Rooster limping, no infection visible

[Jojosine]

Hello there

my beautiful 2,5 year old rooster Harvey has been limping for several weeks. It seems to be one leg which remains stiff when walking (he looks a bit like a robot or military walking)
I checked his feet and they are clean, no wounds, nothing stuck, no visible infection, no swelling and they feel normal temperature. He didn't flinch when I touched his foot pads and not when I gently moved his joint either.
When he was young he severely hurt himself somehow getting out of the coop (too eager to jump the ladies) and we think he may have damaged his shoulder joint. Could this now be causing him trouble?

We separated him for a week and gave him arnica at first, but that didn't seem to make a difference. He became very depressed in the little coop, so we moved him to a small run with the little coop just off the ground. He can limp around on dry soil and see, but don't touch, the girls. We also gave him aspirin, but even this doesn't seem to make a difference in his walking.
After another 1,5 weeks we let him join the flock for a few hours and he immediately went for the ladies, but he is still limping badly and today we kept him separated again. The ladies sleep in a high coop but he actually went back to his low coop to sleep on his own last night.
He eats and drinks, but I feel he is getting depressed by being on his own.

So my question is:
- Would you let him join the flock, risking him getting up the ramp to the higher night coop? And risking him jumping girls despite he can't really do it?
- Keep him separated all together?
- Continue giving aspirin even though it doesn't seem to make a difference?
I don't know what to do.

Killing is not an option: he was the only surviving chick out of 12 eggs and is very easy to handle considering he is a boy.

Any ideas/advice is welcome.

 

[coach723]

Is it possible for you to post a video of his limp? It might be helpful to see how he's moving. Is vet care an option?

 

[SamLockwood]

If you don't see any obvious swelling, wounds, or misalignment it may be a sprain or muscle /tendon injury. I've had a couple of those and they can take a long time to heal. You can give them small doses of aspirin. I like to dissolve them in water. It seems to work better if you can dise them before they sleep for the night. Recovery time is usually four to six weeks.

 

[Jojosine]

If you don't see any obvious swelling, wounds, or misalignment it may be a sprain or muscle /tendon injury. I've had a couple of those and they can take a long time to heal. You can give them small doses of aspirin. I like to dissolve them in water. It seems to work better if you can dise them before they sleep for the night. Recovery time is usually four to six weeks.

Thank you. I had read somewhere that a sprain would only take 2 - 3 weeks to heal, so that got me worried. Today he seemed slightly better and we let him join the girls.

I'll try and upload a short video of how he walks tomorrow (they were all asleep when I came home after work) @coach723

 

[Jojosine]

This is him walking this morning: Rooster limping

He is separated at the moment but very eager to get to the flock.

 

[ksbkeys]

This is him walking this morning: Rooster limping

He is separated at the moment but very eager to get to the flock.

He is beautiful. I hope he feels better soon! I wish I could advise you but don't know enough.

 

[SamLockwood]

Thank you. I had read somewhere that a sprain would only take 2 - 3 weeks to heal, so that got me worried. Today he seemed slightly better and we let him join the girls.

I'll try and upload a short video of how he walks tomorrow (they were all asleep when I came home after work) @coach723

I've seen longer recover times for sprains or muscle-strain type injuries.

I had one rooster that pulled something in a leg and while he was never lamed he did have a noticable limp for over a month.

The worst to date was a guinea hen that I initially thought was paralyzed, but after a couple days she started hopping around on one leg. I didn't see any noticeable swelling or misalignment or obvious injury, she just would avoid moving the left foot and anke and wouldn't put any weight on it.

I figured she'd sprained her ankle badly, so I tried vet-wrapping the leg just above the ankle, incorporating the joint as much as I could. She immediately started getting around better, but still didn't put any weight on her foot until at least a month after the injury.

Weirdest part was she left the vet-wrap alone, and got pretty good at hopping around and using her wing as a crutch. She was even able to roost with the flock once I built a "booster step" to help her get up there.

Roughly a month of hopping about later and she finally started putting weight on the bad foot. Within a couple days of that she ripped off the wrap and could walk with a noticeable limp. A few weeks later she only had a slight limp late in the day. A year later and I honestly can't tell you which one of the 3 younger guinea hens was the injured one.

Total time from injury to full mobility was probably 6 to 7 weeks.

 

[Jojosine]

@SamLockwood Thank you for your story. It helps to know that other chickens had similar injuries and gotten through it in time. Harvey, my gentle and beloved rooster seems a lot better now after around 3,5 - 4 weeks and is out with the flock again. Although we have kept him in his easy-to-get-into coop at night.