Rumpless Ameraucana chick??

[rhodiegal]

I recently received 2 Ameraucana chicks from a hatchery. One of the chicks looks like his back is too short - or there is no tail. It looks alot different than the other one. This chick was also a bit sickly at first with curled up toes on one foot. Could this just be a deformed chick or is it possible that a 'rumpless' gene from way back has shown itself (I have no clue about poultry genetics/breeding)? I would post pictures, but for the life of me, I cannot get it to work following the directions.

 

[Anne]

It could be deformed or not developing properly, or it could be rumpless. Occasionally people do get rumpless birds from hatchery stock, I think some hatcheries have a few rumpless breeders. As the chick grows, it will become apparent whether or not it is rumpless. How old is it now?

 

[Ol'FashionHen]

I have found that most of my darker in color Ameraucanas, do have a defect of curled toes, one of my girls toes on one foot were so curled .. the poor thing.
But all my blue's have straight toes no defects!

 

[rhodiegal]

The chick is 4 days old. The other chick of the same breed has a very defined tail area. This one has absolutely nothing. It looks like it's back is missing vertebrae or something!

As for the curled toes - the fact that she has that and was a bit listless at first did make me think it was just a chick that had some problems. It has perked up now - I did not think it would make it at first. I was a bit surprised they sent me a chick with a foot all curled up like that - you would think they would notice.