I thought I would start a thread for people to share stories, advice, suggestions, and questions about the care of disabled poultry, as I have heard they are actually fairly common.
The disability may be blindness, partial-paralysis, an old injury, a missing leg or wing, a head injury or even something as simple as allergies. We ourselves have had a few chickens with disabilities in the past and it is always difficult to care for them, but so worth it to give them a chance to fight as well.
I'll start with our two chickens that had paralysis. Both had to be put down when they didn't heal, which was very sad, but I did my best to keep them happy for the time they were alive and both were very sweet.
Amber is a cross-bred bantam pullet who suddenly went paralyzed in one leg at about 4 weeks of age, then the other. She could not stand up and it panicked her quite badly. I carried her around a lot to keep her calm and comfortable, and would place her in a cage with food and water while outside. She would scream when she tried to walk because she would fall on her face, her legs not doing what she wanted. When I would lift her she would hold them out stiffly, as seen in the photo. She couldn't balance to drink, so I would feed her and give her water by hand. She was very sweet and I wish I could have had the time or money to help her more. However, I have heard of people creating slings for paralyzed chickens and nursing them back to complete health!
We had just gotten new chicks and I let Amber rest in the pen with them so she could be around others of her kind. She didn't stay with the, though, as chicks tend to be rough with anyone who is weak.
My other chicken with the same problem, and our first disabled chicken, was Spritle. He was a cross-breed from our far but he may have been the one that we assisted in hatching. He was very sweet and lived up in my room in a cage. However, after a long while of him not healing, we had to put him down. I believe we had another similar chicken that had this issue, but it doesn't seem to be marek's as none of the other flock members are showing any symptoms of it (and we have a large flock of various breeds, ages and both roosters and hens).
Not all stories end badly, I'm going to share soon the story of Mavis, the pullet who got brain damage and lived in our basement. She might have walked in circles a lot, but she was so cuddly and cute also.
The disability may be blindness, partial-paralysis, an old injury, a missing leg or wing, a head injury or even something as simple as allergies. We ourselves have had a few chickens with disabilities in the past and it is always difficult to care for them, but so worth it to give them a chance to fight as well.
I'll start with our two chickens that had paralysis. Both had to be put down when they didn't heal, which was very sad, but I did my best to keep them happy for the time they were alive and both were very sweet.
Amber is a cross-bred bantam pullet who suddenly went paralyzed in one leg at about 4 weeks of age, then the other. She could not stand up and it panicked her quite badly. I carried her around a lot to keep her calm and comfortable, and would place her in a cage with food and water while outside. She would scream when she tried to walk because she would fall on her face, her legs not doing what she wanted. When I would lift her she would hold them out stiffly, as seen in the photo. She couldn't balance to drink, so I would feed her and give her water by hand. She was very sweet and I wish I could have had the time or money to help her more. However, I have heard of people creating slings for paralyzed chickens and nursing them back to complete health!
We had just gotten new chicks and I let Amber rest in the pen with them so she could be around others of her kind. She didn't stay with the, though, as chicks tend to be rough with anyone who is weak.
My other chicken with the same problem, and our first disabled chicken, was Spritle. He was a cross-breed from our far but he may have been the one that we assisted in hatching. He was very sweet and lived up in my room in a cage. However, after a long while of him not healing, we had to put him down. I believe we had another similar chicken that had this issue, but it doesn't seem to be marek's as none of the other flock members are showing any symptoms of it (and we have a large flock of various breeds, ages and both roosters and hens).
Not all stories end badly, I'm going to share soon the story of Mavis, the pullet who got brain damage and lived in our basement. She might have walked in circles a lot, but she was so cuddly and cute also.