Injured leg

[wenracr]

Three of my young (should be laying any day now) chickens have gone to roost perfectly fine in the evenings, then in the morning (each one a different day) they’d have an injured leg, which we believe our young Japanese Onagadori rooster is the culprit. One of the girls who was injured, afterwards; separated herself from the flock, began showing breathing difficulties, then suddenly died. Before the leg injury she was perfectly fine and normal. Has anyone had this problem or have heard of anything like this before??? Could the injury perhaps have had punctured a lung or something crazy like that?

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Three of my young (should be laying any day now) chickens have gone to roost perfectly fine in the evenings, then in the morning (each one a different day) they’d have an injured leg, which we believe our young Japanese Onagadori rooster is the culprit. One of the girls who was injured, afterwards; separated herself from the flock, began showing breathing difficulties, then suddenly died. Before the leg injury she was perfectly fine and normal. Has anyone had this problem or have heard of anything like this before??? Could the injury perhaps have had punctured a lung or something crazy like that?

I'm sorry no has responded to your post.

It's sad losing a chicken and sometimes very hard to know the cause. It's usually best to send the body for necropsy if possible so you get accurate information.

How old are the hens and the "young" rooster?
How much space do you have in your coop/run?
It's possible an injury may occur if the hens/pullets are not responsive to a cockerel/rooster.

Disease that causes limping, respiratory distress, etc. like Marek's is also something to consider as well.

If you feel the cockerel is the cause of the limping, then separate him out - he might fuss, but it won't kill him to be alone until he matures, then see how he behaves. Provide him with adequate space and secure housing next to the hens/pullets.

If the limping is from injury, then likely the girls will limit their activity enough to not further injure the legs and it will resolve in a couple of weeks.