The Four-Legged Chick

Reading time : 4 minutes
By Rebecca Krebs
It was Monday good morning, hatching day here at North Star Poultry. Freshly hatched chicks of assorted breeds filled the incubator. Many of them would be on their means to new homes by that afternoon, but I planned to keep most of the Rhode Island Red chicks to raise as my future breeding stock. I couldn ’ triiodothyronine wait to see them.

I got more than I bargained for .
As I pulled the tray of chicks from the incubator, I noticed a copulate of funny little leg sticking out of the mass of fuzzy bodies. I did a double take. A four-legged dame ! I snatched up the chick and examined him more closely, unable to believe what I saw until I lightly pulled on the extra legs attached to his rear — the leg didn ’ t come off ! I ran into the other room to show my colleague .
“ You ’ ve never seen anything like this ! ” I said, shoving the chick rear-first toward her. She was shocked. The chick cheeped his indignation at such ill-mannered proceedings .

I searched “ four-legged chickens ” online and discovered that the miniature limbs dangling from the chick ’ sulfur buttocks resulted from a rare congenital condition called polymelia. This curious dame was probably the first and end one I would always see .
The news polymelia comes from the Greek and means “ many limbs. ” Polymelia occurs in numerous kinds of creatures — including humans — but it is peculiarly rare in birds. The extra leg of polymelus creatures are frequently underdeveloped and malformed. My polymelus chick ’ s extra legs were nonfunctional but looked like perfective miniature versions of normal legs, thighs and all, except that only two toes grew on each foot .
respective subcategories of polymelia exist, including pygomelia. Defined by the extra legs attaching to the pelvis, pygomelia was possibly the type my dame exhibited. His extra legs securely joined his body by shafts of cram positioned below his tail. X-rays would have been required to verify if it was a true shell of pygomelia .
Scientists are still working to understand what factors cause polymelia, specially in birds ; possibilities include conjoined ( siamese ) twins, genetic accidents, exposure to toxins or pathogens, and the environment during incubation .

impertinently hatched chicks of assorted breeds filled the incubator. I couldn ’ thymine wait to see them. I got more than I bargained for .

My breeding flock of Rhode Island Reds — the polymelus dame ’ sulfur parents — came to mind during my research. Could they carry genes that caused polymelia ? credibly not. It ’ mho hard to say for sure why my chick developed polymelia, but based on my research, I suspect that it was either a random familial accident or a by-product of artificial incubation ( since humans can ’ t flawlessly imitate the incubation conditions under a mother hen, artificial brooding occasionally leads to defects ).

ironically, the polymelus chick ’ s mother belonged to a newly group of hens that I had introduced to my troop to maintain my Rhode Island Reds ’ genic diversity and prevent genic problems caused by inbreeding. apparently it was arrant timing for a polymelus dame to appear ! The concurrence placid makes me chuckle .

obviously this chick was staying on the farm with me. ( I can equitable imagine person ’ s reaction if they opened their cargo of downy, peeping chicks to discover… ! ) But I didn ’ metric ton heed keeping him. Who gets the casual to personally observe a polymelus chicken ? however, I worried that the dame wouldn ’ deoxythymidine monophosphate survive his foremost meal. His extra leg seemed attached to his body where his vent should have been ; if that was the case, he would be incapable of defecating and would die. I did finally find his vent, but it was little and deform. sometimes he had difficulty elapse droppings .
The chick couldn ’ t live with the other chicks because they might have mistaken his extra feet for worms and unintentionally injured or stressed him by yanking his toes. At first he lived in the incubator and went on regular outings to eat and drink in battlefront of the heater. After a few days, I moved him to a incubator where he had the company of one calm Black Star fryer dame. I hoped the Black Star chick would grow then accustomed to his anomaly that she could safely keep him company for his entire life .
Despite the mother made over him, the chick didn ’ thyroxine notice that he was a quite strange specimen. He hatched healthy and feisty, and he behaved like a normal dame. I ’ ve always admired the dogged and carefree personalities of Rhode Island Reds. Nothing fazes their positive mentality on life. My polymelus dame was no different. When I took him on excursions away from the incubator, he flapped his bantam, downy wings in his excitement to be out in the big world — never mind the supernumerary limbs swinging around behind him .

actually, if I didn ’ thyroxine look besides closely, the dame was kind of cunning. I ’ ve learn chickens like him labeled as “ polymelus monsters, ” but you ’ ve got to know a polymelus dame before you saddle it with that name .

actually, if I didn ’ triiodothyronine count besides closely, the chick was kind of cute. I ’ ve hear chickens like him labeled as “ polymelus monsters, ” but you ’ ve got to know a polymelus chick before you saddle it with that name. My chick wore an adorable formulation and picked up his food with that pleased little flick of the beak which observers of dame demeanor will recognize. even his supernumerary feet, complete with diminutive toenails, were cute in their own mighty .
many creatures with polymelia live convention, quality lives, and I looked forward to watching the dame grow into a cock. But deplorably, my little polymelus dame passed away at two weeks old as a resultant role of his deformed vent. Though he lived only a short clock, he gave me a singular hands-on opportunity to learn about polymelia. I ’ ll always be glad for that .

Sources: 

Hassanzadeh, B. and Rahemi, A. 2017. Polymelia with unhealed navel in an irani autochthonal young fowl. Veterinary Research Forum 8 ( 1 ), 85-87.

Ajayi, I. E. and Mailafia, S. 2011. Occurence of Polymelia in 9-Week-Old Male Broiler : anatomic and radiological Aspects. african AVA Journal of Veterinary Anatomy 4 ( 1 ), 69-77 .
Rebecca Krebs is a freelance writer and genetics aficionado who lives in the Rocky Mountains of Montana. She owns North Star Poultry, a small hatchery that breeds Blue Laced Red Wyandottes, Rhode Island Reds, and five single chicken varieties. Find her grow on-line at northstarpoultry.com .
primitively published in the April/May 2020 issue of Backyard Poultry and regularly vetted for accuracy .