Bent/crooked toe?!?!?

[wyo-helpmeet]

I noticed last night that my EE "roo" has a crooked toe. It doesn't seem to affect his walking & when I touch it, it doesn't bother him. The other foot, the same one is slightly bent, but nowhere near as bad. Any ideas what might be the problem? None of the other chicks have this....

These are the best pics I could snap of the little turd, LOL

 

[mikescanlon]

i had a wellsummer rooster with the same problem, i just let him be, didn't let him breed anymore, and well, just let nature run it's course, he seemed happy about it.

 

[wyo-helpmeet]

But what is it? Do you know?

 

[urbanlayers]

We have a chicken that had that problem, only it was an injury from when she was young. My two year old tried to pick her up and ended up breaking her toe. She's fine, never had any problem with it.

 

[threehorses]

Quote:
Sometimes it has to do with diet, sometimes it's inherited. If you're breeding for show, just don't breed babies that have this trait. Otherwise it's usually harmless.

 

[wyo-helpmeet]

Quote:
Sometimes it has to do with diet, sometimes it's inherited. If you're breeding for show, just don't breed babies that have this trait. Otherwise it's usually harmless.

We won't be breeding for show. Basically we're not supposed to have roos. Hubba & I have decided we're going to try to keep one. The roo I want to keep, though is a DOLL (I posted him on my shoulder in the pics forum- post is called "He Loves me"), and unfortunately it's not the one pictured. I have 2 ppl that want my extra roos, so can I give him to one of them with a good conscience? Can he still breed, just not for show, or should he not be bred at all? I don't want to get rid of him "THAT" way, but I can't keep him, and I don't want to give him to someone if it's not healthy.

Thank you all for your replies!!!

 

[threehorses]

Oh sure he can breed.

He's healthy, he's just possibly not a show breeder. Otherwise he'd be fine!

 

[wyo-helpmeet]

FABULOUS! Thank you. I'll let them know (whichever family gets him) about this.

 

[Fergie]

A couple of years ago we had a Delaware cockerel chick that had a curled toe. We made a splint type thing with clear strapping and medical tapes to force the toe straight as he grew. (We got the idea from an entry on this bulletin board!) He was the only one in a batch of chicks we hatched who had this problem. It helped quite a bit. The times we didn't splint him, it started curling again. It impacted his balance a bit, we noticed, but really it didn't matter at all. We read that he shouldn't be bred, as it can be a genetic thing which is passed on.

 

[HippieChickens]

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