Trisseh
Duck-duck-chicken!
Hey all, I’m reaching out on here to see if anyone has had a similar situation to mine. I have this lovely sebright cockerel who was the top dog in the tiny flock of 3, one silkie x of unknown gender, and a surprise EE cockerel that’s the same age. Lately the boys have been having small spats but nothing serious, just the usual flapping and flaring hackles, that kind of thing. I’ve only ever seen them end with them both stopping and just walking away.
Wednesday night when I was putting the younger chicks to bed, this sebright started to come up the ramp to enter the coop. I could hear him but not see him. He let out a gawd awful shriek and then didn’t come inside right away. I assumed one of the other 2 knocked him off the ramp or something.
So then the 3 come in for the night, and I see the sebright standing a little odd; not super obvious but you get to know your birds for sure. Lol. Also, I use straw for bedding because the silkie likes sleeping on the floor, so it was difficult to see the sebright’s feet in the deep bedding. He went to get up on the roost and instead of gripping with both feet as usual, his right foot was knuckled over and his toes clenched in a fist.
I brought him in the house to better assess away from everyone else, and could find no obvious injuries, except he reacted with huffing and tensed up when I handled his right leg, especially when extending it. I could feel no broken bones, no dislocations, although both of his legs have a lot of lateral movement in the hocks. Into a cat kennel he went with some food and some electrolyte/vitamin spiked water. The next morning when I took him out he was still painful, still clenching his toes, but when I handled his foot I could manipulate his toes fine, they move in all the normal ways, but as soon as I let it go, back into a loose fist. He also sits low on his hock on that leg when resting.
so the next day, he seemed more comfortable but still dragging that foot, so I braced his foot in a similar way to a chick with a chick shoe, and that greatly improved his mobility once he got the hang of it. He can move the leg normally, just not his foot.
My boss (a veterinarian who doesn’t have a lot of bird experience but handles large animals otherwise) was thinking sciatic nerve injury. I’m concerned about Mareks. He came from a backyard flock, not vaccinated.
Other than the leg, he’s a typical cockerel. Crows allllllll the time, eating, drinking, normal stools, his comb and wattles look normal.
he’s a really sweet cockerel so I’m willing to keep going if theres a chance he’ll do ok, even if it means him being a house chicken at least for a while. He’s very tolerant and likes to be held so it’s not like he’s stressing out like crazy being inside.
Anyone else have a situation like this that the bird recovers at all? I’ve attached some pics below, the last one to show just how stressed out he is. Haha.
Wednesday night when I was putting the younger chicks to bed, this sebright started to come up the ramp to enter the coop. I could hear him but not see him. He let out a gawd awful shriek and then didn’t come inside right away. I assumed one of the other 2 knocked him off the ramp or something.
So then the 3 come in for the night, and I see the sebright standing a little odd; not super obvious but you get to know your birds for sure. Lol. Also, I use straw for bedding because the silkie likes sleeping on the floor, so it was difficult to see the sebright’s feet in the deep bedding. He went to get up on the roost and instead of gripping with both feet as usual, his right foot was knuckled over and his toes clenched in a fist.
I brought him in the house to better assess away from everyone else, and could find no obvious injuries, except he reacted with huffing and tensed up when I handled his right leg, especially when extending it. I could feel no broken bones, no dislocations, although both of his legs have a lot of lateral movement in the hocks. Into a cat kennel he went with some food and some electrolyte/vitamin spiked water. The next morning when I took him out he was still painful, still clenching his toes, but when I handled his foot I could manipulate his toes fine, they move in all the normal ways, but as soon as I let it go, back into a loose fist. He also sits low on his hock on that leg when resting.
so the next day, he seemed more comfortable but still dragging that foot, so I braced his foot in a similar way to a chick with a chick shoe, and that greatly improved his mobility once he got the hang of it. He can move the leg normally, just not his foot.
My boss (a veterinarian who doesn’t have a lot of bird experience but handles large animals otherwise) was thinking sciatic nerve injury. I’m concerned about Mareks. He came from a backyard flock, not vaccinated.
Other than the leg, he’s a typical cockerel. Crows allllllll the time, eating, drinking, normal stools, his comb and wattles look normal.
he’s a really sweet cockerel so I’m willing to keep going if theres a chance he’ll do ok, even if it means him being a house chicken at least for a while. He’s very tolerant and likes to be held so it’s not like he’s stressing out like crazy being inside.
Anyone else have a situation like this that the bird recovers at all? I’ve attached some pics below, the last one to show just how stressed out he is. Haha.
