Lavender Marans cockerel not roosting -- painful foot feathering?

[Tookie]

Thanks for the insight! We didn’t notice anything when he hatched, but it’s totally possible someone else would have. It was our first time with chicks, so I didn’t really have a firm grasp on what to look for besides “alert, eating, pooping” We did notice they the LMs were really slow to grow their feathers — it was a marked difference! That does make me suspect there’s a genetic factor at play.

The poor guy! Sounds like this may have happened later on or something.

 

[LaFleche]

Caveat for the poop photo: there is a mild respiratory issue going through the flock at the moment, so that is in play — but I’ll share anyway and you can let me know what you notice. He helpfully pooped right in front of me, so this is about 20 seconds after… expulsion. It looks greener in the photo than it did in real life. The flock has been drinking quite a bit of water with electrolytes due to the temperature and their illness — the cockerel’s issues outdate this bug.

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A quick shot of his feet and also how he stands. Looks somewhat splay legged to us, and he walks differently than the others. Definitely more awkward!

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Thanks so much for the questions and your input. As I said, we’re brand new — and while this fella isn’t a contender for keeping, we want to be able to identify root causes of issues we encounter in the future. Is this just a weak bird? Or is there a fix we’re missing?

Well, this might sound rather brutal, but with his leg issues and the overall rather questionable health, I would cull him and his wry tail sister as well.
You don't want to start your chicken experience turning into a sanatorium for hopeless cases, neither would you want to further their obviously defective genes.