I think I have a little Pterodactyl

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Ive heard of other chickens with leg issues using their wings to facilitate moving around. This little guy has extreme strength in him wings and does manage to move him self around, very limited though. I wish those toes could help his wings be used as "feet" for him. Wouldnt that be cool. I wonder if the toe nails will grow long since they most likely wont be used for digging. Ill keep and eye on them and report back for those interested.
 
I put a pic of his toe on one wing on my first post. Then a picture of him laying on my porch swing on a subsequent post, not sure of the number.

I think he is at least part Australorp but he came from a blue or blue green egg. I had a chicken die due to illness and then some were killed by a dog attack. I was so heartbroken that I gathered up all the colored eggs I had and put them under a broody. I guess he must be part EE also. My EE hens hatched from a friend's eggs were the only blue and blue-green egg layers I had. The hen I lost due to illness was an EE and I was hoping to get some that looked like her. Unfortunately I did not. All the babies turned out to have the look of Chickie, their dad, rather than to look like EEs


This is Chickie, the daddy.
 
My serama hen, May, has something simlar, but hers is much smaller, it is only a tiny toenail- like thing. Thanks for posting this as I was a bit worried when I found this on May, but now I think I know why this is. Birds are in therory descended from dinosaurs, a fact backed by the dinosaurs found with either down or true feathers. In the process of becoming birds, dinosaurs fingers became wing bones or dissapeared entirely, their teeth faded, and the bones which were already honey- combed became fused to save weight. It was found that during development, chicken embryos actually have teeth and a tail for a short time, so I don't see why a chicken couldn't have "fingers" on his wings, so I think this is a throw- back. Oh, and I hope your chicken does not have Mareks. Do you think it is a pullet or a cockerel?
 
Well I call Fluffy, "he." Again, his development is so far behind his sibs who are in crowing training and the female sibs should be laying soon. Im just not sure what is going on with him. He has so much movement, not paralyzed but his leg movement is non-productive. He prefers to lay with both legs stretched out behind him which forces his beak into the ground. I keep trying to correct his leg placement but to no avail. I call it Mareks but who knows. The hen who raised him and his sibs got some kind of paralysis mid raising them but she recovered long enough to finish the job. She resumed laying eggs then fell ill again and died a short time later. Both Fluffy and one other, BrightEyes, have this leg issue. I need to check BrightEyes for that weird toe on the wing thing. I havent been caring for her quite as closely as she really prefers being with the other chickens though in a safe box in the yard.
 
Fluffy is lucky to have such a caring owner! Related to the comments about traits of earliest birds, chicks of the Hoatzin (pronounced Watson), a South American bird, have two large claws on each wing.These can be used to climb back into their nest should they end up in the swampy area typically found below nesting sites. Hope Fluffy continues to make progress.
 

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