Name: Little Orpington Annie (yeah yeah, bad joke name
but it stuck)
Age: 3 weeks
Breed: Buff Orpington
How chicken got its handicap: She arrived this way from the Hatchery. I bought 4 other orpingtons from the people who ordered these chicks and about a week later they called and asked if I was serious about taking their injured chick. I work at a vet so we took an xray and it appears she has a dislocated hip that won't go back into place because of a birth defect causing the hip socket to be too shallow.
What makes your chicken special besides its defect: She is the chick that has made my 5 year old doberman decide that **maybe** all those chicks in the bathroom aren't evil aliens and that **maybe** she needs to watch over them. Annie likes to sit with me, prefers nesting in my hair. Morgan, my 5 year old dobe, wants to make sure she gets to check on her every so often and drives me crazy whining and pawing at me if I don't let her check on Annie whenever she sees fit. Annie also thinks anytime there is ANYTHING in my hand it must be a treat for her . . . .
I think Annie was about 2 weeks old in this picture, it was right after I got her. The leg that is all stretched out in front of her is the injured one. She hobbles around, tries to scratch, and seems happy to be here. It is hard to get a good picture of her standing up without my hand in it since we just took the brace off her legs again (tried treating it like spraddles since it wasn't hurting anything to try that) and she doesn't like to stand still right now, still learning to stand without having to readjust several times since her legs are free again. Holy cow, i'm long winded . . . sorry
Here is a semi-decent one of her standing, bad leg pointed out to the front
