08/07/2020 Splayed Legs-Signs & Treatments: Hobbling Chickens: Chicken Heaven On Earth - Chicken Heaven On Earth

Splayed Legs-Hobbling Chickens

Leg hobbles have been used successfully to treat splayed legs (spraddle legs/ straddle legs) in chickens, however there are dangers associated
with leg hobbling your chicken too. Baby chicks are most likely to develop splayed legs and it may be necessary to hobble the chick until it's legs
get stronger. It is important to treat splayed legs right away. Splayed legs may look like a birth defect but can be corrected. Be sure to watch our
featured video: The Garden Hen-Splayed Legs Repair. Also see warnings below about splayed legs in adult birds.

How to Hobble Your Baby Chick-Correction for Splayed Legs

Hobbling (Hobble braces) can
help baby chicks from twisting
their hip and legs out sideways
because the hobble braces will
keep the chicks legs from
spreading too far apart.
Hobbles should be
comfortable, not to tight and
wrapped around each leg and
then connected through the
gap between their legs. Leg
hobbles should be put on
within 1-3 days after hatching
for best results.
How to make a Hobble from
a rubber band or hair band
(pony tail holder)
Use a small hair tie or
rubberband
Cut a 1/2" piece of plastic
drinking straw
Fold hair tie in half
Slide into drinking straw
leaving loops on both sides
Put two fingers through the
loop and grasp the baby chicks
foot and pull it gently through
the loop
Do this for both feet-See
Easily fix splayed legs with a hair band and a cut piece of straw. Photo courtesy of Mini Acres Poultry on Facebook.
https://www.facebook.com/MiniAcresPoultry/ Photo. The straw reinforces
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the center section of the band

and keeps the baby chicks legs apart. (Mini Acres Poultry). You can also add a second hobble above the hocks for additional support after the
chick is 4 days old.
How Baby Chicks Act When They Are First Hobbled
Wobbly at first
May lose their balance
Uses wings for support
Chick should be able to walk in a normal standing position after they get used to it.
Placement of Baby Chick Hobbles
Place the hobbles below the baby chicks hock.

Warnings About Hobbling Baby Chicks

Baby chicks grow fast so you will need to check the hobbles several times a day to make sure they are in the right position and not too tight or too
loose. If hobbles are too tight they can cut off the blood circulation in the birds legs and even cut into the muscle. If hobbles are too lose they can
slip off. Once your baby chick is hobbled it is important to watch them closely and to only provide water in a very shallow dish as the chick can
easily lose their balance, fall over, and drown in their water. Your chick will not be able to scratch themselves and can get very uncomfortable so
it is important that you scratch for them in places like the neck and back. If you do not help scratch them they can develop a itchy, swollen welt
due to a lack of normal skin stimulation (Poultry Podiatry, 2016).

Causes of Splayed Legs & Rotated Feet

Splayed legs and rotated feet can be caused from nutritional deficiencies. A nutritional deficiency means your chicks are not getting the higher
vitamins, minerals, and protein needed to properly develop bones.

Using Hobbles for Chickens with a Rotated Foot

When a baby chicks foot slips and rotates in an opposite direction it is important to hobble them right away as the deformity will grow worse over
time and eventually cripple the bird permanently when their bones harden. Many times it is only one foot that is rotated and the other seems
normal, if untreated, the normal leg will become deformed from trying to compensate for the rotated one.

Hobbles Can Be Used On Birds With Slipped Achilles Tendon

A slipped achilles tendon can happen when baby chicks are crowded in the brooder while learning to walk. This is often caused from nutritional
deficiencies but the bird could also be suffering from Perosis (Poultry Pedia). See Symptoms & Treatments for Slipped Tendon in Baby Chicks

SYMPTOMS & TREATMENTS FOR SLIPPED TENDON

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Spraddle Leg Attributed to Incorrect Mental Processing in Baby Chicks

If your baby chick is walking wrong and you allow it to continue doing so, it's brain will think that is the correct way for it to walk. Walking the
wrong way while bones are trying to grow can permanently cripple the bird. By hobbling the chick you are putting it's legs and feet in the correct
position. Baby chicks grow quickly and within a few days the hobbled chicks brain will adjust to the new way of walking and then the hobbles
can be removed and the chick will walk normally.

"When a chick is first figuring out how to move & walk, if normal movement efforts are unsuccessful or painful, the chick will experiment with
alternate ways of moving. If it finds movements that are temporarily less painful or more effective, the chick will program its brain to move in
the alternate ways, which quickly become habits which then cause muscles, ligaments and bones to become deformed by the unnatural
positioning & pressures.
Leg Hobbles have the best chance of being effective if put on within 1 to 3 days of hatch, and usually correct Splayed Leg within 4 to 6
days of treatment in a newly hatched chick. If the chick is 4 days old or older when you start treatment, the chances for reprogramming
the chick's brain are slim and the problem likely can't be cured.
Do not leave hobbles off AT ANY TIME before the problem is cured (unless you want to sometimes take hobbles off while
doing Physical Therapy).
Continue to keep the Hobbles on most of the time for a minimum of 1/2 day after chick seems to be walking pretty
correctly. Watch closely for a few days after & put Hobbles back on if chick needs help again.
If you want to really help ensure continued recovery when chick seems better, instead of completely removing hobbles, at first just cut
across the middle connecting section so legs can move freely for 2-5 hours. Then tape the middle section back together for 1-4 hours.
Then completely remove hobbles, if chick walks correctly, or repeat this process another time or two if needed.
"If you remove Hobbles too soon, the chick may revert to previous problem within a couple days. The older a chick is and the more time a
chick spends using its legs wrong, the more difficult it is to fix this problem".
If the Chick manages to wriggle out of the Hobbles use a single vertical wrap of sports tape (or masking tape or sticky section of band-aids)
around the section between the two legs to more firmly tape the center section together.
What to Do If Chick Keeps Standing With Hocks too Close Together (for chicks 4 days old or older)
Physical Therapy can be a very helpful added treatment.
A technique that's proven some success: Add a second hobble on upper legs above hocks (Poultry Podiatry. 2016).

What to Make Hobbles From

Hobbles can be made from a variety of materials:
White cloth-type sports tape is probably the most ideal, but you can use Band-Aids, Scotch tape, masking tape that has strong stickiness, etc. Be
sure to see Special Note on Removing Tape from Legs.
For Sensitive or Feathered Chick Legs
Put a little piece of paper towel (to cover the tape's stickiness) on just the section of the tape that wraps around the chick's legs. Yarn might be
another good material to try--It helps minimize catching on fluff. Watch out for hobbles slipping too much
You can also use tiny plastic zip ties, leaving them a little bit loose for growth. You can tie the zip ties together with string & adjust length over
time. This method may particularly be helpful for feather-legged birds.
You can make adjustable hobbles from Velcro. Make sure only soft side of material touches legs.
If you use a small elastic or hair-band in figure-8 around legs with tape wrapped around section between legs, there is greater chance of the
hobbles slipping up on the legs, plus the band might stretch too much to be helpful enough.
Use extra sports tape wrapped vertically, pipe cleaners, thin piece of taped-on cardboard, etc" (Poultry Podiatry).

Featured Video: The Garden Hen-Splayed Legs Repair

Twisted Legs in Adult Chickens-Do not Hobble

If you have an adult chicken and it has had a twisted leg for a long time, do not try to hobble the bird as the adult bird's bones have already
finished developing and their bones have already hardened. Hobbling an adult bird will only cause them pain, throw them off balance, and is not
going to make any significant improvement in the twisted leg.

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Reference:
1. Poultry Podiatry. Retrieved Mar. 20, 2016 from https://sites.google.com/a/poultrypedia.com/poultrypedia/poultry-podiatry
2. The Garden Hen-Splayed legs repair. (2018). YouTube. Retrieved 6 February 2018, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CSPbqubJlU8

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