Injured leg on bantam roo

[Delighted]

We have two new patients in the house now. One is a pullet that got in with the big birds and she's got peck holes in her back. We know what to do there-- keep the wounds clean and use antibiotic cream/lotion/spray.

The second is a Brassy back Bantam OEG . We think it's broken it's leg or something. It's definitely an issue with putting weight on it, not a staggering around like some of the illnesses. The leg has some raw skin and he will NOT let us touch. The Red Pile he lives with is very aggressive and mean--to us and to him. They are quite exposed to the weather. They have a wire pen, as insulated as we could do on the back. (We couldn't afford to get more straw or hay bales). We used a big piece of plywood, and backed it up to a shed. Placed pallets between each pen, in hopes of holding in some heat, but keeping them from killing themselves or each other through the wire. Gave it wood sides, and a decent roof, but the front is exposed to everything we get, weather-wise. My son and I think he might have injured the leg due to the extreme cold. We're guessing this because we lost a roo awhile back due to trying to fight through a fence-- injured his leg and we were really new to chickens, didn't know what to do for him, long story, but he died.



So, first question, is, what do we do for this poor guy's leg?

Second takes some explaining, first; we have chicks in the house that
are just getting past Coccidiosis (spelling?). I've had them on Sulmet for a week, there's no more bloody poops and the last one that died was four days ago-- and that could have been from being squished--we have them in the garage, and the heat lamp isn't strong enough--we lost a couple bantams before we saw the bloody poops--and think they died from squishing. I made the diagnosis of Cocci based on the bloody poop--There actually weren't other symptoms that i knew to look for. So it might not have been cocci, but I lost 7 chicks out of 17 to "SOMETHING"

So here's the second question. Are these two injured patients now exposed to this disease that killed my chicks? (One batch of the chicks is in the same room with the injured chickens)

Third question. My neighbor, who co-owns all our chickens has said i should put the whole lot of chickies down, due to them now being carriers of cocci and they'll infect the whole rest of our chickens--if we haven't already on our clothing. (We wash our hands both before and after handling them). True or not? Some of these are Frizzles and I wanted to have a breeding pair/trio eventually. If they are carriers, then could the offspring be exposed and die if we let them hatch out their chicks? (I guess that's part "b" of the third question) I have more questions about cocci, but don't want to chance asking so many that I don't get answers to the original question about the bantam's leg.

BW, I DID post this question on a local board I'm part of, but got one reply and I still have questions.

 

[Judy]

Cocci are in the soil, and quite prevalent in north georgia, at least in some areas. I wouldn't worry about the flock exposing each other; this may happen to some extent, but they are all exposed anyway. I would simply treat everyone. I don't know whether it is passed to offspring, I don't think so, but like I say, they will be exposed anyway. Read some of Speckledhen's posts; she lives in far north Georgia and has a real problem with this. Best thing you can do is feed medicated (with amprolium)
feed when they are young and keep both Corid and Sulmet around; not all strains are affected by both medicines.

On the leg injury, I'd somehow get hold of him and examine him closely, feel carefully, looking for fracture, warmth, swelling, dislocation. Best caught at night. Might try throwing a towel over him to catch him. I use a long handled fish net for this when nothing else works; sooner or later I can get close enough to trap the chicken. Easier for two to do the exam, one holding the bird. Once I get hold of them and turn them on their back, they relax and get quite docile. There is a way to hypnotize a chicken that starts with putting him on his back.

Two injuries makes me think of roost arrangement. I think these leg injuries sometimes happen because the roost is a bit high for the bird, and/or there is not room to really fly off the roost. When my chickens fly off my back porch, 6 or 7 steps plus the railing, they land about 15 or 20 ft from the porch, they fly that far laterally, so the landing is pretty soft. Perhaps changing something about how they get down from things might prevent this.