Among the five newly hatched chicks, the owner discovered one with four legs and a small body growth on its back near the right wing.
In recent days, this unusual chick has attracted many curious visitors to the home of Mr. Đỗ Đăng Thành in Mỹ Phú Bắc village, Mỹ Lợi commune, Phù Mỹ district, Bình Định province.
The four-legged chick with a body growth on its back. Photo: Minh Thảo.
The owner shared that ten days ago, the mother hen hatched five chicks, one of which had a deformity. The two front legs of the chick are healthy and normal, but at the rear, an additional small body has formed, dangling with a pair of legs growing in the opposite direction. This additional body has created a reversed body growth on the chick’s back.
Whenever it moves forward, the two hind legs pull up. However, when it moves backward, all four legs touch the ground. Since it hatched, this chick has remained healthy and follows its mother to forage as usual.
“At first, seeing the chick’s unusual shape, my wife wanted to throw it away, but feeling sorry for it, I decided to keep and raise it. I never expected it would develop normally and attract many visitors,” Mr. Thành revealed.
Associate Professor Nguyễn Khắc Tích, a genetic expert who previously taught at the University of Agriculture 1 in Hanoi, noted that while four-legged chickens are rare, they are not extremely uncommon. This phenomenon is a mutation that often occurs in mountainous regions with abrupt climate changes or due to sudden changes in diet…
