Cull or keep treating 22m/o 'marek' rooster?

[Alienchickenlady]

It started with sudden onset of lameness 4 weeks ago, he seemed to be in a lot of pain then because he was screaming when I tried to touch his legs & I first thought he was injured. He also had watery diarrhea, later developed high fever & I discovered he was full of red mites!

I Isolated him, got rid of the mites & gave him metacam, electrolytes, vitamins & st. Johns worth (according to a Marek protocol because I googled a lot & I thought it was Marek). I didnt want him to suffer so I was about to cull when he got weaker & I had to syringe feed him for a week, but he then suddenly stabilized, fever went down, poop normalized & he wasnt in pain anymore. He regained lost mobility in his feet after an epsom bath aswell. He looked at me & suddenly seemed to be in a good mood, & started eating & drinking with good appetite!

Unfortunately he is not able to walk but he can move is legs & now it's been 4 weeks... would you continue treatment or cull? No other symptoms as far as I can tell!

He is really intelligent & can mimic different sounds I make, never experienced that before!

**We dont have any avian vet in my area
**No flock mates with these symptoms
**Treated the flock for mites
**They are all free range + eat chicken feed

 

[nuthatched]

It could be diet + anemia from the mites.
What the chicken feed? Are you giving him any vitamins? He looks skinny.

 

[Gavinthechickenman]

I say keep him alive if he is feeling better there is a good chance he will come out of it

 

[Alienchickenlady]

It could be diet + anemia from the mites.
What the chicken feed? Are you giving him any vitamins? He looks skinny.

Feed: Flock raiser + grains + shell grit (they all get this)
He get's multi vitamins, selen, E & B-vitamins.

He's super skinny yes, it's hard to get him to gain weight

 

[Alienchickenlady]

I say keep him alive if he is feeling better there is a good chance he will come out of it

And if gets too depressed from all the indoor time away from friends... then cull?

 

[nuthatched]

Feed: Flock raiser + grains + shell grit (they all get this)
He get's multi vitamins, selen, E & B-vitamins.

He's super skinny yes, it's hard to get him to gain weight

Have you ever wormed them?
What dosage of vitamins are you giving him?

 

[Gavinthechickenman]

Things like pumpkin and squash are both great deworming options

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Feed: Flock raiser + grains + shell grit (they all get this)

By "shell grit" do you mean crushed oyster shell? Because only laying hens need that, it's for helping build strong egg shells, and non-layers, including roosters, won't eat it. All poultry require crushed granite grit to aid in digestion. They load up their gizzards with it, and it helps to crush up their food. If he does not get this, he may be suffering from malnutrition because he's not properly digesting his food.