My q-tip splint didn't work very well, mostly because I had very little time to tweak the contraption before my helper fled the coop... so to speak. I pretty much had one chance to get it right and Red wasn't in a cooperative mood.
So poor Red is not getting better, but I am still working her leg. I pull it straight. I push it up and down. Then we "walk" and I keep the leg turned in. We do this several times a day.
So next... we have two braces in the works. The King came up with the idea to use an articulating kid's toy:
We would have to pad it to keep the sharp edges and screwheads from damaging the leg tissue, but it could work if the length is right.
The primary issue with it is that it isn't customized to Red's leg.
So we have a friend who does 3-D printing and the King approached him about Red's leg. He came up with this.
We have to measure Red's leg and he will tweak the measurements.
Who tries so hard to fix a chicken's leg??? We do.
Today the Queen removed all of the wood shavings and rubber liner and gunk from the brooder. It's a wonder our chicks aren't dead... it was disgusting. Once I dug down there was more moisture in the chips than I originally thought, and that combined with dropped feed (and poop) resulted in a nasty fermentation at the bottom of the brooder, which is what the royal nose was smelling.
It's times like these when I'm glad someone invented gloves.
The sand I replaced it with is dusty... but... it does live up to its promise to retain heat. And I believe with a cat litter scoop I can clean the droppings more easily. The water also evaporates so when the ducks (the little culprits) splash the water out, so it won't cause that same kind of nastiness. All in all, not perfect but better.
One change for the future, I need a coarser grain. My choices were limited and I had to do something so I did what I could.
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