Show us your special needs chickens...:)

[TheSpiceGirls]

Awe, you are all such good people to take such good care of your chickens.

I don't have any special needs chickens. But I get grief from people all the time for spoiling them like I do. I tell them that I'm trying to right so many of the injustices we've done against chickens, packing them into cages, leaving the lights on all night to increase egg production, never letting them see the day of light or scratch in the dirt.

They are so smart and such sensitive birds. I just love them to pieces.

 

[Dowie]

Quote:

 

[Miyashi]

This is Penelope!
She hatched from my very own birds.
I had an EE chick that I picked up from TSC, she had a crooked face and was only a few hours old, so I took her home to give her a chance...her name was Penelope.
She didn't make it...we tried. We had 8 wonderful weeks together! She was a real sweet heart. Paid 45 dollars to have her euthanized.
That's just how I am.
Anyhow...this chick was born a few months later and her coloring was the same!
I couldn't help but think my little girl came back...so I named her Penelope too...
About a week later, her face went wonky too.
I thought I cursed her.
She is now one of the top dogs in the coop.
She was the first baby to start using the perch.
I just have to trim her beak with my dremmel every couple of weeks.
^_^
She is such a lover.
We have one on one time together where she gets her own treats. It takes her longer to pick things up, so if I give them to her by herself, she has a better chance of getting some!
I'll get better pictures of her tomorrow.
This one is about 2 months old.
(She has no trouble with the layer crumbles, she scoops those up just fine. She's a smart girl. The treats just take longer. Didn't want anyone thinking she only eats occasionally or anything!)

 

[maizy'smom]

This is my Sylvie and her "wicked cross-beak." She was the same as her brooder-mates up till about 2 weeks old. That's when we first noticed a slight misalignment. Since then, it has progressed and is now pretty much stable. We now accommodate her needs by feeding her in a deep crock and adding water to her feed to make it porridge-like, so she can get more of it in her mouth. Of course, she also gets more of it ON her, all over her head, neck and chest. So we also need to keep her clean, too.

mm

 

[Peaches Lee]

Wonderful share everyone!

Miyashi--interesting story, maybe she did come back to you!

 

[luvmy33chicks]

This is Nemo
its a boys name from the cartoon movie finding nemo but with her little twisted foot the name just fit
the nemo character in the movie has what they call a lucky fin
she was given to me by the woman who hatched her
saud she thinks the humidity being off in the incubator caused it
she is the sweetest little thing
i think her vision is off also
when she free ranges she pecks more dirt then treats but we love her just the same

 

[cyanne]

I need to get some pics to upload of my two cross-beak girls! One was hatched from my own flock and is a funny mix of brabanter and ?. Her cross beak is pretty severe, but through some stroke of luck it grew out in a shape that makes it fairy easy for her to eat as long as we keep one feeder filled with crumbles instead of pellets.

The other was an EE I bought at the feedstore. Her cross beak is the worst I have seen and it grows in the worst possible way. She is now unable to eat any solid food, even crumbles. I have to feed her a liquid diet of crumbles blended with water, olive oil (for extra calories), and Kaytee Exact hand feeding formula for baby birds. Poor thing is so skinny because she has trouble getting enough to eat. I've been going back and forth on whether to have her euthanized. Recently did a pretty dramatic beak trim, cutting off her upper beak almost back to the nostrils to try to make it possible for her to eat on her own. The upper beak used to curve down and completely blocked food from getting into her mouth. Now she can eat wet food, but unless she can start putting on weigh I don't know...poor baby is just so sweet and spunky. Always comes running when I bring her special food.

 

[Magic Birdie]

Special needs chickens seem so much cuter...

 

[quintinp]

We have a special needs parrot, It is my mom's bird, he has a splayed leg. The pet store owners were apparently lazy, because this sort of thing can be fixed if caught early. I am guessing that the owners left cody in his nesting box with his sister so the parents would feed him, because if they tried to fix his leg early on they would have had to hand feed cody. They never hand fed any of their birds either.

I also forgot to mention that he has an inverted toe.

 

[b.hromada]

I'm so happy this thread was started. I've got 2 sweet babies that have "bum legs" too. They don't seem to be in any pain, I just feel bad for them also. I know that I've seen wild birds with disabilities, and they seem to do fine. When we went to the feed store two weeks ago, they had these two little pullets there, and we got them for free, or else they would have ended up dead, or snake food!!

So I let my daughters take them, and I also purchased a Cuckoo Marans pullet too. I am going to keep up with this thread to see what other "Special needs" babies are out there! Thanks everyone!