Need advice on a rooster with no legs

[Eggcessive]

So sorry about your little Mille Fleur D’uccle rooster. We have seen a lot of frostbite on legs here on the BYC forums since January. Now a lot of the damage is becoming evident.

He will require a lot of care for some time until his stumps toughen up. There is a lot of info about artificial legs, similar to the ones that Oscar Pistorius wore in running races. Some have made them with 3 D printers, while other people have made simple peg legs that the stumps fit into. There are some very overpriced wheelchairs for chickens as well, but those probably wouldn’t work without some form of artificial leg.

Since I had a mille fleur rooster like yours who lost a couple of toe tips to frost bite, I would give it a try to help him. It will be a lot of care to make sure that he is able to reach food and water, and a sling can help with that as well as keeping him cleaner with a droppings opening in the back. I wouldn't let him get too fat, so he will be easier to care for. Keep an eye on his breastbone so that he doesn’t get a breast blister. I will try to find some of the links I posted on a similar thread last week.

 

[Eggcessive]

 

[Eggcessive]

This is a heartwarming thread from 4 years ago about Frostie, a bantam rooster who turned out to be a hen, and she lost both feet. This thread has pictures of how they rehabbed her to get her back outside, and show her in her chicken sling, walking around, and even an update when she began to lay eggs:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/frost-bitten-feet.842760/page-4

 

[micstrachan]

Really great photos and link you shared @Eggcessive. Armed with those resources, I would definitely work with this rooster and give him a chance.

 

[roosterhavoc]

https://www.animalsheltering.org/magazine/dark-side-coop
These kinds of threads along with many of the sick chicken threads are and will continue to be used against owning backyard flocks.

 

[333113]

https://www.animalsheltering.org/magazine/dark-side-coop
These kinds of threads along with many of the sick chicken threads are and will continue to be used against owning backyard flocks.

It's all fine and good to talk about how backyard chickens are cost-effective and provide food, manure, etc.

However, there is also a higher level of value that a backyard bird brings as a pet, a learning experience about dealing with adversity, and about exploring our own life values.

Please let's remember that we all have our own birds for different reasons. We each have our own unique bundle of resources to spend on our birds. And we will all go down our own paths.

We cannot cookie-cutter every backyard bird owner to the same outline, and we should not. Let's instead offer each other friendly advice based on our experience and knowledge.

 

[roosterhavoc]

It's all fine and good to talk about how backyard chickens are cost-effective and provide food, manure, etc.

However, there is also a higher level of value that a backyard bird brings as a pet, a learning experience about dealing with adversity, and about exploring our own life values.

Please let's remember that we all have our own birds for different reasons. We each have our own unique bundle of resources to spend on our birds. And we will all go down our own paths.

We cannot cookie-cutter every backyard bird owner to the same outline, and we should not. Let's instead offer each other friendly advice based on our experience and knowledge.

Don’t tell me. Write a letter to them. I totally agree with you. The link I provided shows the hsus does not see it your way.

 

[Cyprus]

He is also a sweet little guy! He is a Mille Fleur D'Uccle. My profile picture is of what he used to look like before all this happened.



I am the same type of person. He is being spoiled, getting extra treats and time sitting on the couch.

Actually, he is not a D'Uccle. He is a booted bantam because he has no beard.

 

[Keeperofmunchkins]

What I think about when I see this little rooster is all the chickens who are living in far inferior conditions for the meat and egg industry. Millions and millions of chickens live horrendous, short lives in tiny cages rotting alive in their own fifth and never seeing the sky. That is cruelty. Keeping a disabled little roo in warmth and comfort, well fed and loved and clean, presumably with some outdoor time once he's healed and possibly some kind of wheels/prostheses to help him move about a bit later - that is not cruelty.
He deserves a chance.

 

[333113]

Don’t tell me. Write a letter to them. I totally agree with you. The link I provided shows the hsus does not see it your way.

They do see it my way. I read the article, and this is a direct quote:
"Although primarily concerned with improving conditions for billions of factory-farmed hens, The HSUS considers backyard chickens a potential component of the “Three Rs” for a more humane, eco-friendly diet: Reduce consumption of animal-based foods, refine the diet by avoiding foods from the worst production systems (e.g., by switching to eggs from pasture-raised hens) and replace animal-based foods with plant-based alternatives.

“If you can raise your own chickens and do it in the most humane way possible, then we would see that as a ‘refine’ approach,” says Sara Shields of Humane Society International, an HSUS affiliate. "