Topic of the Week - "Special Needs" Chickens

[Htxchicks]

I have my hen "Odin". Odin is a buff orphington, and she was left half blind by a rooster (we ate him).

I spent a full month hand feeding her several times a day and guarding her from the rest of the flock until she got a handle on eating.

She is my favorite girl, and is happy and healthy three years later, as long as I always throw the treats to her left

(Ps. Just kidding, she still gets handfed her treats.)

I have a half blind Odin too! Mine is an older gentleman I got when he was around 2 retired from a small scale breeder. He had been in a fight with an up and comer cockerel and lost a good portion of his sight in the eye. Luckily he is still great at watching over the ladies. He has lots of room now and much less competition.

 

[Htxchicks]

This is my special little chick. She was from my first ever hatch in may. She was normal at first. She got repeated bouts of cocci when her hatch mates never had any symptoms. I treated them all several times. She now has had chronic pendulous crop for months and nothing I’ve tried so far has gotten rid of it. I’m trying another round of worming and anti yeast cream. Her feathers are also missing on much of her body. From 6 weeks they started growing in curled and then broke off. although she has some new growth showing now. She’s very active and eats. I wish there was more I could do for her. She hates wearing a crop bra and the other chickens bother her when she wears it.

shes very alert and active she spends a lot of time close to the goose for protection.

 

[Sablehaven]

I have a half blind Odin too! Mine is an older gentleman I got when he was around 2 retired from a small scale breeder. He had been in a fight with an up and comer cockerel and lost a good portion of his sight in the eye. Luckily he is still great at watching over the ladies. He has lots of room now and much less competition.

He sounds like a very good boy I'm glad he has a nice peaceful life now, and I am delighted to know another half-blind Odin chicken

 

[Runzel]

View attachment 1078453
Pic by sumi​

By request I'm starting a topic of the week discussion this week for "special needs" chickens.. The flock members with crooked beaks, foot and/or leg issues, the stunted chicks, the blind chickens. The birds that some chicken keepers want to give a chance at living regardless and the ups and downs and how to's of taking care of them.

I know that many chicken owners feel that birds that are in any way physically challenged should be humanely euthanised, while others feel they should live, provided they can have some quality of life. The purpose of this discussion is for the chicken keepers that fall into the latter category. So let's keep this thread and discussion positive and Weeducational, please.

To get the discussion going, tell me about your special needs birds and how you take care of them and how you provide and work around the basics such as housing and feeding them. I'll share my own story in the thread.


https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/topic-of-the-week-thread-archive.72529/

We have a hen named Eileen hatched in a group of ten. She has a deformed wing and her legs are weak and crooked. We moved her from my daughters flock to our flock so she would be away from their rooster. We have put her in with our senior hens where she has gained strength and gets along well. She is very skittish when other hens come near so we feed her separately and allow her time with our pullets. She nests on the floor much like a duck would nest. Our birds have a special place in our hearts and we treat them as we would our dogs and cats. They provide us with eggs and each of them have their unique personalities. Some folks think we are weird but, hey, everyone has an opinion . As our birds age, we provide extra care for them and insure their lives are comfortable.

 

[That_australian_lad]

my hen snowflake got a respritoty illnes and it made her blind i let her live 1year and 7 months before she got taken by an unrelated illness (cancer)

 

[Emily26]

I have a 1 1/2 week old special buff orpington, again I was a bit embarrassed to take her to the vet because most people would just cull and get a new one, luckily my friend pushed me into it and made the appointment. One paperclip, vet tape and $75 later my chicken has a cute little leg splint.

I noticed Stevie (as in Stevie Nicks) wasn't bearing any weight on one leg at about 2 days old and the foot didn't look right. I originally thought some form of curly toe so I splinted the foot, but later realised it was her hock joint. To google I turned suspecting popped tendon but could not get any tendon in place. This was beyond me so to the vet I went. He reckoned it was a deformed joint so splinted in a more "natural" position. It's been on nearly a week and she still doesn't weight bear on it, more just uses it as a prop sometimes.
She gets around to eat and drink fine and she doesn't get bullied, she's just haphazard and rests more, I'm looking forward to raising her and see how she goes. I'd love to hear some stories of other one-legged chickens.

I've tried to upload pics but keeps saying "file invalid" you'll just have to take my word that she's very cute

 

[Araucana Nest]

If they don't die naturally and are not in severe anguish, they are cared for. I have a rooster right now that is blind in one eye from a fight when he was a cockerel. He has a four beat crow which I love.... I've mended fractures and more dog- inflicted wounds than I care to remember. I had a Cinnamon Queen that went blind living in her own special enclosure beside a coop. Sadly she must have been visited by a wild crow or hawk and fractured both her legs simultaneously and I put her down The photo is my Araucana Janie who was viciously mauled by one of my own Kangal. She required a week of intensive care and several weeks of special care.

 

[texsuze]

Fay was my beautiful 4 1/2 y.o. BA hen who I acquired as a pullet. She began having mobility issues last year--first resting often, then limping on her right leg. Over time she was less mobile, but eating, drinking, pooping, preening and insisting on being with the flock. Celeste, her sister, was friend and protector. Such good girls! X-rays on Fay revealed no abnormalities, but she was tested and found to have MG and MS.

Chickens being chickens, my boss hen Bertha was being unkind to Fay, so Fay was placed in her run to spend the days, protected from predators and Bertha! Celeste went broody so it was a good situation, with Celeste upstairs in the coop and Fay downstairs in the run. For many months I'd provide Fay with "supervised excursions" while I did a.m. barn chores, then again in early evening during barn shutdown time. She had her own special feed & treat cups and water cup. From time to time Fay would see a grasshopper or cricket and jump up to pounce on the insect, looking completely normal and taking one or two normal steps! I enjoyed those times with her, and she often looked quite content with her situation, especially when I took Celeste off her nest box to attend her sister. Fast forward to last month when she took an abrupt turn for the worse with her mobility; it was time to let her go to the Rainbow Bridge. A very sad day indeed. Fay is resting now in my Garden of Chooks, along with other hens who have enriched my life over the past 11 years.

 

[bebenedict]

Hello There,

What a wonderful thread! I believe...
Every chicken/adult chicken should have a chance.

He may not be "special needs"
but here is a story about my rooster...

2012 - 2017

Rusty, the Buff Orpington rooster.

View attachment 1078528

Rusty was a very sweet rooster. He was the sweetest baby, (he did attack my leg once)... But he had issues. He had many strokes, he was infertile, his circulation was a wreck, he had no toe nails, his spurs were reeeeeeaaaallly long, no matter how much i cut them.

He never got to be a Dad, it was a very sad thing to experience. His one hen "Lucy" tried to go broody and took sick, she lived, but mad at him for not having babies.

He lost many of his hens. His meanest hen pecked at his tail, it was the smallest tail. His comb had frostbite... I considered him special needs.

But he sat on my Dad's lap, he followed us around. He did his first and foremost job, protecting his girls. He was special, he lived a life in pain... But he lived through it.

"Everyday above ground, is better than under."

I can't wait to see the stories on this thread, thank you for reading mine.
Wonderful story, @sumi, wonderful.

Sincerely,
The Angry Hen

R.I.P. Rusty

 

[BethKimco]

I have a chicken that has Injured her leg three times now and she has been living in the house for the last three months. She’s putting a little weight on it now but still has a pretty bad heart. Not sure if she qualifies as special needs but wondering if I should just put her out with everybody.