Rooster with paralyzed wing--please help

[DuckieG]

OK, here is the rundown on dear Helios

*Edited to add: The wing is paralyzed; after looking at some chicken anatomy pics and really moving the joint, it seems to be identical to the other one. *

He is an 11 month old BO Roo
His right wing is dangling in front of him and he is completely unable to move it. He dislikes having his feathers ruffled intensely and he cannot readjust himself--not normal behavior. Normally he will growl, shake himself vigorously and meticulously arrange each of his magnificent wing feathers individually.
He is still eating and foraging, not quite as much as normal but he is not sitting in the corner depressed. He is shivering intermittently; it is very cold here and so it could be stress or cold.
I just discovered this today; last night he was fine.
He lives in a shed with a huge yard that they can all go in and out of at will (all surrounded by electric net fencing with a cattle charger on it--there is no way a dog or predator got in and injured him)
The 33 other chickens are fine. They do not fight since the only other Roo is Helios' brother and they have always lived together.
The wing *may* be dislocated but I am not sure enough of myself to go pulling on it without some direction from someone who has done it
Poop is fine.

The fly in the ointment here is that he is part of a batch of "Show Quality" orpingtons that I bought for my son as 4 week olds. There were 9, 3 are left--Helios, his brother Rex and Pudding, their sister. The others died of Mareks (nice gift for my kid, huh? The other guys flock was supposed to be clean. ) Anyway, the others started dying at about 12 weeks, about 1 every 6 weeks after that. Had 3 necropsies done by the state lab and they confirmed it; the last one they sent to NC State for a complete workup. The vet said it must be a very low virulance strain and the deaths should stop after a few months. Only the Orpingtons came down with it. He is not staggering, eyes look fine so it just doesn't look like the other Marek's cases we had.

This Rooster is everyone's favorite--he loves laps and naps and I REALLY don't want to cull him unless it is completely necessary since I have had to cull all of the other "gifts". That said, my son is 14 and does not want him to suffer. Has anyone bound a wing up to let it heal? Will they form a false joint if we do that? He could go live in the horse barn until he was all better. *Edited to add: would you bind up a paralyzed wing? He is in the hospital cage now, and is not happy about it since his brother is crowing about his newfound monopoly on the hens.*
Thanks in advance for any help you can give; sorry for the novel.

 

[chickenzoo]

I would wrap him in a towel to keep him from struggling and feel all over his wing, referring to the normal one as a reference. If it is dislocated I would straighten his wing out and put pressure on it outwards and see if it will go back in place. If it looks broke, I would do the same, but then carefully fold it into it's normal folded position and wrap with vetwrap. I would also give him some baby asprin ( 3-4 in a gallon of water) for pain and keep him in a kennel to limit movement. Post pics if you can so we can help better.........

 

[horsejody]

Mareks doesn't always start in the legs. It can also start in the wings or the neck. Is it possible that he is showing signs of Marek's?

 

[DuckieG]

Quote:
Yes, it is possible, I guess; our last death was about two and half months ago so I had hoped that it was purged. The others were really ataxic and they all exhibited lameness but no wing symptoms until they were just not feeling good and the wings and tails dropped. He is really pretty perky, considering.

 

[farmin'chick]

If I didn't know how the joint went together and wanted to see it/learn it, I'd go buy a whole fryer at the grocery store -- Yes, you can really buy chicken at the store! Or at least, a chicken like animal with wings. Anyway -- I would use it by cutting away the skin and flesh to see exactly how the joint and joint capsules fit together -- I think that would help me in examining my bird to see if his wing was in the right place.

 

[DuckieG]

When I lift the wing up and hold it in the same position as his good wing, it feels exactly the same at the joint. I have had several dislocated fingers an toes and it is always pretty darn apparent when the beautiful design of a joint is out of whack. I tried moving it like I would to pop it back in and the joint is moving smoothly. Further, he does not seem stressed by this--my son was holding him on his lap with just a hand under his keel to steady him, not pinning him down in a head lock. So, maybe a torn or severed ligament, which I would expect to be painful but who knows with a rooster? There is still the specter of Marek's. Just in case it is an injury, I am going to make him a little sling and give him a few weeks. I am not anti-culling (if there is suffering, real deformity or a mean rooster--extra tasty but this guy is so, so sweet that if I needed to have a wing-ectomy done, i would take him out of town to have it done. No vets in my area will see chickens. We have so many broiler producers here the vets won't even look at a chicken; they say cull everything that isn't perfect. Anyone out there have a chicken amputee? How do they get along?

 

[chickenzoo]

they can do just fine w/o a wing.....

 

[horsejody]

Quote:
Yes, it is possible, I guess; our last death was about two and half months ago so I had hoped that it was purged. The others were really ataxic and they all exhibited lameness but no wing symptoms until they were just not feeling good and the wings and tails dropped. He is really pretty perky, considering.

Marek's is never purged. It's forever. If the chicken was not vaccinated and quarantined as a chick (before any exposure) and his coop mates had Marek's, he is at least a carrier.