Special needs chickens contest

[fishnet1971]

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She is SO lucky to have you there for her! Nicely done. and thank you for giving her a special life that most people would not have. Those of us that have these special girls and boys know what it's like to have them. WE are the lucky ones! God Bless you.

 

[AllyRodrigues]

This was actually one of our first chickens. My 4 year old son has named him/her, "Brown Chicken". We didn't notice his/her cross beak at first. As he/she got older I assumed that it was a rooster because it was so forward. It turned out to be a "special hen" (we think). He follows us or the dog all over the yard, not caring about the rest of the flock. It will climb into your lap if you let it, and seems to like being carried around by our son. Now that the other hens are getting to the age of laying, this one still peeps like a chick and the rooster doesn't seem to be "interested" in it.

My husband would probably have eaten Brown Chicken if our son wasn't so attached to him, but now we all are. I catch my husband sneaking treats to it when he comes into the workshop and I even I give him his own tray of dried mealworms..I am a little worried, though, because it seems that as it grows, the beak problem is starting to hinder his ability to pick up food.

 

[QuinnP]

I need another crippled chicken in my life, so if anyone has one, PM me

 

[ramirezframing]

You will need to trim his beak every few weeks so he can eat and use deep dishes for food and water. my cross beak loves chick starter the best and he's over a year old

 

[sunny & the 5 egg layers]

Here is Poachy. She is an australorp and has crooked toes:

 

[artsyrobin]

hi everyone, this is Emily, a friend rescued her last spring and gave her to me, she lost her leg to frostbite,

she hatched a chick and they are best friends

and this is Red, a feedstore banty cochin, for some reason she never grew- she is now a house chicken and will snuggle under your arm-

 

[curious1969]

I had one hatch out this way a few years ago, unfortunately it only lived for a couple of weeks

It went everywhere with me, and also had to be handfed. I cried so hard when it passed away, but know it was happy while it was here!
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[Barrdwing]

I'm sorry to hear that you lost your little one, curious1969. There's another thread on the subject of chicks hatched without eyes (the address should be https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=520492 ). One of the posters fairly late in the thread listed a link to a study on microophthalmia in chicks which indicated that there's a much higher mortality rate with this mutation. A lot of the chicks involved died for no apparent reason. I think it was just dumb luck that Sonar pulled through; at the time I fully expected to lose her within two weeks, and was surprised as anything when she kept going. I'm sorry that things didn't work out with your chick, but it's really tough when you're working with a bird that might have a lethal gene ticking away in there. Sometimes even the best efforts can't bring them through.

 

[Sumatra503]

I now have a special needs chicken of my own. She was injured 2 weeks ago and I thought she was paralyzed. She can move her right leg, but not her left.

I heard that some of you had built carts for your special chickens. If so, can you post a picture of link to how to make one?

 

[Barrdwing]

Erk. I don't have a blueprint or a diagram at the moment, but I can describe what I built for Hoppy. I used regular pine 1X2s, "ripped" into 1X1 lengths. The cart consisted of a square base that held the axles, and an open box frame that supported the sling. The base was built to be the same width as the frame, but four inches longer; I did this to make it a little more stable, and to provide a support for food and water cups. The frame was built separately from the base, and attached to it with bolts.

The frame itself needed to be just a bit wider and longer than the body of the bird; I think it was two inches wider and four inches longer. The height required had to be just enough to let him get his good leg underneath him, so I hung him in a sling at different heights until I worked out what would be best. I had to take the wheels into account, too, and also how much sag the new sling would have.

The base was put together with Liquid Nails and reinforced with wood screws (Liquid Nails is not strong enough at all). I then measured and drilled holes on each side so that I could thread two lengths of piano wire through; these formed the axles. I put on model airplane wheels that I'd gotten from a crafts store. If you have a model airplane store near you, go over and talk to them about your axle design. When they get done laughing over the idea of a cart for a chicken, they usually have some really good information and how-to pointers on building the axles and putting the wheels on.

The frame was also put together with Liquid Nails and wood screws. I made the sides an inch taller than the front so that Hoppy could lean down and get into his food and water. I also left the cross-pieces long on the top wall of the front and back; this gave me tie-down points for the harness and sling.

The sling was just two pieces of fleece fabric with four layers of roll cotton batting sandwiched inside, with leg holes cut out and hemmed. I installed strips of linen along all four sides so that I could adjust the hang of the sling and draw it tight or loose. Be sure to leave a cutout V in the back for poops to fall through; that was a problem I had with the first design.

The harness I put on Hoppy was a simple loop around the neck, tied down to the front of the cart, and two long pieces of linen that passed over his body on either side of the tail, went under the back bar, around the corners, and tied in back. They kept him from pushing himself up and out of the sling: when he pushed up, he carried the cart forward. He really had no use of one leg at all and pretty poor use of the other, so he wasn't coordinated at all.

Looking this description over, it's a little confusing. Please let me know if you'd like more detail.

Good luck with your bird!