I had one silver partridge pekin hatch last week out of 6 eggs, a hen chick. She was terribly lonely but wednesday the mille fleurs were due to hatch. One hen chick hatched ok, the other had to be peeled out of the shell on Thursday.
I kept her (Fleur) in the hatcher and made a hobble from a bandaid plaster to keep her legs straight as they were slightly splayed and she couldnt walk.
Today she went in the brooder with her sister Millie and Twinkle the silver partridge pekin.
Her legs are straight and strong and she's glad of the company as is Twinkle! So 3 lovely pekin girlies!
It just shows that even if a chick is born splay legged, you can cure it if you put a hobble on straight away.
It's a bit fiddly, and on your own it's very difficult but can be done.
To hobble a chick, cut a 3/4" plaster in half lengthways. Place the padded section around one leg and stick the ends together, then put the other half around the other leg and stick the ends to the first piece on the other leg, so that the sticky ends are together between the legs, it's about 1" gap between the legs, which is about the right distance to keep the legs straight.
TLC is needed for 2 to 3 days until the legs are straight and strong and the chick is able to stand on it's own. Then you can take the hobble off.
Keep an eye on the chick while it's hobbled, so it doesnt fall onto it's back and make sure it has water and chick crumb. You may have to hold it over the water and feed so it can eat and drink, but it should be able to manage on it's own once it's got used to the hobble.
2 comments:
i have a chicken who has a toe growing under the rest if its foot
is there anything i should do?
thanks
Does she have the correct number of normal toes? What breed is she?
Whereabouts on the foot is the extra toe growing, if it's coming out between 2 other toes it should be fine, quite often chicken are hatched with extra toes. Depending on the breed, if there is some Silkie in her geneology then the extra toe could be a throwback to that.
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