Rooster with odd gate...physical or neurological

[earthfriendlyfarm]

My rooster is walking with an odd "kicking gate". I have felt over him and found that his left leg is slightly larger than his right, and at the "knee joint" he has some fleshy, fatty nodules, but has them on both knees. Just more on the left leg. he crows and eats and hangs with the flock, but his gate is worrisome and causes him to stumble alot and almost fall.

I have tried to embed this youtube video, hope it works. A video describes it all. Thank you

 

[earthfriendlyfarm]

I am surprised that no one else had had this type of issue with their Chickens. And surprised no one has responded back to my need for ideas, thoughts or comments.

 

[Eggcessive]

Sorry that no one saw your post earlier--they sometimes don't get answered at night. It looks a bit like Mareks disease to me, plus the nodules maybe tumors, also a Mareks symptom. I would Google Mareks disease, and I would post on the current thread "Not an emergency--mareks in the flock" for answers from more expert people that are dealing with it. It is on the emergency forum. Testing can be done through TexasA&M.

 

[Eggcessive]

Also start him on multivtamins right away just in case of vitamin deficiency.

 

[earthfriendlyfarm]

I sent the video to our local poultry Vet who after reviewing the video, believes it is either arthritis or slipped tendon. No solution for slipped tendon, surgery wise of course, so I started him on some homeopathic remedies I put together for arthritis, along with a dog version combination of chondroitin, glucosamine, msm, and a long list of impressive antinflammatory herbs, like turmeric etc. Almost immediately, he quit doing the backwards kicking. Now having been on this for about 2 weeks. He is doing so much better. when he is late on a morning dose, he will look like he is trying to step over something, but no big backward kicking. I would never have guessed arthritis, cuz who would do such aggressive movements if your joints were aching? Turns out chickens do.

 

[Michael Apple]

Also start him on multivtamins right away just in case of vitamin deficiency.

X2. Slipped tendons aka Perosis is generally caused by mineral/vitamin deficiencies. Get rid of all those homeopathic remedies you mentioned as they will only complicate things. I'd start out with a good quality Vitamin-mineral soluble powder in the water,i.e. Avian Super Pack. Some probiotics to aid in digestion would be beneficial also. Probios makes an excellent water dispersible probiotic. I hope your rooster recovers.

 

[PoultryPedia]

Slipped Tendon can sometimes be corrected manually, if he does have that. There is info on the Poultry Podiatry page on the site linked in my sig, if it's helpful.
Best wishes!

 

[PoultryPedia]

After watching the video just now, I'd guess it isn't a Slipped Tendon, as I haven't read of anyone observing the leg lifting like that.

I also would think arthritis is a possibility.

It seems like he has the ability to bear weight pretty well so that's a good sign of hope for his continuing recovery

 

[earthfriendlyfarm]

Interesting how things work out. It is now March, and what we found out by taking our handsome rooster to the only chicken vet in the area is he had gangrene in the knee of his left leg. Not Maerks. I get that as sort of a catch all for ill chickens. It had really eaten up lots of his flesh and left a big hole with the infection. The Vet is fabulous. He put him on antibiotics, pain med and showed me how to clean with peroxide and bandage it. Month later, took him back and the Vet had discovered a product at a seminar the day before for regrowing flesh. It is a matrix made from pig ligaments. It attracts stem cell which are naturally floating around in our bodies, and chickens, to the area and regrows tissues. So yes, we went on and did this procedure when he simply knocked him out with gas, thoroughly cleaned the wound and stitched the matrix into the wound. Then I have been applying a wet bandage to keep the matrix wet and completely in contact with the wound.

It is almost completely healed now. The Vet has been taking pictures and info and sending it back to the company. It has been used on Eagles and Turtles and now Roosters. ha

We had originally thought he had arthritis and was treating him for that, cuz it was hard to catch him for a while. Once it got so bad we could catch him, we knew it was bad. But a good out come to this story. He is back to crowing and hanging with our 50 girls. He is our only Rooster. When you have a prize Rooster you only need one. He's is famous now too. haha

 

[Eggcessive]

Thanks for posting the update. Good to hear that he survived gangrene in his knee. Thanks for educating us about this new procedure, and I'm glad you were able to do this for him. Besides being famous, he is now worth a lot of $$, LOL.