Disabled Chickens Forum

[TwoCrows]

It is not, nor has it been my intent to be disrespectful to others; I respect everyone here whether we agree or not. I find BYC to be one of the most helpful and respectful sites I have ever been privileged to be a member of...and I find the moderators, including you, to be engaged, kind and helpful.

I think one improvement that can be made when decisions are being made is that those that do not have experience in the area that is being decided, should recuse themselves from "voting", and people who are "weighing in" on the posts should do the same. I am sorry if I was provoked because another member said another forum was not needed, when the only experience they had was to cull disabled birds.

I understand a decision has been made, and it is your teams decision to make.

Tricia, we get where you are coming from for sure. This decision to not create a new forum has nothing to do with our lack of understanding of what it's like to own a disabled bird, I for one have had several of them over the years. It's a difficult, confusing and heartbreaking situation. However what this decision boils down to is that the difference between disabled, injured and illness is quite a grey subject especially for new poultry owners, even us seasoned folks. You are a greeter, you see how these new members don't know where to post their questions, some don't even know to click on links we provide for them. So what's going to happen is new members will post emergency issues in the disabled forums confusing injury with a disablity. Some of these injuries may be life threatening, this improper thread or post placement could cost the bird it's life.

Over the course of keeping many chickens over a long period of time, so many of us have or will encounter disabled chickens. We are not trying to alienate those with chickens that need special care, its just more helpful to those with disabled birds to create a thread where they can share and help each other with this common bond of compassion and great knowledge and still keep it simple for those with ill or injured birds to post in our Emergency forums. Hopefully this makes sense.

 

[triciayoung]

Tricia, we get where you are coming from for sure. This decision to not create a new forum has nothing to do with our lack of understanding of what it's like to own a disabled bird, I for one have had several of them over the years. It's a difficult, confusing and heartbreaking situation. However what this decision boils down to is that the difference between disabled, injured and illness is quite a grey subject especially for new poultry owners, even us seasoned folks. You are a greeter, you see how these new members don't know where to post their questions, some don't even know to click on links we provide for them. So what's going to happen is new members will post emergency issues in the disabled forums confusing injury with a disablity. Some of these injuries may be life threatening, this improper thread or post placement could cost the bird it's life.

Over the course of keeping many chickens over a long period of time, so many of us have or will encounter disabled chickens. We are not trying to alienate those with chickens that need special care, its just more helpful to those with disabled birds to create a thread where they can share and help each other with this common bond of compassion and great knowledge and still keep it simple for those with ill or injured birds to post in our Emergency forums. Hopefully this makes sense.

I hear you and understand your point; however, I see it differently. We, as people, know the difference between an emergency (something requiring immediate attention), and a chronic disability. Removing disabilities from the emergencies will allow those with good medical experience to be focused on the real emergencies.

Those of us with disabled birds are not an emergency, in fact, most of the time, we are not even looking for medical advice; we are looking for resources to make our lives easier and give our disabled bird the best life possible. In the case of my disabled barred olive egger, feeding techniques, wheelchairs, ways to keep them busy when we cannot be with them, bedding to prop when there is only one leg, etc...

 

[TwoCrows]

. We, as people, know the difference between an emergency (something requiring immediate attention),

Yes those of us that have disabled birds know the difference, we are experienced enough to recognize an injury, or illness vs a disability. But many people don't know what they have going on with their birds and its these members that need a clear cut understanding of where to post their questions.

 

[casportpony]

Of the staff, do any have disabled chickens?

Yes. My most disabled are my one-winged peacock and a Brahma hen with a severe cross beak.

 

[N F C]

Re: the question of any staff having a disabled chicken...

I also had a disabled bird in my FL flock. She was DH's favorite, and lived a happy full life.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Of the staff, do any have disabled chickens?

I also have had disabled birds. Some received long term care from me, and others we have culled. It all depended on the quality of life.

 

[Allsfairinloveandbugs]

I have been watching both this thread and the current "Special Needs Poultry Poll' with great interest. When I first began reading BYC posts 9+ years ago, if a chicken had any type of handicap or disability at all, advice from many was often "put it down." I still see this occasionally, especially if someone makes the "mistake" of asking if they should try to save their bird's life. But I also see Much more encouragement "to give the bird a chance to live." Since a separate forum has been ruled out for now, a specialized thread would offer affirmation, encouragement and advice to those wishing to care for disabled birds. I think that the current idea to have a separate forum for disabled birds may be ahead of its time, but also think that time may one day come. The numbers of new members signing up with BYC are incredible, and many of those individuals exclaim in their new member introductions how they have completely fallen in love with their chickens. These new members clearly view their birds as pets and not livestock, and will likely want to care for their birds even if they become disabled in the future.

Over two years ago, I made a thread on the Energencies forum about my hen who sustained severe frostbite to both feet. The helpful advice and emotional support I received from BYC members during her care and recovery was incredible. After she recovered, it didn't feel right to continue to post updates in her thread on the Emergencies forum, even though the loss of both feet left her permanently disabled. I see that as an example of how aftercare for disabled birds is different and separate from the initial emergency. For this reason I really like the idea of some type of specialized thread, with categories separated into specific disabilities similiar to the current Special Needs Poultry Poll created by @casportpony . For instance, I also have a hen with moderately severe crossbeak, had a hen that was born blind, and had a pullet born with the inability to use her wings to fly up onto a roost. It would have been extremely helpful to converse with others that were also caring for birds with similiar disabilities.

 

[Chikenshiken]

I believe there are many members with disabled and geriatric limited mobility chickens that need a place to go to ask questions and share ideas with others experiencing the same challenges.

While I understand there may be a reluctance to add another forum, I would ask you to consider this request analogous to the "raising baby chicks" forum. Raising baby chicks could be in "managing your flock" or specific to feeding and water issues; in "feeding and watering your flock". My guess is that it a separate category because almost everything about raising chicks is different than when the chicks become adults. The same is true for the disabled chicken, how and where they sleep, what they eat, housing, security, wheelchairs and other aids to get around; all of it is different than the healthy non-disabled chicken.

I just adopted my second disabled hen. She is unable to walk. Sometimes she can hop but not far. I spent a considerable amount of time using the search function on BYC to find others who were raising disabled chickens to get ideas about how to improve her quality of life. I found some after an hour of searching, but this is not a sustainable method for getting help for these special chickens. I was more successful finding resources on Google.

Yes please!!! I’ve had a disabled duck I’ve had for 2 years now who only recently lost his ability to walk after a raccoon attack that took the life of his brother. I found that vets and people around me all urged me to put him down but I thought of it as a miracle that I alone was able to save him from his very severe raccoon bites and broken legs, which as well all know has a very high rate of infection. I worked hard to save him and now I see he still finds happiness in swimming with his girlfriend and eating his favorite foods and scratches on his ears. I am incredibly happy I did not go through in everyone else’s suggestions. It would be lovely to have a forum where we can discuss ways to help elevate the quality of living for disabled poultry! As I’m sure many of us with disabled animals sometimes worry about their quality of living and what we could do to help them. So it would be nice for an easy place to reach out to those with similar poultry with disabilities and see what they have done. It’s also just a sense of community since there’s not as much information as I’d like there to be in carrying for disabled poultry as for the most part, everyone’s solution just seems to be to put them down. Whatever your opinion may be on disabled poultry, those who do have them should have a sense of comfort in community with others too so we can not only help ourselves but our animals

 

[Geena]

I think one improvement that can be made when decisions are being made is that those that do not have experience in the area that is being decided, should recuse themselves from "voting", and people who are "weighing in" on the posts should do the same. I am sorry if I was provoked because another member that said another forum was not needed, when the only experience they had was to cull disabled birds.

Just because their opinion differs from yours does not negate their experience in such matters. @dawg53 has just come to a different conclusion as to what the best way is for them personally to deal with chickens that would be permanently disabled. Many here have come to that same conclusion after having tried several times to manage disabled birds and felt that it was not worthwhile for them or the poor bird.

Seems to me that everyone here should have equal rights to vote on and/or weigh in on whatever is of interest to them. How would one go about determining who is fit or not fit, or experienced enough, to post about a particular topic anyway?
If only "qualified" people were allowed to post, the post count here would instantly drop by at least 80%

As far as the new forum goes, a lot of us here have special interests and no particular forum that is specific to them. I understand how you feel and agree it would be very helpful to those who have disabled chickens, but it would just be impossible for BYC to cater to each and every one's varied interests.

 

[dawg53]

Thank you Geena, well said.
I AM experienced with disabilities, since I'm a 20% disabled Navy veteran.