Rooster can’t walk, lost muscle mass in one leg

[Wphilbrook]

Hello Chicken people!

Last week I noticed my rooster was slightly limping and figured he jumped down from the roost wrong. He is roughly two years old. A few days later I went to the run and he could not walk at all and the hens started pecking his comb until he was bleeding. I decided to remove him from the flock so he could recover. I felt his legs and didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary. I thought over the course of a few days of rest he would be back to normal but it has been a week now, he still cannot walk at all and scoots around to feed. I haven’t noticed any respiratory problems but he has had bumblefoot in the recent past. Today I started hand feeding him as well as water. He seems like he has lost weight. He is still pooping but it looks greener than normal to me. I haven’t noticed any respiratory problems either. I checked his legs again today and noticed that his right legs hardly has any muscle mass compared to the other one. It’s hard for me to believe he could lose that much muscle on only one leg in a week and not both. He keeps trying to stand but continually falls over and has to use his wings to balance him out. Does anyone have any ideas as to what could possibly be happening? I was thinking about contacting the vet tomorrow to see if he had any ideas but I can’t imagine spending a bunch of money on X-rays, etc for a rooster even though I have bonded with him quite a bit. Does anyone have any suggestions? I would rather not put him down but I don’t want him to suffer if I am prolonging the inevitable. I’m also worried that whatever he has could’ve potentially exposed my hens. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Eggcessive]

This sounds like Mareks disease unfortunately. An injury to the leg causing a nerve paralysis could also be possible. Have you added any new birds to your flock in the past 6 months? Are your birds vaccinated for Mareks? You can make a chicken sling chair or a nest for him, to get him upright, keep cleaner, and in front of his food and water. A necropsy can be performed by your state vet to look for Mareks. Keep him separated in a dog crate so he doesn’t get injured by the others. Here is some reading about Mareks:
http://csu-cvmbs.colostate.edu/Documents/vdl-mareks-disease-fact-sheet.pdf

https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/the-great-big-giant-mareks-disease-faq.66077/

Here is a link that shows chicken slings and chair:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/versions-of-chick-chairs-please.1166308/

 

[Wphilbrook]

This sounds like Mareks disease unfortunately. An injury to the leg causing a nerve paralysis could also be possible. Have you added any new birds to your flock in the past 6 months? Are your birds vaccinated for Mareks? You can make a chicken sling chair or a nest for him, to get him upright, keep cleaner, and in front of his food and water. A necropsy can be performed by your state vet to look for Mareks. Keep him separated in a dog crate so he doesn’t get injured by the others. Here is some reading about Mareks:
http://csu-cvmbs.colostate.edu/Documents/vdl-mareks-disease-fact-sheet.pdf

https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/the-great-big-giant-mareks-disease-faq.66077/

Here is a link that shows chicken slings and chair:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/versions-of-chick-chairs-please.1166308/

I was worried about the possibility of Mareks. No new chickens in the last 6 months but I did get some more chickens about 10 months ago. No one is vaccinated as far as I know. Do I need to be concerned about all my other chickens?

 

[Eggcessive]

Mareks is spread through feather dust and dander and is contagious to other chickens. It can remain in your environment for years even after chickens are gone. There can be other things that can look like Mareks, so that is why it can be helpful to have your state vet do a necropsy on his body if your lose him. It tends to affect younger chickens, but can show up at any time chickens are exposed to the disease.