Nubz, a Chicken with Missing Toes, Relearns How to Walk Thanks to His Eclectic Shoe Collection

These shoes were made for walking, and that’s exactly what the Nubz will do.

In January, Michelle Davignon, a California resident, went to pick up new homes for her guinea pigs and left with a unique new companion.

“The lady I picked up from was moving and she found out I had chickens, and she asked me if I could take him (Nubza) because she couldn’t take him with her,” Davignon tells PEOPLE.

The animal lover agreed to add a chicken to her family and went to work to welcome the bird.

Upon arriving at Davignon’s home, Nubz has already lost his toes due to the accident. scale mites — microscopic insects that can live under the scales that cover chicken legs. To prevent the situation from getting worse, Davignon used different sprays to care for the bird and its feet.

Nubz the chick who lost her toes due to a mite infestation.

Michelle Davignon

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In addition to these treatments, Davignon found that “a really good way to treat mites is to smother them with Vaseline” and then wrap the bird’s feet with the oil.

Nubz responded well to this treatment as well, but it usually caused mass. Davignon said to make the treatment work best for both her and Nubz, she came up with “a way where I don’t have to bandage his feet and legs as much because he’s been wading in dirt and poop.”

“I decided to wear boots because I wanted to keep his little bumps clean,” says Davignon. Nubza’s first pair of shoes were reindeer dog shoes that the owner first bought for her chihuahua. She didn’t know that Nubz’s new accessories were also great mobility devices.

Nubz is wearing his first pair of shoes — reindeer boots originally bought for the dog.

Michelle Davignon

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“I didn’t think they would be such a good way for him to get around, but it turns out he walks around much better with the boots on when he’s on, like, dirt or wood chips or anything rough,” Nubz’s owner shares, telling PEOPLE that the chicken now has about 30 pairs of shoes.

Fashion forward Nubz won Davignon’s heart and the hearts of his nearly 175,000 TikTok followers, but he also received some hate, especially regarding his gender identity.

Nubz was born as a hen, but when Davignon received the bird, it was laying no eggs. “I knew it could be a sign of stress,” she says.

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As time went on, Davignon noticed several other interesting changes happening to the bird, including “giant” spurs that were “bigger than a chicken should be”, “a screeching crow”, the comb on top of its head became ” huge compared to a woman’s comb,” and his waddle grew louder.

She tells PEOPLE that “it’s clear she’s either a true gynomorph,” meaning she has both male and female genitalia, or she’s a transgender chicken.

Nubz chick in blue boots. He has about 30 pairs of shoes that help him walk.

Michelle Davignon

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Davignon explains that such cases can happen when there are not enough chickens in the flock.

“Usually there’s one hen that would be like the ‘best hen,’ and they’ll start producing more testosterone and stop laying eggs. They’ll start crowing and take on a lot more of a rooster personality,” she adds.

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“I didn’t think it would cause such a stir online, but a lot of people really love him, but we definitely get a lot of hate for it,” Davignon says of Nubz’s gender identity.

“But these people? We will eradicate them,” she says. “Every time we get a hater, we just hit block and make our little Nubby family more beautiful.”

Categories: Trends
Source: HIS Education