At two days old we knew she would be different..
Meet Lou.. Our Black Sex-link chicken with crooked toes. The day we brought her home we noticed that one of her feet was completely backwards, she was walking on the top of her foot.
When I spoke with the previous owner of this sweet little bittie chick he said, "you can bring her back and trade her in for a different chick.. but we will kill her".
Immediately I knew she found us, so that we would save her life! I did some research online and found out that you can brace a chicks foot to straighten it out until they are around two weeks old.
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| (This is the only photo I have of her in her brace) |
I made her tiny brace out of a piece of cardboard cut into a "W" shape. Then I used medical tape, the kind that is removable, to tape her toes to the cardboard. I changed the tape 2x a day until her foot stayed bottom side down.
She still has crooked toes on her left foot (refer to the photo at the top of this post) but she is alive and thriving!
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| Lou is the chicken on the left side of this photo, next to our rooster Arthur! |
I keep a very close eye on her, and will continue to do so specifically when we get more chickens this spring (to make sure she isn't being bullied). So far though, she stays at the top of the pecking order and seems to be just fine. She continues to lay beautiful eggs, normal size and shape, and until she dies of natural causes she will have a safe place to live here with us at the Winter Stead!
