicks-what-is-it.html
https://sites.google.com/a/poultrypedia.com/poultrypedia/poultry-podiatry

 

[Buffalowingz]

Hi everyone I have a four week old coturnix quail that has severe splay leg, when I got her a five days ago she seemed to be fine and within two days it got pretty severe. I braced her legs but as I said it is very severe and dont know if it is reversible... any thoughts? I need to hold her up to the food and water so she hasn't lost interest in that.

 

[babychicks7]

Here's a link for anyone who needs to know how to treat spraddle leg/splay leg. It has step-by-step instructions and pictures.

http://www.poultryhelp.com/spraddle.html

It would be nice if this could be made a sticky because everytime I've tried to find this information for someone posting for help it's taken me a long time.

Hope this helps.

this site no longer found

 

[chrisa7584]

We jus got our first 3 chicks yesterday. One of them has a moderate splayed leg. I looked up a way to fix this, because it seemed less painful than the band aid way.

the second photo was of her yesterday, shortly after we applied the rubber band/straw. This worked well, and the next morning she is doing better. The only problem with this was that this is the closest size of rubber band that we can find to fit is slightly too big. We have to keep re-applying it, and she hates it. Does anyone have any suggestions? The chick still has a slight straddle leg, and has formed the odd habit of sleeping like this:

I am worried for her, because sometimes her leg will be splayed, and sometimes she is fine. The treatment that we used was supposed to work after 24 hours, and we put it on last night. It is the next morning now. Even with the slight disability, my little girl is still at the top of the pecking order.
Any ideas? Please help.
Thanks in advance.

 

[chrisa7584]

Sorry - new at this. Was the chick able to eat/drink. I'm gonna get some b12 and make a brace for mine but won't be able til tomorrow. Worried I might lose the chick over the night.

 

[PoultryPedia]

The Splay Leg section on PoultryPedia.com website:

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*** Special Note on Removing Tape from Legs, Feet & Toes ***​

*​

Use baby oil to gently and easily remove sticky tape. Then use waterless instant antibacterial hand cleaner/sanitizer to amazingly easily clean off baby oil. Note: You SHOULD NOT USE DUCT TAPE, but if you do, try using a cleaning spray such as 'Goo Gone' to remove the tape. Then wash the legs with dish soap & rinse off.

If you are not careful how you remove tape, you can cause a chicken pain and damage. The bird likely will also become reluctant to put pressure on places where the skin has become sore. It may then develop more problems with distorted standing and walking patterns, and troubles with deformed bones


CAUTIONS for treatment: A young chick wearing Leg Hobbles can't get up easily or stand easily. It can fall & drown if it stumbles near a water container. See "Prevent Drowning in Water Dish" section.
KEEP IN MIND: You need to help a chick daily by gently scratching itchy spots that the Leg Hobbles prevent it from reaching with its feet. If you don't scratch places for the chick like the back of its neck where it cannot scratch itself, it will be pretty miserable and can develop a terribly itchy, swollen welt from lack of normal skin stimulation
Splayed Leg (also called "Splay Leg", "Spraddle Leg", and "Straddle Leg") occurs when a newborn chick younger than a week old is having trouble learning to stand and walking. While experimenting, the chick starts rotating one or both legs outwards at an incorrect angle. The chick rotates the leg so that foot points mostly to the side instead of forwards, and the chick often becomes sort of "knock-kneed" because the hock on the rotated leg almost touches the other hock. This leg problem may look like a birth defect or deformity, but often it is not to begin with.
Photos of a chick with one form of Splayed Leg
The rotated foot slips a lot when the chick tries to use it that way, so the chick will shift most of its weight onto the other straighter leg & mostly use that to support itself while standing, hopping along, or pushing itself along the ground. The chick may also push a wing out against the ground to help balance itself.
The chick usually shows problems in only one leg at first (the most rotated leg), but the straighter leg will also become deformed over time.

• VERY, VERY IMPORTANT: Check your bird to see if it also is suffering from Perosis (which can relate to nutritional deficiencies) and a Slipped Achilles Tendon.

Spraddle Leg is usually started by slippery flooring such as newspaper, but can be caused by hatching problems, high incubation temperatures, a painful leg or foot injury, a Slipped Achilles Tendon, or too many baby chicks being crowded in the brooder while learning to walk.
Even chicks that are born perfectly normal physically can develop Splay Leg in a non-optimal situation. In a large number of cases, Spraddle Leg is not initially caused by physical abnormalities. Instead, it develops from a chick learning incorrect mental patterns about how to walk. The chick's body then develops deformities as the chick practices movements that become damaging.

• THE BRAIN MUST LEARN ONLY CORRECT MOVEMENTS. You MUST prevent the chick from getting much experience at moving wrong or it will cement that movement in its brain and you won't be able to fix it.
  • When a chick is first figuring out how to move & walk, if normal movement efforts are unsuccessful or painful, the chick will experiment with alternate ways of moving. If it finds movements that are temporarily less painful or more effective, the chick will program its brain to move in the alternate ways, which are very damaging over time. This quickly builds habits which then cause muscles, ligaments and bones to become deformed by the unnatural positioning & pressures.

Leg Hobbles (also called "Hobble Braces") help keep a young chick from trying to incorrectly twist a hip and leg out sideways, by keeping a chicks' legs from spreading too far apart. These leg braces are made of material wrapped comfortably around each leg & connecting across the gap between the legs.

• Hobbles should be put on lower legs (below hocks) and allow enough room for the chick to stand with its legs just a little farther apart than normal standing position so chick can balance and practice walking.
• Hobbles can be made from a variety of materials:
  • White cloth-type sports tape is probably the most ideal, but you can use Band-Aids, Scotch tape, masking tape that has strong stickiness, etc. Be sure to see Special Note on Removing Tape from Legs.
    • For sensitive or feathered legs, put a little piece of paper towel (to cover the tape's stickiness) on just the section of the tape that wraps around the chick's legs. Yarn might be another good material to try--It helps minimize catching on fluff. Watch out for hobbles slipping too much
  • You can also use attach one tiny plastic zip tie to each leg, leaving them a little bit loose to allow for growth. Tie the zip ties together with string & adjust length over time. This method may particularly be helpful for feather-legged birds.
  • You can make adjustable hobbles from Velcro. Make sure only soft side of material touches legs.
  • If you use a small elastic or hair-band in figure-8 around legs with tape wrapped around section between legs, there is greater chance of the hobbles slipping up on the legs, plus the band might stretch too much to be helpful enough. It is not as reliable of a method for treating Splay Leg.
• Make sure wraps around the legs are secure enough that they won't come untaped on their own nor slip up above the hock joint. Make sure that circulation isn't restricted, which you can sometimes detect if feet start looking reddish.
• Be sure to check & change Hobbles as needed at least every 2 days since a chick is growing fast and wraps will quickly become too tight to allow growth & circulation.

Once the chick has Hobbles on, it will usually experiment with turning its legs forwards (like it should) instead of twisting one leg or both legs out to the side. The little chick will gradually wobble less and not use its wing for support as much, and will try stepping ahead. Once the chick learns that correct walking is the most effective motion and the chick reprograms its brain, you can begin leaving the Hobbles off.

• Leg Hobbles have the best chance of being effective if put on within 1 to 3 days of hatch, and usually correct Splayed Leg within 4 to 6 days of treatment in a newly hatched chick. If the chick is 4 days old or older when you start treatment, the chances for reprogramming the chick's brain are slim and the problem likely can't be cured.
• Do not leave hobbles off AT ANY TIME before the problem is cured (except briefly for Physical Therapy if you choose to do that).
• Continue to keep the Hobbles on most of the time for a minimum of 1/2 day after chick seems to be walking pretty correctly. Watch closely for a few days after & put Hobbles back on if chick needs help again.
• If you want to really help ensure continued recovery when chick seems better, instead of completely removing hobbles, at first just cut across the middle connecting section so legs can move freely for 2-5 hours. Then tape the middle section back together for 1-4 hours. Then completely remove hobbles (See Special Note on Removing Tape from Legs) if chick walks correctly, or repeat this process another time or two if needed.
• If you remove Hobbles too soon, the chick may revert to previous problem within a couple days. The older a chick is and the more time a chick spends using its legs wrong, the more difficult it is to fix this problem.

​

• If the chick wriggles out of Hobbles, use a single vertical wrap of sports tape (or masking tape or sticky section of band-aids) around the section between the two legs to more firmly tape the center section together.
• If chick keeps standing with its hocks too close together, you can experiment on added solutions. This may be especially needed for chicks 4 days old or older.
  • Physical Therapy can be a very helpful added treatment.
  • A technique that's proven some success: Add a second hobble on upper legs above hocks.
    • See "For feathered legs" above to deal with fluff on thighs

 

[chrisa7584]

Sorry - new at this. Was the chick able to eat/drink. I'm gonna get some b12 and make a brace for mine but won't be able til tomorrow. Worried I might lose the chick over the night.

Lost the chick thru the night.

 

[PoultryPedia]

Very sorry--

 

[chrisa7584]

Thank you! My first batch of chicks 3 years ago didn't have any problems! This last batch has had pasty butt and splayed legs!