Special needs chickens contest

[itspebbl]

The little Doms that got attacked and all are missing toes

 

[Mattsiewrt94]

This is Clyde when I got him as a chick, but this picture doesn't really show it but his tail is cricked and he has one swollen foot he's had it for months now he doesn't have bumble foot or anything it was like that when he was a chick. He as healthy as can be now tho lol

 

[6 littleHens]

Love this thread! Please keep it going with more pics and stories. I have a one year old buckeye with wry tail and a 6 day old chick with slipped tendon. I will post pics if I can remember how later, lol. <3

 

[tootsieroll1301]

still excepting?

 

[AV8RChick]

This is Hoppy, a golden-laced Polish/millefleur Belgian Bearded cross.  He's just under two years old now.  At six months old he was grabbed by a hawk, but it dropped him.  I found him hiding in the coop that evening, with the skin over his breast literally dangling and unable to put weight on his right leg.  Both legs had multiple deep puncture wounds and he was covered in punctures and lacerations.  We got his skin stitched back into place and started him on antibiotics, but unfortunately he went septicemic and that really left a mark on him.  Somehow we got him through that (his feathers grew in half white for a while), but he never did recover use of both legs and he lost several toes.  So . . . I built him this.

The frame is made out of scrap pine, the wheels are model airplane wheels (you should have seen the look I got from the hobby store clerk!), the axles are piano wire.  The parts of the frame that he can contact are padded with cotton batting and heavy fabric.  The sling is a double layer of fleece with cotton batting, and it is slung from the frame on strips of torn bedsheet; inelegant, but surprisingly effective.  He has food and water cups on the front. 


During the day Hoppy scoots around on our front walk if the weather is fine, on the porch if it's rainy, and he has his "nephew" Quercus in a nearby tractor for company.  He has gotten pretty good at going straight ahead, but the cart has no capacity for controlled turns (a significant design flaw, if you ask him).  He can't bring his left leg underneath him at all, so when he wants to move around he uses what is left of his right foot as a push, and flaps his wings.  He can get up a pretty good head of steam doing that.  At night he comes in, gets taken out of his cart, and is put to bed in a plastic tub on the washing machine.  He has the routine down by now; if I'm late bringing him inside, he scolds me, and he knows to lift himself off the ground a bit in order to be picked up. 


Hoppy has tons of personality, and is an attention sponge.  That he survived his injuries at all is amazing, but he and I made a deal:  if he wasn't going to give up, then neither was I.  He didn't give up, so here he is!

Barrdwing,
I was inspired by your chair as I have a special needs white leghorn rooster, Foghorn. I found a moving four wheeled cart thing at Harbor Freight for 3.99 and sort of modeled your design solving the wheel issue as the wheels on the moving dolly caster in all directions. Here are some photos of my design

Amy

 

[Barrdwing]

That's a great cart, AV8RChick! Using that dolly was a brilliant idea, and I bet Foghorn appreciates that he's not limited to just "forward" and "backward" mobility options. His cart's design is less hard on the feathers, too; another big plus.

I love seeing the creative ways people find to help not-quite-perfect birds live a better life.

Good on you, and thanks for posting!

 

[AV8RChick]

Thank you for the inspiration! I was beside myself watching him flop around. Thankfully I searched the site and found your post. My husband thinks I am nuts. It is nice to have folks of like mind to share ideas

 

[peacockfeather]

hi all, i have a 9+ week old chick born with a slipped tendon. she struggles a bit to get around. any ideas for a smaller scale 'wheelchair'? and how did you construct the middle piece for their legs? Please let me know

 

[AV8RChick]

The middle piece for the legs is just a work towel with slits cut in it for his legs. It is stapled to the sides of this chair. I got that at Harbor Freight too. I had a chick with a splayed leg ailment. I used a big yogurt container, not the individual serving size. I stapled cloth to the sides with cut outs for his legs. My goal was to get him to put weight on his legs so I wasn't concerned with him moving around. I suppose you could cut out the bottom of a small box or round container and try to attach small swivel wheels.

 

[AV8RChick]

Or if you have kids, check out some of their toys. They may be adaptable to a chick.