unwell 4 week old meat chick/cornish x

[claudiag]

Hi I have a chick that has not moved for a week now. I just brought her back in the house & fed her by hand which she tucked into. her eyes are still bright. I gave her some water & she is now in the cat carrier with hay bedding, feed & water in the house, She has not moved although she has seemed to be eating & pooping a bit. She tends to favor her wing & does not move at all. We initially let her 'fast a few days' and then gave her some food. Not sure what else to do. Any thoughts? claudia

 

[BantamLover21]

The Cornish X is naturally not a very active breed; they tend to sit around eating most of the time as they get older. However, I don't think its normal for them to not move at all. Does there appear to be any injury/deformity with your chick's legs that could cause this? Cornish X's do often have leg problems due to their huge size, so that could be it. It may just be best to cull her, unless you want to continue hand-feeding and caring for her for the rest of her (usually short) life.

Also,

 

[Eggcessive]

I would agree that it might be time to process the chicken now since it can't move. I don't raise meat chickens, but some of the people who write on threads recommend controlling their feed, and making them free range to slow the rapid weight gain and for their health.

 

[claudiag]

This is our first foray into meat birds. Was I glad to get them out of the house in the brooder boxes after 3 weeks!!! hmm not so sure about this enterprise. This particular bird has not moved for a week since we moved them to the outside coop. Hubby has been very careful about weighing them & controlling their feed. We now have the automatic water dish far across the chicken yard so they have to get up & move. They seem so much happier outside & are running around & seem active like the layers we have. So this bird has droopy unresponsive legs. Maybe she has Marek's disease. I thought hubby was going to put her down today while we were in town. She does perk up with hand feeding & watering. But not really much of a life so...
Claudia