What's wrong with my chicks wing?

[RaspberryMommy]

I hatched these little guys on February 7th and 8th. I have 6 Lavendar Orps, 2 BBS Orps (a black and white and a gray) and 1 BLRW. The last couple days I have been noticing one of the Lavs has it's left wing pin feathers sticking out. (It's the 3rd from the left.) I am not sure what is causing it and if there is anything I should or could do for it.



Sorry the photo turned on me; I can't fix it! Any advice on the little guy? What is causing it? Will it cause issues later in life?

 

[animallover505]

looks like "Angel Wing"
http://poultrykeeper.com/external-problems/angel-wing-waterfowl

 

[missnu01]

Well Angel Wing usually affects water fowl, I can't find anything where it affects chickens...except on forums...which no offense, but all it takes is one wrong person and the whole world of forums can be led astray...But everything about angel wing I can find from reputable sites says it is a problem affecting water fowl, usually from a diet too high in calories, and lacking essential nutrients. I can find no mention of it affecting chickens, other than on various forums. That is what it looks like though. Perhaps just try giving the chicks some grit and more time in the grass...you can also use a sock or something to bind the feathers back in towards the body, while giving a more natural diet...either get a lower protein feed, or cut the feed with some wheat to lower the protein, at least that is the treatment for ducks...so I assume it would be the same.

I have an adult hen that the feathers on only one side seem to be longer than the feathers on the other side..they stick out, and don't fit as closely to her body..she can still fly and what not...it doesn't slow her down. I'll see if I can get a pic of her sometime...I don't know what that looked like as a chick though. Are the feathers turned out the wrong way, or are they just hanging a bit? If they are reversed then I would have to say it is whatever version of Angel wing that affects chickens, if it does at all...if they are just longer or something then I would say it's just an asymmetrical chick. Like my hen.

 

[RaspberryMommy]

Well Angel Wing usually affects water fowl, I can't find anything where it affects chickens...except on forums...which no offense, but all it takes is one wrong person and the whole world of forums can be led astray...But everything about angel wing I can find from reputable sites says it is a problem affecting water fowl, usually from a diet too high in calories, and lacking essential nutrients. I can find no mention of it affecting chickens, other than on various forums. That is what it looks like though. Perhaps just try giving the chicks some grit and more time in the grass...you can also use a sock or something to bind the feathers back in towards the body, while giving a more natural diet...either get a lower protein feed, or cut the feed with some wheat to lower the protein, at least that is the treatment for ducks...so I assume it would be the same.

I have never heard of a chicken with Angel Wing either but I am not an expert! They are being fed a basic chick starter and unfortunately here in Nebraska the temps are still really cold so I am not sure putting it in the grass for a while would be a good thing. Maybe I will go pick some and give it to them.

As for the sock...how long do I leave it on? More info on this would be appreciated!

 

[missnu01]

If you look for treating angel wing, it says you can tape or bind the wing back to the body, but in angel wing the feathers are turned the wrong way. They look almost like someone took the ducks wings off and put them back on backwards. But I guess you could try the fixes for angel wing either way. Here check this out. It has some treatment options. http://www.avianweb.com/angelwing.html

 

[animallover505]

Well, I'm not an expert either, I just read about angel wing in a magazine, and the picture looked similar.

 

[missnu01]

I am still not sure that chickens get angel wing.

here are a few pics of my weird winged hen..that I can easily assume that as a chick her wing would have looked like your birds wing...It is really hard to see, but you can see that the one wing the feathers are way lower and stick out on only one side.






I had to zoom in a good bit so you can see it...but as you can see she just looks rumpled on one side...As I said she still flies great, so it is not angel Wing...

 

[missnu01]

Well, I'm not an expert either, I just read about angel wing in a magazine, and the picture looked similar.

That is very true, but I really think it only affects aquatic birds. I can't be sure on that, but I'm pretty sure that is the case. I think sometimes chickens are just a little strange sometimes. We used to live by a park with a lake and hundreds of ducks, and quite a few of them had some pretty bad cases of Angel Wing...it really does look like their wings are attached backwards.

 

[RaspberryMommy]

Well I just went out there with my two assistants (my girls) and we tried to vet wrap it. I cut the vet wrap into a one inch wide strip but no matter how I wrapped her up she was able jump around enough to get her wing out. I think I will need to wait until she is a little bigger? I read one of the links that listed a few causes for AW; a couple of which we might be guilty of...too much sugar water and undesirable incubation conditions. (I really struggled with my humidity levels not being high enough and had to help the last two chicks out due to shrink-wrapping.) I also gave sugar water the first day as I always do. Maybe it was too sweet? Who knows??? I have not found anything scientific on chickens having Angel Wing other than a few people's threads on BYC claiming theirs do. The chick does not freak out any more than expected when I handle the wing and the wing looks and feels normal when I stretch it out. The feathers are a lot longer than any of the other chicks so maybe there is a genetic issue.

My eyes are playing tricks on me cause I swear they all looked like they have AW right now!!!

 

[missnu01]

Yeah...I think it is probably just an off center strange chick. The site said to wrap it...I figured a sock with some conveniently trimmed holes might work a little better. Chicks are hard to keep things on. you could try the sock, or just try to not worry about it. Even if it is angel wing just make sure the chicks have a nice balanced diet, and don't worry about it...Worst case scenario your chick will be unable to fly...I don't really see the harm in a domestic bird being flightless... I also still don't think chickens get Angel Wing...but I do know that sometimes they look weird. My hen only has the weird ultra long wrong direction feathers on the one side, but not both, and as I mentioned before she is totally healthy and flies awesome. So, I wouldn't worry over it at all. Her wing on the one side just doesn't lay smooth against her body the same as the other wing does. At first I thought she was just ruffled after riding in the car, but it never went away and as I have spent more time with her I was able to see that the feathers on the end are just pointing a little bit in the wrong direction and are longer the wing feathers on the other side...none of her chicks so far have the same issue...so it really might be a hatching thing with chickens. Perhaps not enough room in the egg causes the wing to smoosh at the end maybe? I dont' know..this is all conjecture. But even the people that post that their chicks have angel wing, don't show angel wing like ducks do...

Here is one...notice that the wings look like they are on backwards.


That is what angel wing looks like.