Not an injury; 'Tag' on chick's jaw.

[WVduckchick]

Update! One week old today. I think bi-weekly should work for updates.

Progression;

Egg set 6-6-18, Hatched 6-27-18.

Weight on 6-27-18: 33 grams.
Weight on 6-30-18: 38 grams.
Weight on 7-4-18: 54 grams. Growing well!

The tag is indeed growing larger, and remains attached to the skin, easily manipulated at the point of connection, but firm and sensitive to pressure on the body of the tag itself. I am starting to think that it will continue to grow like beak and toenail material, which is what it resembles. I've tentatively dubbed the chick 'It'.

Photo of tag;
View attachment 1455597

Photo of chick overall;
View attachment 1455598

The chicks are all doing marvelously and growing fast, loving their freedom out in the integration pen.

It looks like a toenail!
Beautiful chick though. I hope it continues to be a non-issue. Have you considered how you would remove it, if it ever seems to be a problem?

 

[Zinjifrah]

It looks like a toenail!
Beautiful chick though. I hope it continues to be a non-issue. Have you considered how you would remove it, if it ever seems to be a problem?

It does - someone suggested that it might be just that, a glitch in the genes that caused a toenail to grow in the wrong spot, but it was pretty large at hatching for a toenail! If it becomes a problem, at this point I'll snip it off with dog toenail clippers. If it gets too large, that won't be viable - but there's a vet that passes through this area who I can set up with to have it surgically removed, possibly cauterized to ensure it doesn't grow back. I'm capable of doing that myself, if I have to... but I prefer to stick with doing exploratory surgeries on myself, not my animals!

 

[Redhead Rae]

 

[Brahma Chicken5000]

To me it looks similar to the appendage that tufted Araucanas have.

 

[Zinjifrah]

To me it looks similar to the appendage that tufted Araucanas have.

I'm not sure what appendage you mean - it's not a breed I'm familiar with. Got a photo?

 

[Brahma Chicken5000]

I'm not sure what appendage you mean - it's not a breed I'm familiar with. Got a photo?

The appendage is called a peduncle. It is where the feather tufts grow from. Google has been unhelpful in trying to locate a picture.

 

[WVduckchick]

The appendage is called a peduncle. It is where the feather tufts grow from. Google has been unhelpful in trying to locate a picture.

Very interesting! I never knew that.

 

[WVduckchick]

I did find this description on an Araucana site.

Tufts (genetically Et) are dissimilar in appearance to the muffs and beards in other breeds, most notably the Ameraucana to which they are related. Tufts technically called peduncles (gene Et, autosomal dominant), appear as upturned feathers, that protrude near the ear on the birds. They are basically an organ attached to the bird’s body that protudes or flowers in stalk-like manner. This explains why they are either there or not — they do not appear as the bird ages but are there from the start

 

[Brahma Chicken5000]

I did find this description on an Araucana site.

Tufts (genetically Et) are dissimilar in appearance to the muffs and beards in other breeds, most notably the Ameraucana to which they are related. Tufts technically called peduncles (gene Et, autosomal dominant), appear as upturned feathers, that protrude near the ear on the birds. They are basically an organ attached to the bird’s body that protudes or flowers in stalk-like manner. This explains why they are either there or not — they do not appear as the bird ages but are there from the start

Great find!

 

[Zinjifrah]

I did find a few different descriptions - the most common are 'A fleshy, finger-like appendage', or 'A flap of skin'. It can just be the peduncle without any feathers growing from it, according to a few places, such as this site -

http://www.browneggblueegg.com/Article/TuftGeneHatchability.html

However, after taking a look I don't think that's what it is.

1) This isn't really 'fleshy' - it's more like a chunk of beak or toenail. Hard.

2) It's growing where I would normally expect a wattle to come in, or just inside that, rather than on the earlobe. This is a pretty tenuous reason, since apparently they can grow in different locations - even internally (See above linked site).

3) The only rooster the lady I got them from has is a standard Cochin - which is confirmed in all the chicks having feathered legs - and while she does have an EE, it lays a large blue egg. She called it 'Americana'... I didn't debate the term, but I'm going to assume it's an EE. The huge (69 gram) light brown egg with bacteria in it she said 'sounded like it was from that black hen', so that makes the 'unidentified black' hen an unlikely source, which does leave an 'unidentified buff hen' as a possible unknown source of Araucana genes. Other than that, she has a RIR and some Cochin hens.