Need help! I think I'm going to lose my roo!

E.M. Silkies

Songster
9 Years
Aug 7, 2010
362
0
109
Georgia
I have a beautiful buff silkie rooster that is having some serious issues. He is closing in on a year old. I had him housed with some other young chickens in a grow out pen for quite some time where he was healthy as a horse until quite recently. After moving all the other chickens out of the growout pen(leaving only the roo and one hen) he seemed to lose control of his leg. I thought maybe he broke it jumping off of a roost(he learned to roost w/ some RIR babies) But it didn't feel broken and now it's been several weeks with n o improvement. I moved him into a smaller pen so he would not have as much moving around to do. No his leg(s) is limp, he can't walk, barely picks up his head and looks like he's about to croak. I definitely don't think it's a broken bone, he would've healed by now. He isn't sneezy or snotty in any way. I'm thinking now it may be neurological. He can't walk around. He has to flop himself over to get around the cage and he doesn't hold his head up. I don't know what to do. Any suggestions? I'm now desperate because I don't know how much longer he'll hold on.
 
If he appears to be in pain I'd just cull.
sad.png
Sorry.
hugs.gif
 
I've been thinking he'd just die but so far he hasn't. I really hate that I haven't been able to do anything for him. I also hate that he's miserable. I guess I was just hoping that someone might know the magic cure before I let him go.
 
If it's neurological there probably isn't no magic cure.. i think. Could it have been some kind of poisonous spider? That's happened to one of my birds before. Mareks? Are any of your other birds showing similar symptoms?
hmm.png
 
Quote:
No one else is showing symptoms. I guess it could have been a spider but I haven't found any evidence of that. What all does mereks include symptom wise? If it's mereks, I just need to cull him right?
 
Back last December, one of my roos lost control of his legs, and I now am sure it was Marek's. I kept him in a dog kennel in the house for two weeks. He ate and drank fine, and I sat him in my lap at nights, thinking that maybe he would get better. When he didn't, I had a friend put him down for me. I hated it, but knew I should have put him out of his misery two weeks before. In retrospect, I was keeping him alive more for me than for him! If it happens again, I won't put another one through it for as long as I did. Sorry. I know how tough it is!
 
Sounds like Marek's, esp if you have gotten new birds in the past few months, but probably more than 8 weeks ago.
It's sad if it is. If he has it, he will be spreading it faster when he is symptomatic. It also means your other birds are exposed, and I don't know if they've been vaccinated, if so, they can still spread Marek's from an exposure, but not get sick.


http://www.firststatevetsupply.com/content/view/17/37/

I hope it's something else.
 
Last edited:

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom