Tiny Tim.

Tiny Tim arrived just before Christmas, an un-named Mille fleur, 6 month old cockerel who we were told had dislocated his hip. They hatched him from egg, the only one to hatch out of a batch and he was supposed to go to a friend with hens as they lived in a built up area. The hens picked on him and because of his disability they took him back, until he began to crow!
So he came here, he saw the vet tonight and the hip is not dislocated, it's more likely a developmental issue as the hip is normal but from the hock down his leg is twisted. It either happened in the egg due to improper incubation or because he did not get enough calcium as a chick. The vet doesn't think there is any need to do anything for now, as he is in no pain.

The moral of the story is- if you do decide to breed, no matter what species, do some research and don't just think its easy and natural. Animals need a proper diet and environment to grow and develop, even more so than when adult. Tiny Tim was lucky, lots of people thought he should be PTS, and he was in trouble as soon as he hatched as a male!

Oh he is a very handsome chicken.

Hope his leg continues to cause no problems.

Oh my, what a handsome bird!

i love him

His leg sticks out to the side and he can't weight bear on it but manages well on one leg- thankfully his is a tiny bantam breed. I don't really know what to do about a companion for him, the chance of a tiny female coming into rescue is practically 0! I have been wondering about putting him beside Columbine the wood pigeon as company. Otherwise they are likely to live their lives on their own.