I am new and have a question and was advised by The Cottage Smallholder site in UK to come here and ask so here goes 1 We am new to chickens and we got 6 10 week old babies in June. They are not laying yet but think one or two are not far off. We do have one though called Peggy who has a deformed leg/knee/foot. The knee makes the leg bend outwards and the foot seems to be back to front. This has got worse as she has got bigger though she is smaller than the rest. She is a Speckled hybrid. We have one other speckled, two browns and two Blackrocks. Peggy is feeding well, drinking well and takes no hassle off anyone -in fact she is a bit of a bully especially when she wants the fresh food. She is very slow and looks awkward when moving around. We have checked the joints and doesnt seem to be causing her any pain and there is no swelling or heat. She struggles to get out of the coop in the morning as theknee bends the wrong way and she keeps kicking the side of theentrance if she is not positioned right then she seems to jump orfall rather than try toa comedown the ramp. Hubby wants to know if there is anything we can do such as splinting or strapping. A friend says any vet will want to put her to sleep but dont want to do this as she doesnt seem to be suffering or in pain. Cannot afford large vets bills for any ops either. Any suggestions what we can do if anything?? ps she is not clucking properly yet either but all the others have been for about a month Thank you
Many folks here have chickens with various deformities but who don't seem to be suffering. You would not be alone in providing the extra time and care this can require. Perhaps something on this link will help you: https://sites.google.com/a/poultrypedia.com/poultrypedia/poultry-podiatry
