Spraddle Finds Her Peeps | Chickens in the Road

Jun
10

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Thank you so much for your advice after I posted about our little spraddle-legged chick. As a result, we now have a little chick with braces.

I cut a Band-Aid in half, lengthwise, using the pad in the middle as the spacer and wrapping each sticky end over her legs just above the feet. This prevents her legs from splaying out to the sides and forces her to put weight on the legs, strengthening them so that eventually she can walk normally.

Well, that’s the hope anyway! I’ll let you know how it goes. So far, so good. But, she’s still not ready to be with the other chicks from her hatching. She’s smaller than they are, and weaker. They run right over her and step on her head. Chickens aren’t very considerate. A single chick is a sad, lonely chick, though….. She needs some peeps.

Could these be her peeps?

Hmmmm…… Maybe not. They’re a little hard to get along with sometimes.

What about a Giant Puppy?

Spraddle would fit right in…….Coco’s mouth. Never mind.

How about a cute, adorable donkey?

Well…… She IS awfully cute and adorable, but she’s a little big to be a chick buddy.

Maybe a sheep who thinks she’s a dog would do?

Annabelle: “Is she a dog, tooooo????”

Forget that. Spraddle’s got enough problems already.

How about two little piggies?

They might like her better fried…..

Poor little Spraddle. Who will be her peeps? Who will not step on her head or peck at her or eat her for a snack? Who will snuggle feathers with her and not judge her? Who will love poor Spraddle?

Of course. HERE are her peeps!

Ducks are SO nice!

P.S. We have…..

….three ducklings now!

Unless you count Spraddle.

Then we have four.

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41 Responses
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6-10
1:20
am

Oh how sweet!! The ducklings are so adorable! I’m rooting for Spraddle. You sure have some confused animals hehe. The piggies are SO CUTE!!

Patty

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6-10
1:49
am

Don’t let anyone tell you that spraddle chicks are a lost cause, we hade one which grew to a ripe old age of 9 still with dicky knees and laid every day! mind you we have had a lot of failures to. By the way I have a tip for just these occasions, you need Jap Quail! they are terrific at briging up small/injured/orphened poultry of all discription (I even had one who brooded 6 R.I.Red chicks herself, they were her size at 3 days of age!) Carefull of the ducklings, the chick will imprint to them and when they go swimming… drowned chicky! that happend to us too!

Sonia T.

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6-10
4:32
am

Spraddle is lucky to have duck buddies that care. Quail, where, when? I’ve never heard of “Jap Quail”. How big are these varmints. Suzanne the pigs seem to be growing. Give us another report on Sausage and Pattie soon.

Box Call

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6-10
4:34
am

The poor little thing! She’ll be fine now, with braces and buddies!
Those ducks sure are cute! (I want baby ducks!!)

Runningtrails

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6-10
4:53
am

Two words…. CHILDREN’S BOOK! Suzanne, this would be a darling board book!

Cathy J.

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6-10
4:56
am

Golly the farm is growing so fast. Hope Spraddle gets well soon!

The Jillybean

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6-10
5:25
am

What a beautiful little chick! I hope she heals up. I love her name. The underdogs (or should I say under”chicks”)are always my faves.

Cyndi L.

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6-10
5:34
am

What a lovely way to start my day, again!

Kathryn

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6-10
5:35
am

Yay, I hope the braces work for you.

Christine

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6-10
5:46
am

What a cutie! I hope the braces work for Spraddle. She’s lucky to have those wonderful duck friends too!

The Mom

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6-10
5:49
am

Good morning!
Our spaddle chick turned out as straight as Tiny Tim at the end of A Christmas Carol. It only took a few days with the bandaid braces. I had to be very careful with the peep’s footing after treatment, or the legs would loosen up again.
Have a great day!!
Amy

sewhorsey

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6-10
5:51
am

get working on that new book…. one hundred farm uses for a band aid.
to bad it’s not easter time, you could get her a box of yellow and pink peeps. then she would have plenty of sweet and fluffy friends to hang with.

trish

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6-10
5:56
am

my dad tells a story about this chick being raised by ducks and when the ducks went in the water, the chick wanted to also swim..

Mim

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6-10
6:02
am

Oh my gosh! Yay!! Spraddle has little braces! I knew it would make a cute story and picture spread!

monica

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6-10
6:06
am

I can’t believe that you have all of these farm animals now – it’s a real farm! I think you need a horse and some cows still!

Lisa L.

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6-10
6:18
am

Ha ha! We, too acquired 3 ducklings this weekend. Although we went to buy a couple more chicks, the children fell in love with the cutie pie ducklings. Today they reside in a heat lamped bucket in the house with the 11yo in charge. They are so much fun! Now we need something to keep the pasture grass down, something easy and fairly low maintanence – Any Suggestions?

Rose in Vermont

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6-10
6:21
am

Too cute I agree with the children’s book!!!!!

Angie

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6-10
6:23
am

Sheep!!!!!!

Suzanne McMinn

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6-10
6:23
am

This is too funny…you have animals with identity crises! I should sent you a couple of my neurotic dogs to make the farm complete.

Bev

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6-10
6:32
am

How awesome!!! I have four words; Petting zoo birthday parties!!!! Anybody would love to come see all those cute little babies!! Very resourceful on the chick brace…I hope it works! Everybody looks very happy at the farm! Have a great day.

Mary

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6-10
7:04
am

Lets see will it be a cow next or a miniature horse? Are you going to train the donkey to pull a cart?

maryann

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6-10
7:15
am

We had a lab puppy that was a “swimmer” with hind legs that splayed out like the chicken. We tied them together and worked to keep the pup on it’s side or back rather than laying flat on it’s tummy. The vet recommended putting her down but now she’s an active 3 year old lab that belongs to a family that takes in foster kids. She’s always there to love them up and is our miracle pup.

Twigs

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6-10
7:26
am

Great idea for spraddle..the band aid and the ducks. She can always waddle with them, thinking she is a duck!! LOL

Lynda Dunham-Watkins

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6-10
8:18
am

OH, how cute is that!! I hope Spraddle survives!!

Sasha

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6-10
9:35
am

Your animal tales are so much fun to follow.

jean

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6-10
9:36
am

Awwwww, that is so sweet! I am so glad Spraddle found her peeps.

KentuckyFarmGirl

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6-10
9:42
am

I think (hope?) Spraddle is over the age of actually imprinting. I think she’ll just hang out for company with the quackers till she gets stronger and larger then go hang with her pals with the same sort of beaks. Only problem might be is if they get access to a tub of water while she’s still there… of course, chickens don’t mind water all THAT much as long as it’s shallow, and it’s summer or very warm. I’ve had several hens that would actually take summertime baths in a water puddle from time to time, like giant robins in a bird bath… it was pretty hilarious. Most just stick to dust baths though.

BuckeyeGirl

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6-10
12:14
pm

ahhhh, how sweet, this post made my day!!! Love always prevails!!!

BlessedwithFour

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6-10
12:45
pm

I see that someone beat me to it but in every post I read I hear a children’s book !!Seriously,you need to add this to your book writing. My 7 year old grandson loves the pictures and stories from your site. Think about it.

Suzy

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6-10
1:38
pm

What a great post. I enjoy the animal pics and the stories you put with them.

Estella

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6-10
1:40
pm

A wonderful story and adorable pictures!!

Wheezay

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6-10
3:10
pm

Aww, cute and realistic at the same time. Hope Spraddle continues to improve. Love to hear what you do for your “critters”.

Jordan

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6-10
4:28
pm

I had a little chick just like your Spraddle, and I had to keep her in a box by herself, and I knew she needed company, but I didn’t have any baby ducks, so I found a soft, stuffed, bright yellow baby duck. I put that in with the chick, and she cuddled right up with it and sounded so happy! At least she was comforted until she died a couple of weeks later. She was a special little chick. Hope you can save your little one.

Imogene Burdette

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6-10
8:06
pm

Just love the pics!!

catslady

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6-10
10:24
pm

I’m glad I’m not the only one doctoring chickens lately! I had one of my baby chicks fall and hurt it’s leg, it became so swollen, so I splinted it with gauze and toothpicks. I carried her around in my hoodie for a couple of days, and she was right as rain…I guess I was her peep! LOL Now, I’m nursing a chicken back after a bad raccoon attack. Oh my. Poor thing. She’s healing, but slowly.

God Bless Little Spraddle. :-)

Just love this blog, love these photos. I MUST have this camera!!!!

Jayme aka The Coop Keeper

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6-11
8:11
am

Yay!!! Three cheers for Spraddle! What a cutie patootie.

Miss Becky

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6-11
8:11
am

We have one lonely survivor here from a chicken massacre. A raccoon got into a pen of 6 week old chicks and killed 10 leaving one lonely chick left. That chick was a misfit with all the other chickens (were in different pens so they were untouched). Guess who accepted the lonely one? Why the ducklings of course. I can attest that ducklings are nice, but very messy creatures.

Susan, I had emailed you before about maybe getting one of Coco’s puppies in the future. I won’t be needing one now. I found a local breeder and picked up two little female Great Pyrenees last week. They are wonderful pups and are already fitting in here taking care of the poultry. I will be picking up two 3 month old Saneen/LaMancha cross duelings at the end of the month and they will have more work to do.

Sheila Z

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6-11
12:55
pm

I love the way you take care of your babies.

Sasha White

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12-1
8:48
pm

Hi Suzanne,

What ever became of Spraddle? She is so cute in these pictures.

Julia

Julia

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12-1
9:00
pm

Unfortunately, despite my efforts, Spraddle didn’t make it.

Suzanne McMinn

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12-2
11:08
pm

I’m so sorry.

Julia

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