A rescue chicken that suffered a broken leg in captivity is now walking properly - after being fitted with a cast.

The seven-month-old chicken, named Marilyn, was fitted with a cast on its left leg and wore it for six weeks.

Marilyn, a broiler hen, was rescued by Tamerlaine Sanctuary last year from a Kapparot slaughterhouse.

Kapparot is a practice in which Orthodox Jews swing a chicken over their heads three times on the eve of Yom Kippur before slaughtering it.

Many Kapparot practitioners have replaced chickens with a bag of money which is then donated to charity.

When Marilyn arrived at the sanctuary in Montague, New Jersey, USA, she was seen by a vet and diagnosed with a slipped tendon that splayed her leg.

Gabrielle Stubbert, the founder and manager of Tamerlaine Sanctuary, said: "Marilyn had a very bad splayed leg but she was still a very very active chicken. You could tell she wanted to walk.

"Chickens slip their tendons a lot. No one operates on that, not on chickens, unlike with other animals."

The sanctuary spent several weeks looking after Marilyn and used a zipline to support her while she walked.

Two months went on but Marilyn's leg was not getting better and she was still struggling to walk.

Gabrielle, 58, said: "Her leg just kept getting worse, not better.

"So two months later we took her back to the vet."

During the second visit, the vet noticed that Marilyn's splayed leg was due to a break that had healed incorrectly.

The vet had to break Marilyn's leg again to set it correctly and fitted it with a cast.

Marilyn wore the cast for six weeks before she was able to roam free with her new flock.

Since then, she has discovered a new joy for life and made a new best friend, another broiler chicken called Liberty.

Gabrielle added: "You could say she was our New Year's miracle.

"She's got her new BFF Liberty and just loves to run. You would never know anything is wrong she's our greatest success story.

"She's sassy, outgoing and doesn't want to be handled. She just wants to be outside."

Tamerlaine Sanctuary has taken in large amounts of broiler chickens like Marilyn, who are bred to grow very large very fast and tend to be slaughtered at six weeks.

Gabrielle said: "Marilyn will be one in September. Traditionally they don't live very long as they are bred to be eaten and bred to grow large.

"With us they live longer and happier. We have a whole flock of them who have lived until nine."