Leg issues

[cuckooformarans]

One of my broilers has a deformed leg. I didnt notice it as a chick, so I would think it was born that way, but there werent any incidents that I saw where he could have been injured. I dont know what happened but I feel bad for him. He still gets around ok, and is keeping up with the rest of the flock size wise. Hope he makes it till butchering.

 

[Hummingbird Hollow]

I've raised three groups of meat chickens. The first were Freedom Rangers, the second were Cornish X and the current batch are Red Rangers. In each case I've had one with leg issues...all roosters. With the Freedom Rangers I butchered the struggling rooster at 8 weeks, which was a week earlier than any of the others. With the CX I butchered him at 7 weeks. Also a week earlier than the next group. My Red Rangers are almost 9 weeks old and it looks like the gimpy legged rooster will make it OK until butchering day, but he'll be the first to go as well. I don't know whether they were injured somewhere along the line or just reached a weight where a previous deformity started to becomee a problem. I just tried to make sure they had access to plenty of food and water and didn't get forced away from the feeders.

I had a mature Freedom Ranger rooster with leg issues after weeks of problem free mobility. In that case I think he probably injured himself, perhaps jumping down from something. In that case, I confined him to a dog crate in the garage where he didn't/couldn't move around very much and had his own personal feeder and waterer. He ended up healing up in about two weeks and was back with the flock.

I hope you continue to make progress with your current batch and get them all a few weeks farther down the road. Good luck.