Mel & Misty picts...

[Pigeonpal2002]

Hey Izzy,

Love the new pics! They are really growing and getting that "squab" look as apposed to a pink, helpless chick look. They look very healthy and well fed. Those lines down the back and the darker areas are where feathers are just under the surface of the skin. Just like the wings are getting darker as well. When the feathers start to come out along the spine area, it will first look like "spines" that are growing in two rows. I'm so excited for you, and can't wait to see them grow up more

[Izzy]

Hiya Brad! Wow...feathers? Never even thought about that, lol! I wonder if it's painful for them? I mean, when the feathers start to come out, I wonder if it's like equivalent to a child teething or something? Sound ouchie to me.

Thanks for the info,
Izzy

[Reti]

They are so cute and adorable. I wish they would stay longer in that stage.

Reti

[Izzy]

WOW, day 13 already? Almost two weeks since Mel and Misty joined my household and it sure had flown by, no pun intended, lol!

Here's a picture I just took of both of them, you can see Mel has his 'crop bra' on. I did notice today that Mel is getting darker in his crop/chest area, so I know he's still developing at least. Misty's chest is starting to get little feathers, as she's quite prickly on her chest now.

Mel is the one on the right, you can see how his left leg is sticking out.

Oops, I'm over my quota for pictures. I'm going to delete the first couple of pictures on this thread, so I can add these newest pictures I just took. Mary told me about going to webshots and getting a free account there, so I'll make sure ALL the pictures are shown there. I just wanted everyone to see the 'latest' picts of Mel and Misty in here.

[Izzy]

Here's little Mel with his crop bra on. It supports his lower crop very well and I think it's helping. It's not nearly as saggy when I take it off to massage his crop.

[Izzy]

One more of Misty and Mel. Geez, it's tough to take pictures of them right now! I took at 30 pictures and only managed to get 4 that weren't of just their wings, butt or other part. They move SO much, especially Misty and keep pecking at each other when I put them side by side. Here's one that actually showed up, and yes, they were 'fencing', lol!

[ZigZagMarquis]

Izzy, great pics, thanks. Not to make you nervous, but... over to the experts... what's up with Mel's leg being out like that, is there anything Izzy can do??

[cyro51]

Hi ZigZag,

It looks like a splay leg and fortunately if it is that it is correctable! The younger they are treated the quicker it is to put right.

Karen corrected her squab in three days!

Cynthia

[Karen 210773]

Hi Izzy They are both looking great If there is a sprayed leg, your going to have to get it sorted as soon as you can, they get sprayed legs from being on slippery surfaces. Mine had it and so easy to correct if you get them whilst they are young. First of all, use something like a towel so the other pij don't get one. So many people suggest strapping the legs in alignment, which can be difficult and so many way's to do it but they do tend to fall over and all sorts of problems occur. I would suggest using a very thin box, the same width of their body quiet high so they can't climb out, ensure you put something they can't slip on inside, they will not be able to sit beside eachother, but they can still face eachother, the box is basically keeping the legs together in the right position, so it's so important that you find/make the right size or tiny bit smaller than their body width (ie. Snug fit!) you will have to have long boxes for them to have room behind them so they can still move backwards to go to the toilet. Check the progress daily, I'm sure it won't take long at all to rectify now as they are so young, the longer you leave it the harder it will be to rectify and if older they might not ever recover from this - Karen x

[Izzy]

No worries Zig, I was aware of the left leg issue and posted about it in another thread, lol!

The surface they are on is not slippery, I knew about spraddle/splayed legs before I got these chicks and made sure they were on a very textured surface in their box. Mel only recently started having this 'left leg' problem. Actually, Cynthia noticed it on another pict I had posted late last week. So, I started to pay really close attention to that leg and even though he does tuck it under him on occasion, it's not 100%, so I know it needs to be treated asap.

We tried doing the bandaid method this afternoon. It wasn't on tightly on his legs, but it actually made the bottom of his leg start to bleed a bit, so we removed that immediately. We then went out and bought some of those "sponge wedges" to make a little stand for Mel to stand in. That is really such a mess, each time he poops, I have to use a new one and it's time consuming to shape into the correct size.

I really like Karen's suggestion, hadn't heard of that one before. I'll go and see if I can find a very thin type of box to use. Misty and Mel are separated now, because of Mel wearing the crop, he has a tendency to roll onto his back easily, so I wanted him in a more quiet place without Misty walking all over him.

I do have a question though. Why would just "one" leg be affected? I'm worried there might be something wrong elsewhere in his body, like maybe the hip? Misty's legs are fine and they both lived on the same surface the first 10 days of their lives. Mel's right leg is just fine also, just odd that one leg is acting that way and was wondering if that was common or not.

Thanks,
Izzy