Help bone deformity & feeding questions

[kelly77]

Ok so I have other posts that I posted looking for help in identifying my young chicken's foot issue which I thought was Bumble foot, today however (because this whole issue started by him limping) I checked out his entire leg and noticed his upper leg seems to be deformed..there is a hard mass of bone sticking out around the knee joint...this is also on the part of his foot that is closest to his leg. SO I started doing my research on Google and found an article on crooked keel bone deformity. Now I feel horribly guilty that this could be my fault because I was an uneducated first time chicken owner; we did feed the 6 of this clutch the started but we never feed them the finisher or grower...the are 4 months now and have been on layer. Problem was they all grew up in the coop w the adult chickens so I didn't know how to feed them. So now my questions are
1. since they never got the finisher can I start them on some now or is the damage done?
2. Is this condition correctable by magnesium? If so where do I find that?
3. How do you feed birds that are all different ages different food that are housed together?
Thank you for your help

 

[BantamLover21]

Ok so I have other posts that I posted looking for help in identifying my young chicken's foot issue which I thought was Bumble foot, today however (because this whole issue started by him limping) I checked out his entire leg and noticed his upper leg seems to be deformed..there is a hard mass of bone sticking out around the knee joint...this is also on the part of his foot that is closest to his leg. SO I started doing my research on Google and found an article on crooked keel bone deformity. Now I feel horribly guilty that this could be my fault because I was an uneducated first time chicken owner; we did feed the 6 of this clutch the started but we never feed them the finisher or grower...the are 4 months now and have been on layer. Problem was they all grew up in the coop w the adult chickens so I didn't know how to feed them. So now my questions are
1. since they never got the finisher can I start them on some now or is the damage done?
2. Is this condition correctable by magnesium? If so where do I find that?
3. How do you feed birds that are all different ages different food that are housed together?
Thank you for your help

What breed of chicken is he? I've never used grower or finisher; just starter until they began laying, and have never had any problems. At least from what I've read, finisher is usually only used on meat chickens, like broilers. I doubt that whatever is wrong with him is your fault--its probably just a genetic/hereditary deformity. A photo of the bone mass might help me figure out what is wrong, and/or how to correct it. Can he get around relatively fine, despite the leg?

There are a few options when trying to feed birds of different ages that are housed together. When I have young birds with already laying hens, I just feed them all starter or gamebird feed until the pullets start laying eggs. I provide free choice oyster shell or crushed egg shell so the hens can supplement themselves with calcium, if necessary. If there is a way to do it, you could also partition off part of the coop for the younger birds in order to keep them out of the older birds' feed.

 

[kelly77]

What breed of chicken is he? I've never used grower or finisher; just starter until they began laying, and have never had any problems. At least from what I've read, finisher is usually only used on meat chickens, like broilers. I doubt that whatever is wrong with him is your fault--its probably just a genetic/hereditary deformity. A photo of the bone mass might help me figure out what is wrong, and/or how to correct it. Can he get around relatively fine, despite the leg?

There are a few options when trying to feed birds of different ages that are housed together. When I have young birds with already laying hens, I just feed them all starter or gamebird feed until the pullets start laying eggs. I provide free choice oyster shell or crushed egg shell so the hens can supplement themselves with calcium, if necessary. If there is a way to do it, you could also partition off part of the coop for the younger birds in order to keep them out of the older birds' feed.

He is a Silkie-Frizzle mix and there was inner breeding. A few of them have 2 claws on 1 toe, that was another thought that I had that it was genetic. I wish I had checked the leg n foot before the limping but of course I had no reason to. I have a picture of the foot mind you the red spot is from where I cut because I thought it was Bumble foot then I discovered the same lump bone mass above his knee. I dont think a picture of his leg would show considering all his feathers. He does get around fine with the others I am just being overly concerned because they are my babies ...he has been getting spoiled and getting in house time.

but you can see the 2 claws on that thumb toe..this bump is hard like bone not soft like bumble foot