My rooster's leg is green! Infection?

[azygous]

Thanks. I'm really up against the wall. I looked at his feet real closely a while ago, and they both looked awful, the right one swollen almost like a club foot. I was wondering if all this could be caused by leg mites. Do they make a chicken go lame from swelling and pain when they get real bad? At any rate, not wanting to have my boy lose his life because of some leg mites, I bathed both legs and feet and dried them and then sprayed eucalyptus oil on them.

I left him out on a towel and let the girls all out for a visit with him. It almost made me cry seeing how happy he was to see them all. What really broke my heart was he tried soooooo hard to get up and walk when he saw them.

Monday is the day of reckoning. If he hasn't improved, I'm taking him to the vet and have him put down. And yes, I will ask him to get a necropsy done for me.

 

[ernie85017]

can you post pictures of the different symptoms?

If the vet can't fix him, or isn't an avian vet, you can put him down yourself. But I'd try to get him some injectable antibiotics and get some fluids and food into him. This is an odd combination of symptoms. It would be great if the vet can figure it out. Yes on the necropsy , too.

If it all goes south, you can use carburetor cleaning fluid (it has ether in it) from the auto parts store. Wrap your little friend tightly in a towel and spray a lot of the fluid on a washcloth. Really wet it. Hold it over his face so he can only breathe the ether. He will be quiet, but after he becomes unaware he will thrash a little and maybe make a cry. He's not fighting you, it;s a reflex thing. When broiler chickens are put into the cone and killed, they do the same thing. Just hold on until he is still. If he is really sick and weak, this shouldn't be too difficult.

Then I would always apologize again, hug, pet, and cry, then dig a grave. I hate this part of having chickens. Or dogs, cats, anything. The vet , avian or not, would charge a fortune. I have had to use this method on a couple stray cats that showed up here really sick.

 

[Shabana]

I'm really sorry things are not going well for you. I've been following this thread for a little while now.
If things do not improve you should have no regrets Hun because you have done everything and more for your little boy. Made me shed a tear when your boy tried to stand for his hens what a little soldier
Good luck and love to you both xx

 

[azygous]

Thank you both of you for the kind comments. Ernie, it's good to know how I can euthanize him myself without doing him violence. This way I can hold him while he goes.

In the way of symptoms, there's really nothing more to show. The legs and feet are the big thing, and the redness on his rump has subsided. I think it was caused from my trying to cleaned the poop off him and I rubbed too hard.

I got him out this morning to clean him up, and he's still pooping, but it's moss green. He's not eating enough. He's even turning down meal worms now. He was eating raisins, but he's mostly lost interest in even those. I tried a cooked egg yesterday, and he turned that down.

No avian vet around for several hundred miles. The ones around here do mainly horses, cows and cats and dogs. My vet for my cat is great, but he confesses he knows next to nothing about chickens. But I'm going to ask him to help me get the necropsy.

 

[mithious]

Sooo so sorry!!!

 

[azygous]

I just couldn't take it any longer. His suffering was really getting to me. I euthanized him myself, taking Ernie's advice, held him close as he went, cried, then felt immense relief for us both.

I examined him in a more thorough way than I could have while he was alive because it hurt him too much. I could feel the bones crunch in the "knee" joint of his right leg. I am guessing he could have had a shattered joint, and any amount of healing and time would not have been enough to permit him to ever walk again.

This is the hardest part of having chickens. I'll never get used to having to let them go.

Penrod was the best rooster to his flock, and he and I were as good friends as a human and a roo can be. He knew his name, and he always came to me when I called him. It was hard going when he was a teen coming into his hormones, he took some pretty good plugs of flesh from my hide, but he never tried to flog me. I worked hard to gain his trust, and he never, ever was violent to me after that.

I hope his little eight-week old son Izzy will someday be as good a roo as his dad was. Here's Penrod and his baby son Izzy.

 

[Haunted55]

I am so sorry it has come to this. Sometimes, no matter how hard, it is the only choice we have. My heart goes out to you and I hope you realize that your love for your bird guided you to the right course for you both. Find your peace and know he isn't hurting anymore.

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

I am so sorry for your loss.

 

[ernie85017]

I'm sorry you lost your birdie. He was a handsome boy.
There is something "better" about putting them down yourself, if there can be anything better about it. Holding them and saying goodbye. Far from a vet's office. I wish he could have gotten better.
He got to be a roo till the end, and even had a visit with his harem.

 

[Shabana]

So so sorry for your loss. Penrod was a handsome chappy and I,m sure his son will carry on his legacy.