familyflock5
Hatching
- Sep 4, 2015
- 1
- 0
- 7
We have an 18 week old Rhode Island Red Rooster, about 2 weeks ago we noticed a bit of a limp over long distances, but was otherwise fine. he was vaccinated for Marek's as a chick, so I thought it must be a sore foot or something. 1 week ago we noticed he was not coming out of the coop, so we took him out and discovered he is missing one of his back toe talons, there doesn't appear to be a wound, so maybe is was a birth defect? there is no visible wound or swelling, nothing hot to the touch, and he didn't flinch at any point when we examined both legs. He was still healthy otherwise, just couldn't get to food and water easily (mostly it was getting down from the roost), so we put him in a safe spot with his own food/water (chickens are free ranged). Then we noticed his poop was strange- very watery with the urates completely separate from the fecal matter, which was black and straight. Being not sure what that meant I put him on dewormer just in case. At this point he was still alert, with a healthy comb and eyes, just wouldn't get up anymore. 2 days ago he started eating less, but was still bright eyed and drinking water. yesterday he was about the same, but I can't tell if he ate at all, not much if he did. Today though is comb has flopped a bit and he is going back and forth between alert and lethargic, and he is sort of flopped over to one side, like he's trying to stay off his leg. Any thoughts at all would be appreciated. we live in a rural area and the closest vet that will look at chickens only works 2 days a week. I'd like to do whatever I can for him, but I'm also worried for the rest of the flock (He has been quarantined for several days).
