Saturday, May 16, 2020

A spraddle-leg chick?

Wifey is desperate to save this chick with the curled toes.

After doing more reading and watching videos online, she's wondering if the chick may also be spraddle-legged.  With that condition, the legs don't align properly with one (or both) splaying outward.  Given this chick may not survive and isn't walking much/at all, I guess it could help her develop and get her walking more.  She is still trying to eat and drink so it's not a completely lost cause with her.

According to poultrydvm.com here are causes for this condition:
  • Temperature and/or humidity fluctuations during incubation
  • Hatch temperatures were too high or low
  • Improper floor surfaces: chicks raised on slippery floors can have improperly developed muscles
    • This is not the case with us.  We have a ~1" thick layer of  shavings at the bottom of the brooder on top of a double layer of paper towels.
  • Inadequate diet from breeders: diets for laying don't provide enough nutrients leading to malformations and Vitamin B deficiencies

In the course of her reading, she's also found that there tend to be correlations between chicks with spraddle-leg and those with the curled toes.  I think that we have a chick with a Vitamin B deficiency.

So.........to address it we need to increase Vitamin B as well as splint the legs for spraddle leg.


Splinting: check.


As you can see above, this chick is wondering what other absurdities we're going to apply next.

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