Chicks walking on legs not feet.... hock foot/spraddle?

[A.Brock]

I tried looking this up online but couldn't quite figure out what it was. I have two chicks that I hatched that are walking funny, on their hocks/legs, with their feet curled inwards in little "fists"... what should I do?

(They look a bit more splayed out in this photo then they actually are I think...)

If you need more info....
The chicks could possibly be slightly inbred, they are Barred Rock/Americana mixes for the most part. The moms and dads are getting older (2-3 yrs), I did not put them on breeder ration when I was gathering the eggs, the eggs sat for, at most about a week before I put them in incubator. I rinsed eggs in a bleach dilute before putting them in the incubator. The chicks are between 1-3 day(s) old at this point. Some of the mothers (and siblings) also have a deformity of the feet where the toes are crooked but it does not keep them from walking. I did not think that this was genetic and am trying to catch it this time with tape to straighten. I had the eggs laid out in the top of a cardboard egg carton so that the right end was lifted a bit, and the chicks wobbled around on it a bit before I moved them to the box (yeah, I know I should have taken the cardboard out, but is that my problem?). They are on regular old medicated chick feed, nothing added to that or water. They're on a litter of (white pine?) shavings.

 

[reveriereptile]

Not sure what is wrong with them. Looks like maybe they have curled toes causing them to hold their feet like that. You might try using the tape method with the toes spread out on a piece of tape and place another piece over it. Hopefully someone comes along with some better advice. Definitely need it taken care of soon or they may end up never walking. If you notice spraddle leg try using the bandaide method. Cut a bandaide in half long ways and the white piece in the center is a good distance between the legs. I had one I had to do that to a couple days ago and it is looking a lot better and can waddle walk around instead of scoot.

I forgot to add that I don't think it is genetic problems. I had a temp problem (little kids must of turned the knob) and the temp got up to 105 and I had a few with curled toe problems that were from 3 sets of eggs from different places.

 

[A.Brock]

Quote:
I tried that... but one of the chicks (both bandaid and foot) couldn't stand up and kept falling over on her back so I took off the bandaid and then the foot brace fell off of it's own accord... their feet are so tiny how are you supposed to get it to stay on? The other chick I just bandaided so I'll see if she looks better later.

 

[reveriereptile]

You could also try a string instead of the bandaid. Did you use regular tape or duct tape? duct tape might stay on longer.

 

[QuinnP]

Arlo has almost the same problem but he's also horrible spraddled & uses his wings for balance. Poor little roostie! when he sits, his left leg is right under hhis beak & his right leg under one wing

 

[A.Brock]

I'm still trying different things with the two of them (one seems to be responding to the spraddle leg treatment but the other was just falling over on her back).

Anyways, I just noticed that one of them (not treating w/ spraddle leg) cannot stretch out her legs fully straight behind her. Could this be a slipped achilles in the hock joint? She complains every time I mess with her leg and her hocks? (right beneath the beginnings of her leg feathers) are getting raw. I put some ointment on her but don't know what else to do. Her toes are still curled.