Chick with deformed wing

[uisceros]

Little Nemo is doing well! The little wing is still a bit messed up - the keratin sheaths are still on the feathers so it looks raggedy, but otherwise the chick seems fine. Still a bit tilted as well, but running around and eating like normal. I’m really interested to see the feather pattern develop. Up until now I’ve only hatched blue/black Seramas, so this will be a fun one!

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Is a cutie! Hope you will continue to post as it grows.

 

[SirPecksALot]

Aww, Nemo's a perfect name! Please keep posting pictures as they grow!

 

[uisceros]

Hi all! I come with a new update on little Nemo.

Overall it’s doing good! Growing, playing with its siblings, and acting like a mostly normal chick. It’s eye on the bad side is a little goopy sometimes, and it still leans a bit to the right, but overall good enough that I am mostly confident it’ll be a normal chicken one day!

I’m starting to suspect that this little thing might be some sort of chimera, or at least dealing with some weird genetics. One wing is normal smooth feathers, the other smaller wing looks like silkied feathers…

Nemo’s dad Beans was bought as an egg from someone selling fertilized silkied serama eggs. Beans was the only one that hatched, and was a smooth serama. I suspect the eggs he came from weren’t really silkied Seramas (but actually a Silkie/Serama cross breed, based off some of Beans offspring having feathered legs and five toes, which as far as I can tell is NOT a serama thing). Maybe Nemo’s Silkie genes are really strong!

Either way, here’s the little guy (or girl, can’t tell yet). It’s just under a month old, and is very much in an awkward stage!

Here you can really see the feather differences on the two wings:

I am not sure why a white chick is now turning brown, but Serama feather genetics are weird

Also bonus Tater Tot (hatched a day after Nemo - Tater is the one with five toes, and the one I suspect is a cockerel based off it’s comb)

 

[tinychicky]

How is Nemo doing now?

 

[uisceros]

How is Nemo doing now?

He’s doing really well! Looks completely different than he did as a hatchling, and still has a bit of a weird head tilt, but seems to be thriving!

He’s about two months old now (or will be on Feb 6th), and I’m pretty sure he’s a little cockerel based off his comb development (I hatched four, and got three cockerels! Luckily I have the space for a tiny Serama bachelor flock). He can’t fly with his weird right wing, but he doesn’t really need to

Still thinking he might be a chimera based off how half of him is so odd looking, but who knows!

 

[rosemarythyme]

Still thinking he might be a chimera based off how half of him is so odd looking

That very much looks to be the case given the sharp divide between the two "halves." It'll be very cool to see what he looks like when older!

 

[JacinLarkwell]

That very much looks to be the case given the sharp divide between the two "halves." It'll be very cool to see what he looks like when older!

I wonder if that is also why one wing is smaller than the other.

 

[tinychicky]

I agree it seems likely! Very cool! I wonder if others have experienced chimera chickens before.

 

[tlcmurphy]

He is the coolest looking little guy with his lucky wing