Official BYC Poll: Special Needs Poultry

[fluffycrow]

Pretty girl. Sorry for your loss.

Thank you. She was my favorite, along with another bird. Her death wasn't the most peaceful thing at all, bit this is not what this thread is about

 

[casportpony]

My Cochin bantam had an over grown beak I had to keep trimmed

I've had some of those too.

and I had a Muscovy drake that lost his ability to walk when he turned 9 yrs old. I had to carry him to his enclosure and back to the coop at night even though he could not walk he was a happy boy with his original girls. He was just shy of 12 when he passed.

Poor boy. That's dedication carrying him twice a day for three years. Was he able to move at all?

 

[casportpony]

Sweet Pea.
She lost both her feet from frostbite. She was given to me when her feet turned black because the people no longer wanted her. She is only a year old. She lays a beautiful blue green egg almost every day.

Wow, look at her, she's pretty. Question - how does she get around, and do her leg stumps get pressure sores? If so, how do you handle that?

 

[Little Tala Bug]

We have a rooster, William, who lost an eye to a fight. He bonded with us while we treated his injuries and now he is completely tame and comes into the house for scritches when the weather is terrible.

We also have Boko, an pullet with a leg injury. No idea how she got it. We isolated her and treated for Mareks just in case, but I think she sprained it somehow. It has been 7 weeks since the injury and it has gotten much better, but the healing seems to have plateaued. She can get around just fine with this hilarious awkward gallop, and she flies more than the other chickens. When she finds a patch of greenery to forage in the yard she takes a few minutes and munches her leaves from a sitting position.

 

[rosemarythyme]

I've had a couple of crossbeaks, nothing severe though.

My Speckled Sussex Curly had a litany of issues. She was treated twice for wry neck, with one treatment session lasting 6 weeks as she couldn't pick her front end up at all and was basically eating and drinking and sitting with her face in the ground.

She had an extra toe on each foot, but not the type you'd usually see with fifth toes, it was more like an extra, very thick back toe on each side (you can see it on the left foot here), which also affected her balance - in fact she earned her name because she couldn't walk in a straight line and made curly-Qs to get from point A to B.

Her wings were deformed, like a split wing. It wasn't an issue at first but as she got older she could no longer get up on the roost without crashing and spent most of the night on the floor instead.

She made it to about 2 1/2 yrs old before I culled her since she was struggling to walk so badly that she was flopping from place to place. Surprisingly she did lay a few eggs in her time, which is more than I can say for some of my duds.

 

[Pampered chicken girl]

I have a crossbeak, one recovering from wryneck, and one that had splay leg if that counts

 

[21hens-incharge]

I have had a cross beaked hen. It was minor and she lived to 5&1/2 years old.
I have also had several that had crooked toes it caused minor limping but did not interfere with the bird being a bird.

 

[TwoCrows]

I have had a few geriatric birds over 11-12 years old that as they aged could not roost and had to sleep on the floor, regular beak and claw trimmings, went blind, had arthritis and required a special diet, heat on frigid days, etc...

Had 2 birds that had strokes, this one had Congestive Heart Failure and I had to drain her belly every few days for a couple of months... My sweet Tillie...

She lost the use of her legs so she lived in this tub with towels to support her so she wouldn't fall over. Daily I brought her inside to clean her up and change her bedding. She got goodies for being such a good girl after her clean up, she'd get so excited when I opened up the treat bag she'd nearly squirm right out of her tub! She was a happy girl all the time regardless of her condition, eventually she did pass away. Broke my heart to pieces.

 

[maeflower1992]

Wow, look at her, she's pretty. Question - how does she get around, and do her leg stumps get pressure sores? If so, how do you handle that?

She normally walks just fine on the stubs. She does flap her wings to help her go faster if she wants to run towards something. Like a treat lol.

She does occasionally get pressure sores. When she does I use vet wrap and gauze to make like a sock that covers her stump and up her legs. She used to have the little wrap socks on all the time. I would change them every few days or so because the wound of when her feet fell off kept opening up and I wanted to avoid infection.

When we first took the wraps off after she was healed it was only a few days and she had pressure sores. I hadn't thought about her getting sores. So after that we would only let her go a day or less without the wraps to slowly build up thicker skin.

 

[fluffycrow]

I have had a few geriatric birds over 11-12 years old that as they aged could not roost and had to sleep on the floor, regular beak and claw trimmings, went blind, had arthritis and required a special diet, heat on frigid days, etc...

Had 2 birds that had strokes, this one had Congestive Heart Failure and I had to drain her belly every few days for a couple of months... My sweet Tillie...
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View attachment 3610028

She lost the use of her legs so she lived in this tub with towels to support her so she wouldn't fall over. Daily I brought her inside to clean her up and change her bedding. She got goodies for being such a good girl after her clean up, she'd get so excited when I opened up the treat bag she'd nearly squirm right out of her tub! She was a happy girl all the time regardless of her condition, eventually she did pass away. Broke my heart to pieces.

I'm so sorry for your loss