Picked up 10 CX's from feed store the beginning of April. Nothing out of the ordinary until after about 2 weeks, I noticed one of them was kind of "gimping" around the brooder. Acting like he had a broken leg almost?? Since then it hasn't changed.....He holds his right leg out to the side, even when "resting" and he can't seem to put any weight on it. I have picked him up & examined the leg for signs of injury or breakage...it doesn't "feel" broken and there doesn't appear to be any external injury.
He still manages to shuffle around the brooder tank and he eats and drinks as eagerly as the rest of the birds. When he's not shuffling for the feeder he tends to lay with that leg stuck out and it seems like he is always breathing hard. AND for some reason he's not growing at the same rate as everybody else, despite all the eating & drinking. He's maybe 1/3 the size of the other birds! Matter of fact, I moved the 4 week old birds to their outdoor pen today, since I brought home a 2nd batch of 2 day old meaties. The 4 week old "gimpy" is only maybe 3 times the size of the baby chicks!!
I'd heard of leg problems in CX but I wasn't aware that it could happen so young....he was barely 3 weeks when it started. And what could be causing his growth to be stunted so drastically?? It seems like the other meaties are growing by leaps & bounds especially in the last week, and yet he seems "stuck" at the same size he was when he was 3 weeks old.
Is there anything I can do to help him? Any hope for him? Should I wait & see if he improves, or should I just cull him out of kindness? If not for the fact that he eats, drinks & makes a valiant attempt to move around, I'd have already put him out of his misery.
I can get pix tomorrow if anyone wants to see what I'm talking about with the leg & his size difference with the other meaties.
He still manages to shuffle around the brooder tank and he eats and drinks as eagerly as the rest of the birds. When he's not shuffling for the feeder he tends to lay with that leg stuck out and it seems like he is always breathing hard. AND for some reason he's not growing at the same rate as everybody else, despite all the eating & drinking. He's maybe 1/3 the size of the other birds! Matter of fact, I moved the 4 week old birds to their outdoor pen today, since I brought home a 2nd batch of 2 day old meaties. The 4 week old "gimpy" is only maybe 3 times the size of the baby chicks!!
I'd heard of leg problems in CX but I wasn't aware that it could happen so young....he was barely 3 weeks when it started. And what could be causing his growth to be stunted so drastically?? It seems like the other meaties are growing by leaps & bounds especially in the last week, and yet he seems "stuck" at the same size he was when he was 3 weeks old.
Is there anything I can do to help him? Any hope for him? Should I wait & see if he improves, or should I just cull him out of kindness? If not for the fact that he eats, drinks & makes a valiant attempt to move around, I'd have already put him out of his misery.
I can get pix tomorrow if anyone wants to see what I'm talking about with the leg & his size difference with the other meaties.
My dude made it to the end and even though he was a good pound smaller at 8 weeks old, he was still 4 lbs after processing and didnt taste any differently. I did have to pick him up everyday to go to bed as I used a coop to house them in at night . The ramp to it had a tiny incline and was only 6 inches off the ground-but he couldnt do it-...The only way I was going to process or cull him early was if I saw he was in pain or started to have a backward slide in growth...
