Red Ranger Lameness?

[Folly's place]

I would assume, and you should check, what that 'booster shot' was!
Marek's disease could be a problem here; do you have it in your other chickens? Do you have other chickens?
I've raised both Cornishx and the 'Freedom Rangers' from the hatchery in Penn, and much prefer the red birds. The red rangers I got from a different hatchery were okay too.
Out of fifty FRs a couple of years ago, two failed. One had heart issues, and the other joint problems. Much better than the Cornishx birds, in my experience.
I'm sure that there's a push on the part of the hatcheries to increase the growth rate in their red rangers too, so birds that grow as fast as Cornishx chicks are likely to have the same issues, IMO.
If Marek's disease, having meat bird chicks vaccinated may pay off.
Mary

 

[Folly's place]

Maybe try birds from different stock next time?
Mary

 

[Jasonpdx]

I would assume, and you should check, what that 'booster shot' was!
Marek's disease could be a problem here; do you have it in your other chickens? Do you have other chickens?
I've raised both Cornishx and the 'Freedom Rangers' from the hatchery in Penn, and much prefer the red birds. The red rangers I got from a different hatchery were okay too.
Out of fifty FRs a couple of years ago, two failed. One had heart issues, and the other joint problems. Much better than the Cornishx birds, in my experience.
I'm sure that there's a push on the part of the hatcheries to increase the growth rate in their red rangers too, so birds that grow as fast as Cornishx chicks are likely to have the same issues, IMO.
If Marek's disease, having meat bird chicks vaccinated may pay off.
Mary

I got my RR from a place in Penn too. Probably the same as you. I had 3 die in the first couple weeks, 4 got eaten by a weasel, and 2 got this leg issue so far. Out of 25, I'm running out of chickens!

I got the RR instead of the FR because i was hoping to augment my egg flock with some of the birds. That may not be a good idea now.

I have the meats separated into 2 tractors that are pretty far apart. The 2 that have gotten this leg issue are from the same tractor. My egg flock is only 9 birds and it is on the other side of the property so they don't interact with the meat chickens at all.

Hopefully the one will recover in the next day, like some people have mentioned. If not, I'll process it early. I haven't read anything that says Mareks's is a risk for humans or that the meat is unfit. So that's a plus at least.

 

[Folly's place]

Once I kept a FR pullet, because she was slightly less huge, and escaped the day the others went to 'freezer camp'. She was still one big hen! He eggs, however, were medium sized, at best, and infrequent. She went to camp the next summer with the birds who left.
Hybrids aren't meant to be good layers!
Mary

 

[Jasonpdx]

Once I kept a FR pullet, because she was slightly less huge, and escaped the day the others went to 'freezer camp'. She was still one big hen! He eggs, however, were medium sized, at best, and infrequent. She went to camp the next summer with the birds who left.
Hybrids aren't meant to be good layers!
Mary

That's a good point. I didn't go with FR because they have a recessive dwarfism gene that effects their offspring. The RR don't have this. In terms of egg production, we get plenty of eggs already. I just wanted to add more meat breeds in because we normally incubate our own eggs rather than buy from a hatchery. We have a Barred Rock roster who is pretty good at fertilizing eggs.

 

[Jasonpdx]

Update. The chicken died.

 

[Folly's place]

So sorry!
Mary

 

[Jasonpdx]

I'm going to quarantine that group of chickens. There are only 7 left in that tractor. I'm watching the other tractor to see if any of them show signs too. There are all from the same shipment, so they are probably all at risk. I guess I won't be integrating any of these with the egg flock! What a bummer...

 

[colleeflowers]

Just my 2 cents. I had a 12 week old pullet go lame on me a few weeks ago and byc users suggested a vitamin B deficiency. I put her on vitamin B-100 complex stat. I crushed up the pill put it with some sugar water and then gave it to her through an eyedropper. I couldn't believe it, she pulled through! Took about 3 days though.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I'm going to quarantine that group of chickens. There are only 7 left in that tractor. I'm watching the other tractor to see if any of them show signs too. There are all from the same shipment, so they are probably all at risk. I guess I won't be integrating any of these with the egg flock! What a bummer...

I'm sorry you lost her.

I don't mean to sound morbid, but did you happen to go ahead and open it up - see if there was anything unusual about the organs - any tumors, fluid, lesions, etc. inside?