RAMP TOO STEEP FOR SENIOR ROOSTER-NEED HELP!

[checkingon]

My Kingy is around 10-11 years old. He is having difficulty bending his legs. His vet said his joints are inflamed; arthritis. It pains me to see him struggle everyday. He spends most of his time just laying down as it takes a lot of effort to get up. And when he does, he is unstable and at times he cannot balance and will fall. He falls and just lays on the ground on his side. I run to the pen to check on him and he eventually gets up. What makes this difficult... he is and will always be feral. He came from the wild and we caught him to avoid the teens catching him and using him to breed or to fight.
He's lived with us for so many years and he's so used to going up into the coop for the night - but the ramp is becoming more and more difficult for him to walk on. He is very determined because his mate also sleeps with him in the coop. She roosts on the pole while he sleeps on the floor. The coop is 30" high. The strips are 6" apart. When he's ready to go in for the night @4pm, he stands at the bottom looking up for a few seconds, then attempts to make the climb. At times, when he reaches 3-4 strips to the top, he tries to run or fly in and he stumbles to the ground.
I really need your suggestions or ideas to make Kingy's life more comfortable. It would be great if I could tear the whole coop down and rebuild but doubt if hubby will agree. Besides it'll put too much stress on my aging chickens. Oh, I do regularly sweep and water down the ramp to avoid dust build-up. Do you think extending and making the ramp longer will work? I need your help - Please.

 

[Josh L.]

I would say that making the ramp longer would be the best course of action if you don't want to tear the whole thing down and cut off a foot or so of its height. Maybe add some aspirin (only aspirin, some human meds are toxic to chickens) to his water (4-5 tablets/gal) to help ease his pain?

 

[checkingon]

I would say that making the ramp longer would be the best course of action if you don't want to tear the whole thing down and cut off a foot or so of its height. Maybe add some aspirin (only aspirin, some human meds are toxic to chickens) to his water (4-5 tablets/gal) to help ease his pain?

Oh, thank you for your suggestion! BTW - the vet prescribed Prednisolone. It's a 5mg tablet but to give half of it/day for 2 weeks. At first she said one week but changed it to two. I really hope this will help. Do you know much about it? He just started taking it yesterday (Monday). Today was the worst I've seen him falling but I'm known to be a worry wart. When it comes to eating, he'll just get up and appear that nothings wrong. He has a good appetite. Vet also recommended giving a tablespoon of canned cat food per day. What makes this a little more difficult is sharing food with his mate. They're inseparable.

 

[Josh L.]

Oh, thank you for your suggestion! BTW - the vet prescribed Prednisolone. It's a 5mg tablet but to give half of it/day for 2 weeks. At first she said one week but changed it to two. I really hope this will help. Do you know much about it? He just started taking it yesterday (Monday). Today was the worst I've seen him falling but I'm known to be a worry wart. When it comes to eating, he'll just get up and appear that nothings wrong. He has a good appetite. Vet also recommended giving a tablespoon of canned cat food per day. What makes this a little more difficult is sharing food with his mate. They're inseparable.

I don't actually know much about that, but I assume it might take a little getting used to for him, which might explain the falling. I would search it up on google, make sure you know its symptoms, and how it might affect him. Has he ever been on meds before?

 

[checkingon]

Oops - I meant a .5mg Prednisolone tablet given half of it per day up to 2 weeks. Vet didn't mention anything about weening off though.

 

[Josh L.]

Oops - I meant a .5mg Prednisolone tablet given half of it per day up to 2 weeks. Vet didn't mention anything about weening off though.

Maybe its one of those that you don't need to ween off of? I would definitely research it to make sure you know everything about it that you can, maybe ask around on here on threads about older chickens?

 

[checkingon]

I don't actually know much about that, but I assume it might take a little getting used to for him, which might explain the falling. I would search it up on google, make sure you know its symptoms, and how it might affect him. Has he ever been on meds before?

No, never. She also said injuries could have been from old wounds or some kind of trauma and now they're showing up. This is so true - since Kingy lived in the wild, he was hunted several times by other aggressive roosters and attacked numerous times from dogs. He would always show up in our yard badly bruised and beaten and feathers plucked out.

 

[checkingon]

Maybe its one of those that you don't need to ween off of? I would definitely research it to make sure you know everything about it that you can, maybe ask around on here on threads about older chickens?

I'll try to find that thread on older chickens. I'm fairly new to this forum and still finding my way around. Thank you.

 

[Josh L.]

No, never. She also said injuries could have been from old wounds or some kind of trauma and now they're showing up. This is so true - since Kingy lived in the wild, he was hunted several times by other aggressive roosters and attacked numerous times from dogs. He would always show up in our yard badly bruised and beaten and feathers plucked out.

it would definitely make sense that perhaps at one point he wound up fracturing a bone, and it could now have manifested as arthritis.. Tough little rooster to have lived through all that!

 

[K.Riggs]

I don't have anything to add just to say Awww bless him.