[pushrod]

In the past i have tried various ways of fixing newly hatched chicks with dislocated hips - the ones where one or two legs stick out to the side, usually with no success.

A few months ago i had a hatch with several chicks that had dislocated hips and i was explaining to my son that there was very little that could be done if they did not fix themselves and that they were unlikely to survive. He was quite determined  that something could be done. I said that little splints, tape or rubber bands had never worked in the past but eventually we hit on the idea of putting them in the bottom of a narrow box. The bottom 3" of an All Bran cereal box (any box, 5 or 6cm wide would do) this meant that they had to keep their legs together. It seemed to have the effect of taking the strain off their ligaments. We left them in there for about 24 hours, still in the incubator, after about 12 hours they seemed to be better but we left them in there longer just to be certain. A few months down the line i have tried this method several times now and (touch wood) it has been 100% successful. Sometimes i start them off in a small square box and then transfer them over to something more rectangular so that they can move a little more.

Such a simple idea but it seems very effective - hopefully it will work for some others as well.

[8doubles]

Neat ! 

[Helenaj]

Brilliant! I had chicks with splyed legs and it was a right old rigmarole trying to get the splints on and then you panic that they are too tight. That's an excellent idea.

[pepsi100]

I had a couple of chicks with splayed legs, I was told about the tape, but as you say it was a real rigmarole getting them off,

So I used a straw and elastic band, just push a small elastic band through the straw then over the legs (my wife had to help with this) but they all survived and had no further problems

Never thought of this way, seems quite good and even more so if it works