Pale comb=sick hen?

We have a 3-4 year old Buff Orpington hen. She has been lame for a few months. I posted this before and WesinTexas suggested she might have cage layer fatigue. WES, if you read this, I couldn't find the supplement you suggested locally; we tried her on oyster shell for awhile and she improved temporarily; but now she is very lame again and can barely stand. If you (WES) or anyone else who reads this knows, please let me know the name of the supplement again, if you still think it will work, after reading the rest of this.... (sorry I lost it) She also has a very pale comb and is generally paler than normal all over; she acts like she does not feel well, but is eating fine. Today we moved her cage into the sunshine where the other chickens were sunbathing too; this seemed to cheer her up a lot. I'm trying to find out if the pale comb and lameness are connected..she also had a brief fight with the ILT virus, but seemed to recover completely about two weeks ago, and has had her first vaccine for this since. She has no symptoms now except acting weak, and the paleness and lameness. If it makes any difference, I have never seen her lay an egg since we've had her, and she has not laid any since she's been confined the past few months. .

I'm scared this might be Marek's as the symptoms are similar, but how could this be and our chicks or other chickens have not gotten it, as far as we know? My son thinks, actually, that she might be older than four.

You know it could be she is eggbound causing the lameness. If could be a lack of vitamins or several other things.

I would get some Aviacharge from Murray McMurray and start her on that. Until that comes in childrens liquid vitamins given at 2 drops 2 times a day for 4 days and then 1 drop 2 times a day for 4 days and the 1 drop once a day for 4 days.

I personally think she is to old to get mareks. You could be dealing with a toxic posioning of some type also.

First thing Monday take a poop sample to a vet and have them test it for enternal parasites and any type of bacterial of viral infection. Alsl check her over really good for mites or lice. The ILT could also be a big part of the problem.

At this point the bird may never recover from what is going on but it doesn't hurt to try.

Also start feeding her plain active culture yogurt mixed with some of her feed.

OK, thank you! We have been giving her yogurt once in a while but I don't think my son's given her any in the past week or so. How do you tell if they're egg bound, and what can you do if they are? We'll get the vitamins and I'll try the vet, although he'll probably insist on an office visit.

To try and tell if a bird is eggbound start feeling between her legs to see if you feel a hard lump type object. The next thing would be to lube your finger good and go in through the vent searching up and down to see if you can feel anything.

That sounds like a fun project for this afternoon!

Just out of curiosity, what is the period that Marek's runs? Even if she were younger and more susceptable to it, wouldn't others have gotten it? And wouldn't she have died by now? She's had it since last August. I understand she is a little old to get it, but I have read that older chickens can sometimes get it. Also, is Marek's so common that we should consider vaccinating for it? (I hate to think about that!)

Quote:
I like to use pure liquid acidophilus which you can find in health food stores, I had a bad case of dysentery in South America and after drinking acidophilus I was relieved in less than 24 hours. Here is an interesting article you might like to read?

Why is Lactobacillus Acidophilus so Important to your Bird's Health?
This information has been kindly supplied by Cheryl Lake
http://www.avianweb.com/Lactobacillus.htm

The Lactobacillus Acidophilus is a source of a viable live, naturally occurring micro organism, which is found predominant in the digestive system of man and all warm blooded animals. Stress conditions such as new arrivals, molting, breeding, feeding young, growth, preparation for flight, illness and injury, along with contaminated feed and water, food soured in the crop, chlorinated water, antifungal and antibiotic therapy, can all cause a great imbalance of various types of micro-organisms in the crop and intestine tract, leaving birds susceptible to digestive problems.

I can't understand this. It is beginning to look horribly like Marek's. She can't stand now at all and is lying on her side with legs outstretched. Her eyes are beginning to look funny as of yesterday. We have her on baby vitamins and yogurt and are feeding her every tempting thing under the sun; she's still eating but you have to shove it under her nose. We have ordered the avian vites with the idea the whole flock could use them anyway. Since we have two other hens with a slight limp, (but otherwise looking very healthy) we decided to vaccinate the whole flock against Mareks; if Hannah dies before we do that we will probably do a necropsy...will post results. fyi, thanks again.

OK, Hannah is sicker still and her one eye is covered with foamy stuff. Because we are still under quarantine for the ILT we must do a mandatory necropsy but the State won't tell us the results (except positive or negative for ILT) without charging us, and it isn't that cheap here. However, the State vet said that her symptoms are classic for Marek's, and that they can carry the virus for many months while showing little or no symptoms. He said the chances are she probably picked up the virus as a chick or young bird, and it has just been mostly dormant til now. To our benefit they will come to get her and euthanize her for us at n/c, on Friday. We are sad as she was (of course) another fav...she was a graduation present to my son last summer from a friend; he likes Buff orpingtons and both of the ones he has had have had untimely deaths. WES, the vitamins did seem to help as her comb has returned to a normal color. (thank you)....we will vaccinate the rest of the flock (or try to!) in a couple of weeks when we do the second round of ILT vaccs. I AM SICK OF THIS CRASH COURSE IN CHICKEN DISEASES! Has anyone else had experiences with Marek's? Do they get over this ok if they're vaccinated?

DO not waste your money on the Mareks vaccine as it is only good to give to day old birds. IF it is Mareks once they have been exposed there isn't a thing you can do. From now on only bring in baby chicks that have been vaccinated as day olds or if you hatch any then you need to vaccinate them also.