Normal... or Unique.

[AnimalsComeFirst]

How do you know if they have a twisted back because my americana's tell twists to the side like your chickens does! They are soooo cute though! Thank you for helping them out!!

She walks very twisted like... she sometimes walks in circles cause her spinal cord is shifted to the right and her legs are somewhat discombobulated too... i have a bad feeling that it is gonna be permanent and can't be fixed.

 

[Desirai]

People seem to think that the only purpose a chicken has is to lay eggs for us. For US. No, they don't. They have been bred to do nothing but lay eggs. But they are still living creatures.
If my chickens never gave me an egg, it would not make me love them any less. I wanted chickens not for eggs, but for the experience of having them. They are friendly and social. Laying eggs is a bonus.

... but they always end each conversation with, "You should really get some young, egg laying chickens!"

 

[AnimalsComeFirst]

X2. I wouldn't love my chickens any less either, if none of them are laying, and right now only 2/5 are laying, and I don't care! So there! I love my chickens for their personalitys and emotions, not eggs!

People seem to think that the only purpose a chicken has is to lay eggs for us. For US. No, they don't. They have been bred to do nothing but lay eggs. But they are still living creatures.
If my chickens never gave me an egg, it would not make me love them any less. I wanted chickens not for eggs, but for the experience of having them. They are friendly and social. Laying eggs is a bonus.

 

[littleredhen90]

I work at a local farmers co-op, and we carry chicks during chick season. Im the one that takes home all the "special" ones that would be culled otherwise. And most of them grow up to be happy and healthy! All it takes is a little TLC, and my special chickens some with crooked legs, some with deformed beaks and one with only one leg to hop on are by far my favorites of the group!!

 

[BirdyMe]

I love your beautiful hens, AnimalsComeFirst! And I love your blog as well! I love seeing how Gloria and the Ladies are all doing.

I work with the chicks at the feed mill around here, and anytime there's a sicky, or a deformed one, I take them home. I also rescue community roosters that people are getting rid of, and old hens that nobody wants anymore. And I love every single last one of them.

 

[Snowygirl]

That's amazing!! Thank you for giving such awesome chickens a home!!!!

AND, unique, is so much better than 'normal'!!!! Gotta love 'em!!

 

[ange92040]

AND, unique, is so much better than 'normal'!!!! Gotta love 'em!!

 

[ChickenPeep]

You're right. Great for you to help them! People like you are what there chickens need.

I love your girls!

 

[Milk Glass Chicky]

I love reading about and looking at pictures of your animals too! Yes, just what in this world is truly "normal"? Some creatures simply have some greater needs than others, but when someone mentions "normal" in that manner, that's about like saying something is "perfect", as in there's no flaws of some kind. Everyone has flaws.

The word "normal" is misused and abused, that's what it is. I hope whomever said that about your chickens at least some sense not to say that about someone's child, though they may not view that as the same. It is the same thing as far as I'm concerned.

Someone once said something about my cousin when she was a baby. She was about five or sixth months old, healthy and beautiful, and this woman said to me (while the child's mother wasn't around), "Kinda big, ain't she?"

Like she was too big, and she was a little (though healthy) thing, really! I don't think I really said anything, I'm always caught off-guard about things like that; though this woman was a rather ignorant you-know-what, she also ran a local store, sold vegetables and such, I'm not sure what else since I never went in there as you could smell a stench from just outside the door. Mama said that Grandma said, "Don't ever go in there".

So consider the source, a lot of the time. The woman who said that about my cousin has since died.

In regard to animals, I don't believe anyone has ever said anything about any of ours that were less than "perfect". We had a beagle/hound/etc. mix who had a deformed front leg, but she was a dog that anybody could ever hope to have. Just as sweet, gentle, and easygoing as could be, but alert and protective when she needed to, not to mention she could still run, dig, and play with the best of them. We rescued her from the pound when she was a puppy, along with several other mixes. Some died with parvo, others we had to give away as there were too many (it was over ten that we took home

). She was the only one we kept and stayed with us for ten years until she died in 2005.

But yes, the "perfect" word would surely be "unique"!

 

[pgpoultry]

I've had two hens with twisted spines (still got one). Both are or have lived normal lives, including egg laying and being broody.

I have chickens which also have different numbers of toes on their feet (4 on one and 5 on the other) and a number of other oddities.....they just make our flocks different from everybody else's.......viva la difference.