Rooster missing both spurs, health declining slowly

Kanajumala

In the Brooder
Sep 11, 2024
6
16
31
My rooster, a 3 year old araucana lost both of his spurs during the summer, took a month for the other spur to fall off.
The first was an accident, he flew down from the coop but hit the chicken wire instead. I don’t know how he lost the second one, I randomly found it on the ground one day.
After the second spur fell off, he started limping and after two weeks of limping with no improvement I took him to the vet, but they said to give it a week and he’ll be fine: it’s been two weeks now and his health is declining, he barely gets up to stand and has trouble with balancing.
I took him inside the house 3 days ago, got antibiotics and pain meds, he’s been two days on those now.
Bottom of his feet had a black spot, similiar to bumble foot, I took it off and tried to squeeze it if anything would come out, but there was nothing inside.
Eats and drinks well, can change positions but prefers not to stand up at all. Poop is normal looking and frequent. Weighs 2kg now, he was a bit skinnier before I took him inside the house, but 2kg is definetly not his normal weight, I feel like he should weight at least 500grams or 1kg more than that.

Did I start his treatment too late? Or could there be a more serious issue present?
I’m willing to go to the vet, but there are no chicken expert vets that I’d know of around here.
 
I don't think his spurs have anything to do with his illness.
What's his diet? Have you tried vitamin therapy? How's his crop feel?
He has complete chicken feed available, a bit of chicken treat mix (mealworms, corn, oats, apple, carrot, etc.) fresh water, and I’ve given him zucchini slices daily, and today he ate a bunch of tuna in sunflower oil. Plus he has taken a liking to a few bits of progut feed daily (helps with digestion) I bought more grit today, and will offer that to him as well, it has calcium in it as well.

When he was living in the coop he had complete feed, a bit of baby chicken feed (we have younglings) grit, lime grit and I offered all of them different treats daily. Such as oats, vegetables, boiled macaroni, sunflower seeds.

I haven’t tried vitamin therapy, how’s that work? I do have a bottle of liquid chicken vitamin ready.
 
He has complete chicken feed available, a bit of chicken treat mix (mealworms, corn, oats, apple, carrot, etc.) fresh water, and I’ve given him zucchini slices daily, and today he ate a bunch of tuna in sunflower oil. Plus he has taken a liking to a few bits of progut feed daily (helps with digestion) I bought more grit today, and will offer that to him as well, it has calcium in it as well.

When he was living in the coop he had complete feed, a bit of baby chicken feed (we have younglings) grit, lime grit and I offered all of them different treats daily. Such as oats, vegetables, boiled macaroni, sunflower seeds.

I haven’t tried vitamin therapy, how’s that work? I do have a bottle of liquid chicken vitamin ready.
Crop feels full, maybe a bit fuller than usual?
 
He has complete chicken feed available, a bit of chicken treat mix (mealworms, corn, oats, apple, carrot, etc.) fresh water, and I’ve given him zucchini slices daily, and today he ate a bunch of tuna in sunflower oil. Plus he has taken a liking to a few bits of progut feed daily (helps with digestion) I bought more grit today, and will offer that to him as well, it has calcium in it as well.

When he was living in the coop he had complete feed, a bit of baby chicken feed (we have younglings) grit, lime grit and I offered all of them different treats daily. Such as oats, vegetables, boiled macaroni, sunflower seeds.

I haven’t tried vitamin therapy, how’s that work? I do have a bottle of liquid chicken vitamin ready.
Cut back or cut out all those treats, they aren't great in excess.
By complete feed, do you mean layer?
What vitamins do you have?
 
Complete feed as in suitable for laying hens and roosters, I live in finland so it might be a bit difficult explaining the brand and such.
I have a multivitamin bottle that has the vitamins A, D, E, K and B.
I felt his crop again, it’s stiff and when I touch it the crop takes a while to get back in it’s original shape.
I’ll make sure to cut out the treats.
 
Update:
We euthanized him yesterday due to him becoming paralyzed. Legs stopped working in the morning and he kept leaning forward alot.
I have a theory that it was most likely marek’s disease, I feel like the stress from moving, getting new chickens and breaking off his spurs made his immune system unstable enough for marek to strike.
 

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