Does my rooster have arthritis?!

[Carrie Barrup]

We have a large rooster that I believe is a giant jersey. We believe he is about 3 years old but are not positive unfortunately. In the 6 months or so that we have had him I have never seen him roost with the hens and he's been a little gimpy on his feet. In the last few days he lays for than he stands and when he does walk it is very unsteady. He eats and drinks fine but will not rush for them like the hens. His feet look fine but to me one leg is thicker than the other.... Is there anything I can do to help him? We'd love to keep him around as he is absolutely beautiful and are thinking of babies next year. Any advice would be awesome.

 

[DakotaDreamer]

You can look up gout in chickens and see if that seems similar. Is the leg swollen or thick? If it's swollen you might want to soak it in a warm epsom salt bath. I hope he gets better soon.

 

[Carrie Barrup]

He's not very touchable unfortunately but when we did manage to grab him I would say it's thick not swollen. Does that lean towards gout?

 

[DakotaDreamer]

Gout is more swelling. If you look up gout in chickens then you can see pictures and see if that is what it seems that he has. Does he appear to have a lump on that leg? Maybe he hurt his leg and it healed improperly? Can you get a picture?

 

[Carrie Barrup]

I will look it up thanks! As far as I can tell there are no injuries. We even flipped him over and checked the bottom of both his feet just to make sure. Unless it's more in the joint I can't see any problems.

 

[Eggcessive]

Can you post a couple of pictures of his legs?