# Rooster with Disability



## MellonFriend (Aug 8, 2017)

At my house we have a rooster who has had something quite wrong with him for a few months now. The first thing we noticed was a stiff walk. Like he couldn't bend his knees right. And after getting him on a regimen of nutria-drench, vet-rx (which I know shouldn't help), and save a chick, it seem to help a bit, but over the next few months it was clear that it wasn't really helping in fact he got worse. He started sitting down in the yard for long stretches of time only to get up with very stiff looking legs and hobble over to another place and sit down again. We were worried about him getting enough food and water so my little sisters would go out every once and a while in the day and set him in front of the water and food. 

The last straw came when the gang of Wyandotte hens, being the jerks of the flock, attacked him for being weak. The really just pulled out a lot of his neck feather's but it was clear he couldn't live with the flock any more. So we put him in with Russet, our Rhode Island Red hen who lives in a chicken tractor because she can only see out of one eye. This rooster is basically a pet now and he really doesn't walk around at all anymore, just hops a few inches by using his wings to push him self around, almost like he is using crutches. He doesn't seem too unhappy. He still crows, sounds the alarm if he notices what he thinks is a hawk, and tells his girl Russet when there is good food. 

We just wonder what is wrong with him? We feed high quality food that we have been raising chickens on for years. We thought maybe he was deficient in something, but then why didn't the nutridrench help long term? I am not really looking for a cure at this point, but I just can't figure out why this rooster didn't thrive. And is there anything we could do to make him better than he is now?


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## ksalvagno (Oct 6, 2009)

Really no idea. He might just have something internally going on. Maybe a chicken forum would have more ideas for you. Glad he is able to have a friend.


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## goathiker (Apr 14, 2011)

This is Mareks disease. 
Many people think that it can't be without the classic marek pose. This is not true. Mareks can be as subtle as a droopy wing or a weak eyelid. 
It can travel on the wind for miles and stay in your ground for half of forever. 

All of your chickens have been exposed. They probably won't become symptomatic but they will pass the disease to any new birds coming in. All new chicks should be vaccinated and given ample time to build antibodies before being near your chickens or on your ground.


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