Splayed leg in older chicken

[DrIronMom]

My splayed leg chicken is doing fine.

She displayed the splay at about 6 weeks and it was both legs.
I did everything including the elastic circles with a short piece of drinking straw between and minerals in the water etc.

One leg healed but the other leg was hopeless and dragging her down.

One day she got caught between a board and the chicken wire of the run with the bad leg against the wire.

A squirrel chewed off her bad leg. I was certain she would die but gave her antibiotic in water and hand fed her.

She recovered and it is now 5 months later and she hops around with the other hens. She never got very big - about half size. She will always be the bottom of the pecking order but the other hens don't pick on her.

Good luck.

Wow that’s great that she survived all that! How old is she now? Can she perch? Does she lay eggs?
One of our chicks developed splay leg and we were only partially successful in treating it. She is about half the size of the others and at 8 weeks all the others are roosting but she stays on the floor at night. My husband wants to put her down - but she’s too small to even harvest for meat and I’d like to give her a chance. I’m even wondering if she’d be better off if we amputated the bad leg.

 

[DrIronMom]

I was given a 9 week old chicken with a splayed leg. Previous owner had tried taping legs when it was younger but gave up when it kept chewing tape off. Has anyone had luck fixing a splayed leg on an older chicken? Or has anyone been able to keep one with this issue and still give it a good life? She's still eating and drinking and managing to move around. If I can't fix the leg I was going to make her her own small run with low coop to get in and out of.

Hi, we have the same problem. One of our chickens has a splayed leg, we didn’t know better and began treatment too late and were not fully successful in treating it. So now she is half the size of the others and drags the leg around behind her. What worries us is that she cannot perch.
How did your chicken do? Any advice?

 

[Aunt Angus]

Wow that’s great that she survived all that! How old is she now? Can she perch? Does she lay eggs?
One of our chicks developed splay leg and we were only partially successful in treating it. She is about half the size of the others and at 8 weeks all the others are roosting but she stays on the floor at night. My husband wants to put her down - but she’s too small to even harvest for meat and I’d like to give her a chance. I’m even wondering if she’d be better off if we amputated the bad leg.

I'm dealing with a now 4wk old slipped tendon. The vet wanted to euthanize her. I thought about it, but she's not in pain and gets around pretty well. There are folks here on BYC who have chickens who have lived for years with a slipped tendon.

After a really sad and confusing afternoon at the vet, we decided to keep her and let her live out her life until she needs to be put down. Some folks don't need to do anything different for them, but I decided to give mine a special needs coop with my partially blind chicken that us away from the main flock.

I think it depends on the chicken. Is it in pain? Can it get food and water? Is it being bullied? Of course it's a personal decision, but the answers to these questions may help you decide.

Here are my special needs babies, Twiggy (slipped tendon) and Myrtle (blind):

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Wow that’s great that she survived all that! How old is she now? Can she perch? Does she lay eggs?
One of our chicks developed splay leg and we were only partially successful in treating it. She is about half the size of the others and at 8 weeks all the others are roosting but she stays on the floor at night. My husband wants to put her down - but she’s too small to even harvest for meat and I’d like to give her a chance. I’m even wondering if she’d be better off if we amputated the bad leg.

Hi, we have the same problem. One of our chickens has a splayed leg, we didn’t know better and began treatment too late and were not fully successful in treating it. So now she is half the size of the others and drags the leg around behind her. What worries us is that she cannot perch.
How did your chicken do? Any advice?

Can you please start a thread of your own along with information and photos?
This way you'll get some suggestions suited to your situation and pullet.

This thread is close to a year old and the original poster that you are asking questions hasn't been on in about the same amount of time.

Thanks!

 

[DrIronMom]

My splayed leg chicken is doing fine.

She displayed the splay at about 6 weeks and it was both legs.
I did everything including the elastic circles with a short piece of drinking straw between and minerals in the water etc.

One leg healed but the other leg was hopeless and dragging her down.

One day she got caught between a board and the chicken wire of the run with the bad leg against the wire.

A squirrel chewed off her bad leg. I was certain she would die but gave her antibiotic in water and hand fed her.

She recovered and it is now 5 months later and she hops around with the other hens. She never got very big - about half size. She will always be the bottom of the pecking order but the other hens don't pick on her.

Good luck.

Our first time with chicks - one had splayed leg but we didn't know to identify and treat it in time. We finally did put a rubber band and it seemed to work initially. Perhaps we took it off too soon. Anyway, "Goofyfoot" is about 3 months old now. one leg goes out to the side. She gets around in a very spastic manner using her wings and the one good leg, turning and falling often before she reaches her intended destination. She is about half the size of the others. Mostly, we are worried because she cannot perch. She sleeps on the floor of the coop. We tried separating her but she becomes really unhappy. Fortunately the other hens don't bother her much.
So sad that a squirrel chewed off your girl's bad leg - poor thing! But, seems that she is doing ok - perhaps made it easier for her to get around? - makes me wonder if our Goofyfoot would be better off if we amputated her bad leg.
Any advice?

 

[Skyranchmom]

Did you take band off for periods of time? My chick won't/ can't stand, it's legs are spread way out, I have tried a rubber band, I feel I need to get band down farther on leg, I am going to give it a rest with no band for a couple hours and then maybe try painters tape