Fat chicken trouble walking

[Wrightfamily]

In the last few weeks my cornish rock rooster has gained a lot of weight very quickly by eating his (plus everyone else's portions.)

Now he is what I consider overweight and can barely walk. He just waddles a little, gets exhausted, and falls back on his hind quarters.

I have had to separate him from the others in case he hurt himself.

He has his shots and is wormed too so I don't think it is a disease making him hobble but if it is his weight causing it how long should it take with me cutting him back down to half the amount of food he has been gobbling down back to his normal weight?
Several weeks or?

He is a free range bird but he acts like he has had a stroke in his foot or hip or something so now I have him inside in a large box away from the herd. I don't think the other rooster got a hold of him.

Would helping him lose weight help him to walk again or will he be like this from now on even if he loses weight?

 

[aoxa]

You do know that his chance of survival is slim to none right? Cornish X's are made to live no longer then 12 weeks - 8 weeks is the appropriate time to cull. 12 weeks would be making them suffer.

These birds get so big, so fast that their legs break and their heart gives out. There is nothing you can do. He should be culled, as he is suffering a great deal by the sounds of it.

 

[WaterFowl209]

I'm in Agreement with the above poster these chickens are meant for food and to be culled at a certain time,these definitely are not birds to have as pets or to get attached to, might I add these are the best tasting chickens

 

[janinepeters]

aoxa is right. And you cannot make him lose weight. He's not "fat", he has gained muscle (the meat we eat), not fat. This breed was developed to produce the huge breasts and thighs that people like to eat. They are not bred for longevity, because people eat them when they are young. Their hearts are not strong enough to support the enormous muscle mass, and it will soon fail: That is, he will die of heart failure. Please put him out of his misery.

 

[Fred's Hens]

Yep. Time to put him in a freezer bag, for sure.

 

[Wrightfamily]

I will give him a short time longer because my daughter is attached to him.

Someone sent me an email giving some health tips. I will try his tips since he keeps his chickens lean and active for sport and when he runs into one like this he knows what to do. (If it works I will be back to share this info with all of you chicken wranglers)

I don't want to eat this him just yet.

Thanks all for your advice.

 

[The Lady]

I know how this is. We used to keep rabbits. My children would play with them, etc. - getting attached, so when the time came (and the hutches were full - time to put in freezer bags as someone else said) I would have someone help me with the job and I would put them in freezer bags to cook later. My children would never realize that they were eating the rabbits (because they taste so much like chicken). At that time they were between 6 and 12 years old. Now that they are grown, when we talk about it they are really surprised that I did that without them knowing, but it was the best way not to break their hearts. You didn't say how old your daughter is but it may be better to go ahead and "take care of it" before she becomes more attached or it dies first. Sounds like it's not too far from that now. Regards, The Lady

 

[aoxa]

I would have got a different breed if you were planning on keeping them as pets for your daughter. It is cruel to the bird to let it suffer just so your daughter can love him. The humane thing right now would be to cull the bird.

I'm sorry for your daughter. I find kids can be easily distracted by something new. Get her a few chicks that won't die at 3 months old.

 

[jecombs]

The bad news is that he will never get down to a "normal weight." It sounds like you acquired a bird and maybe did not know that it was meant only for meat production. You have got to slaughter him soon. He will not live much longer anyway and he will start to suffer (actually sounds like he already is suffering). I hope the person who sent you some tips understands what breed you are dealing with...

 

[Wrightfamily]

After taking the advise my rooster is up walking around this morning and his foot is fine.

I switched his food 4 days ago and it must have been something amiss with the food because that is when the hobbling began and when I tried switching him to the other food the foot issue cleared back up on it's own and he is walking around good as new this morning. I have read lots of horror stories about certain food making feet do terrible things but I had never seen it for myself. I thought it might have been his weight causing it but boy was I wrong.


Thanks everyone for the advice.