Hi, I'm new to this. My chicky is 5 weeks old, a bantam mix. At about 4 weeks we noticed her leg starting to be odd. Now, she seems to have a hard time roosting on anything, and walking is tough. She limps along fine on the lawn when I let her out. It seems like the way her leg comes out of her body/thigh is at the wrong angle or something. Her feet/toes are all in good shape.

I read in your chicken page something about "splayed leg" and newspaper, but I don't know what that means. Do you know where I can find out more about this? I'm wondering what is causing this, if anything, or if it's just a birth defect.

She is living in a cat carrier lined with newspaper. So her leg slips out from under her when she hobbles around.

Thanks!

Splayed leg normally occurs with young chicks under a month old. They simply don't get enough footing to be able to build their muscles up properly. Genetics and incubation and hatching conditions also can affect splayed leg.

Did chicky show this problem before or just recently? If it's recent, she might have hurt her leg. She may recover from it on her on or remain disabled. A vet might be able to splint the leg and help her recover some better mobility. It sounds like she might be able to live with the problem if she has to. To help her with footing, you might put some vinyl-coated hardware cloth (we call it rabbit wire) on top of the newspapers. It has little squares wherein she can stick her claws to help with footing. It would be easier to clean than non-coated wire. Any hardware store should have it. Anything safe you can try to improve her traction should help her. Provide her with low roosts and be sure to protect her from predators. I hope she does okay!

:D Thank you so much for your chicken website! I figured out it was splayed leg or spraddled leg probably due to the slippery newspaper in her cage. I couldn't have figured it out without your site.

She didn't get this way until 3 or 4 weeks, so I guess that's a bit odd. We made her a brace type of thing with duct tape (it looks kinda like shackles) and that seems to help her.

Here's where I learned details about that: http://www.rockingtranch.com/spraddle.html

Not sure how long to leave them on. After 48 hours, we took them off for an hour, and she seemed to walk better, close to normal. We were thinking about keeping them on for another couple days to make sure she's healed. We had some extra carpet for the bottom of her cage which are helping with traction now.

I'm going to try to post a picture of "Sammy" here:


Thanks for your help!

What a precious baby. I can see her legs are going in different directions. The brace looks funny but I hope it helps her regain some mobility.

I will have to link to that site. One day, I will redo my chicken pages and include more information. It took me two months to redo my rabbit pages which go on-line this weekend so I don't know when I'll get to the chickens. I've got like 300 web pages now.

Thanks. Yes she's my baby. She's my first pet, since I had a hampster a couple years ago. I've got asthma, and LOVE birds, so I am happy to have her. Yes, her feet don't point quite in the right direction.

I think she's 5 weeks. I guess she can start living outside pretty soon. Do you think I should put a light-bulb out there with her for warmth for a few weeks? She has a little blue 25 watt bulb in her cat carrier she lives in now (in the garage). My dad built a coop in the back yard, and it will be getting down into the 30's at night pretty soon. We let her stay out there during the day now, but have not made her stay outside at night yet.

My chicks were outside full time by 5 or 6 weeks but it was warm weather. I would still bring her inside at night until she's 8 weeks old and fully feathered. She's getting close though. If you can get a heat lamp or ceramic heat emitter (heat without light) out in the coop, that would help her as she doesn't have other chickens to cuddle with to keep warm. Is the coop fully enclosed?

Nope, the coop is totally open, and the little roosting / nesting area is closed on 3 sides. I'm in California, so it doesn't get too bad, but it was 42 degrees the other morning, and will be getting into 30's soon. Maybe I need to figure out a way to enclose the sleeping area better.

Ok. Even if cold temperatures aren't too much of an issue, you need to have at least part of the area protected from wind, rain, and predators. We've lost chickens to hawks, foxes, and snakes so a strong enclosure is important if there are any predators around.

Hi! Our explanation wasn't very good. What we have is a 6x5 covered, fenced in area, with a little chick condo sticking out from the side about 18 inches by 18 inches, and about 3 feet high. It's all protected from preditors and rain. But this little condo area is only enclosed on 3 sides, well a little bit more than that. The ~15" opening opens out to the 5'x6' coop area. I put a roosting pole across it in the lower floor of the condo, and a nesting box on the top floor for when she starts laying eggs, with a lift-up roof so Melissa can go get the egg. So she's pretty protected from wind, but not fully on all 4 sides. Oh, no, I never thought about snakes... Hope we don't have any big enough to hurt her.

Thanks for all your advice! We took the duct-tape brace off her legs on Friday, and she's been walking fine ever since, except that her toes point in the wrong direction a bit...

I'm glad she's better. Her house isn't very big but hopefully large enough for just her. You might hang a blanket or something over the open side in the coldest part of the winter if she'll walk through it. She may just see it as a barrier though and not go in at all.

My chick Sprouty this year vanished at 19-days-old. We assume it was a black snake as the song birds were shouting their snake call, and Sprouty's mom was screaming for her. Your chick is large enough to not be taken by pretty much most snakes. With her disability, it's vital that her enclosure be predator-proof which includes full top netting for hawks and digging prevention for mammals. We laid chicken wire flat on the ground around the run after the foxes got in and took my two favorites chickens. Basically, if you can bust into the chicken's place without using tools (or the human ability to open latches) by kicking, hand digging, etc., then so can a predator. Once a dog bit a hole into the run but didn't actually get in. Don't under-estimate the desire to eat chicken.

I'm very sorry to hear about Sprouty. That must have been very sad.

I have the coop pretty secure, except snakes. They could get in for sure, but hopefully she's big enough to defend herself now. Silly sammy slept out in the hay all night, instead of in by the light. I guess I'll need to take the hay out of the coop, except in her nesting area, to encourage her to stay warm.

I've never gotten my chickens to do what they're supposed to! Some nights, they won't go into their coop where I now close them in nightly since the fox incident.