What's wrong with her tail?

[Jbently28]

So this weekend I went to my local chicken swap to pick up a couple more female muscovies to even out my male to female ratio. I was hoping to find some juveniles close in age to my other male and female who are 6 months old now. All I could find were adults and I was a little hesitant about bring full grown adults in with my already established flock. I finally found a lady who had some that were hatched this spring and were a little younger than mine. She only had 4 females. They were all in adog kennel which is pretty normal for a chicken swap. I picked out these 2 girls to bring home. She pulled them straight out of the kennel and placed them in boxes. We live literally 5 minutes away from where the swap was. When we got home we decided to go ahead and release them in with my other 2 to see if they would accept them right away. They all immediately ran up to each other with their cute little head bobbing tail wagging greetings and have been inseperable ever since. Couldn't have asked for a better inteoduction. The only issue I have is that when we took the lavender female out we noticed that her tail was messed up. We couldn't really tell what she looked like while she was in the dog kennel. In fact, we thought she was solid lavender when in fact she is lavender and white. We thought half of her tail was missing like she was being picked in previously, but instead it actually looks like her tail is sitting to the left. She is still able to wag it back and forth so it doesnt appear to be broken. Does anyone have any idea what may be going on? Could it be from a prior injury or maybe just a birth defect? Either way we absolutely love her and she'll be staying regardless. Oh and don't mind all the mud. It had been storming the night before and well...ducks lol

 

[chickens really]

Just keep an eye on her. Possibly needs to lay an egg or just a defect...

 

[The Angry Hen]

I believe that she has permanent wry tail- which is mostly genetic. I don't believe it to be something to worry about nor does it harm the bird. I'd simply recommend keeping an eye on her- make sure she lays eggs, drinks, eats, etc... if anything is of concern or she's acting lethargic, let us know and we'll try our best to help from there!

Beautiful birds and best of wishes!

 

[Miss Lydia]

Beautiful Muscovy females.

How many were in the dog crate and were they packed?

 

[Fur-N-Fowl]

I don't know about the tail but I love the colours!

 

[Jbently28]

Beautiful Muscovy females.

How many were in the dog crate and were they packed?

I believe there were 7 or 8 of them crammed into a large dog kennel. I know they traveled a couple of hours. She was crammed into the back corner. I was wondering if maybe that could have caused it. It almost looks as though some of her tail feathers have been broken off as well. Imagine as if a dog had knawed on it that's what it looks like, but of course I'm 100% sure that's not the issue at hand lol. But the remaining feathers all turn to the left. I guess I'll just have to wait until her next molt to see if they grow back or if it is in fact a physical defect.

 

[Jbently28]

I don't know about the tail but I love the colours!

Thank you! I wanted different colors to go along with my other female and male. My female is a blue fawn and my male is a black and white pied. The lady said that she breeds a lot of chocolates out of her current stock so we shall see. I checked her Facebook page out to verify and she in fact does, but she didnt have any available that day.

 

[Jbently28]

I believe that she has permanent wry tail- which is mostly genetic. I don't believe it to be something to worry about nor does it harm the bird. I'd simply recommend keeping an eye on her- make sure she lays eggs, drinks, eats, etc... if anything is of concern or she's acting lethargic, let us know and we'll try our best to help from there!

Beautiful birds and best of wishes!

I was hoping that wasnt the issue, but as stated before, she will be staying regardless. She has made herself right at home. She is eating, drinking, and swimming in the pool right along with the others. Other than her cosmetic appearance, you would never know anything was wrong with her. She has won over our hearts. In fact, I chose her first because of the way she looking at me. She was all crammed up in the corner of the kennel just barely peaking over the rest but wouldn't break eye contact with me and just had a special look in her eyes that the others didn't. I'm just glad that we were able to give her a home. The lady and her husband have been breeding them for over 10 years. I'm just hoping that they aren't choosing to breed with physical defects.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Hopefully it’s just from being crammed into that kennel. They look like they could do with a good molt so hopefully when that happens they will be normal. They really are pretty. More than likely you won’t see eggs until next spring or thats the way it’s always been here. Hatched one year lay around 8-9 months old

 

[Jbently28]

Hopefully it’s just from being crammed into that kennel. They look like they could do with a good molt so hopefully when that happens they will be normal. They really are pretty. More than likely you won’t see eggs until next spring or thats the way it’s always been here. Hatched one year lay around 8-9 months old

Egg production has definitely slowed down here as well (north west Louisiana). My chickens are barely laying and my ducks have stopped all together. I'm definitely not expecting any eggs out of them until spring. Next in order is finding a gosling friend for my 6 month old female African/Toulouse, but I know that's definitely not happening until spring.