Can maggots survive if there is no cut or wound?

[chixcoop]

First egg

 

[Michael Apple]

This thread is just another instance of proving my point that some people shouldn't own animals. I'm sorry you neglected your rooster, but you received an egg from a hen. I guess what you wanted mattered more. Perhaps you may be in the rooster's position some day. You'll be left in a convalescent hospital with bed sores and no one will care. Still, not as bad a fate as the rooster in your possession.

 

[QueenMisha]

How did you euthanize him? I was reading from another thread, and they were saying something about peroxide and baking soda. Should I do a 1 to 1 ratio of peroxide and baking soda, and have the rooster drink it? I really don't want to use a syringe or swing his neck around.

I used broomstick method (one foot on a broomstick, neck goes underneath, other foot on the broomstick, tug). It was difficult to do correctly, and to be sure he was dead, I ended up posting him afterwards anyways. (Hold by the feet and stretch the neck straight out). Most people want to avoid neck-breaking methods but the cold hard truth is they are the quickest and most painless for the bird. It's important to keep in mind that euthanasia should never be about the owner. Euthanasia is done for the pet's comfort; many owners would keep their animals alive much longer if they could, but euthanasia comes into the picture when the owner is selfless enough to realize the animal is going through a lot of suffering and the only reason it's being kept alive is for the owner's sake.

With a large rooster like yours appears to be, neck-breaking isn't very easy unless you are a very strong person. I, for example, am a 5'4' female, so even though I'm somewhat muscular I find it incredibly hard if not impossible to simply twist or pull the neck of a large rooster and kill it. I tried to once, and the results were unpleasant. So unless you are pretty strong, I would suggest an ax. Spend a bit practicing, tie down the bird really well, and swing. Immediate and effective.

But I also urge you to find out your rooster's exact injuries before putting him to sleep. You mentioned that aside from the maggot issue (which, mind you, is easily fixed and should not at all factor into your euthanasia decision), he has a "bum leg". What is the exact nature of the problem? Is it broken? Dislocated? Is he a young bird who could possibly be suffering from Marek's Disease? Dislocation and Marek's victims should be put down, but if it's simply broken it has a great chance of healing - my avian vet once remarked, "If you put two halves of a chicken bone in the same room together, they'll heal." If you can't find anything physically wrong, I'd give it a few more days (up to a week, depending on how long the issue has been going on already) then put him to sleep. I had a Cornish rooster with an issue like this a while back. No breaks, dislocations, slips, it wasn't Marek's and there was no bruising, and butchering revealed nothing actually wrong with it. Yet he hadn't put weight on it for a good 3 months. Sometimes bird's bodies do very weird things, but it's important to exhaust all possibilities before deciding the issue isn't solvable.

 

[chixcoop]

This thread is just another instance of proving my point that some people shouldn't own animals. I'm sorry you neglected your rooster, but you received an egg from a hen. I guess what you wanted mattered more. Perhaps you may be in the rooster's position some day. You'll be left in a convalescent hospital with bed sores and no one will care. Still, not as bad a fate as the rooster in your possession.

We did not neglect him, we gave him multiple flea baths. I should have posted that in the first egg section. I am very excited about my first egg, but am also very sad about the rooster. I did all that I could do, and am resolved about the issue. Not every animal owner is willing to spend lots of money into their pet. We all have different perspectives, and I am sorry if I upset you by being excited about my first egg in the midst of my dying rooster. You can say that I should not be able to own animal, but this is also this is my first flock and I love them. Just because I posted those extra large emojis, did not mean that I stopped caring for him. In fact, after I posted the first egg pix, I went outside and cleaned the maggots off his butt for an hour. If I completely neglected him he would be dead right now.