Mareks: Long-term prognosis

[Lobzi]

Relax, otherwise you will stress your birds by being stressed yourself.

Not only that but you need to take care of yourself so you can take care of your birds. That is advice I got from a friend when I told him I have no desire to take care of myself anymore....all my energy was going to taking care of my flock.

 

[leadwolf1]

They have no clue that I am stressing...but thanks for the reminder I train Akitas and trust me, I'm really good at hiding my true feelings...plus, I have until the end of summer to find out what is going to happen. I just take one day at a time and care for them to the best of my ability It just gets tough sometimes, I have lost 23 birds so far and the thought of losing more is devastating. I've lost my favorites already..I've cried and sobbed, prayed and begged...then, I keep doing my best and move on.

 

[centrarchid]

Once after Baby started walking again his toes on one foot started to curl and hinder his walking. He hated it but I fashioned a plastic support that I duct taped to his foot. I cut it from the bottom up the side of a plastic yogurt carton. The bottom had toes cut out and the top made by cutting up the side was thin and ran up the leg. It worked having him wear it for about two days, correcting the problem.

My rooster also went through the curly-toe stage. I did nothing. By time toes quit curling the same leg was constantly hyperextended. Same leg was last to resume nearly normal function.

 

[Lobzi]

They have no clue that I am stressing...but thanks for the reminder I train Akitas and trust me, I'm really good at hiding my true feelings...plus, I have until the end of summer to find out what is going to happen. I just take one day at a time and care for them to the best of my ability It just gets tough sometimes, I have lost 23 birds so far and the thought of losing more is devastating. I've lost my favorites already..I've cried and sobbed, prayed and begged...then, I keep doing my best and move on.

I know crying...been crying and crying,and functioning in a state of disbelief over losing my babies.
I was reading through your comment Leadwolf because I wanted to know 23 out of how many you have lost. Do you mind sharing the total number of your flock with us?

 

[leadwolf1]

Right now, I have 13 left out of the original 37 that I got last year for Mother's Day. I have since hatched and vaccinated some chicks of my own and have some chicks that I purchased/gifted that were vaccinated. Those total 17 hatched and 13 purchased...some vaccinated, some not. I haven't really totalled them up recently. I have 4 silkies that are now 5 months old. I thought they were safe, last week, one of them started acting like it had wry neck. I was so hopeful. Started the wry neck treatment and he responded beautifully. That was short lived. Within another 3 days, the paralysis started in his legs....

Here's a pic of those 4 the day before symptoms started....


The black on the far left is the one exhibiting symptoms now....

I love these birds, my kids love these birds....I swear that I won't let this ugly disease defeat me!!!

 

[Lobzi]

Im so sorry, that is a high percentage of loss. What a beautiful arm-full of birds. No, dont let it defeat you!

 

[seminolewind]

Right now, I have 13 left out of the original 37 that I got last year for Mother's Day. I have since hatched and vaccinated some chicks of my own and have some chicks that I purchased/gifted that were vaccinated. Those total 17 hatched and 13 purchased...some vaccinated, some not. I haven't really totalled them up recently. I have 4 silkies that are now 5 months old. I thought they were safe, last week, one of them started acting like it had wry neck. I was so hopeful. Started the wry neck treatment and he responded beautifully. That was short lived. Within another 3 days, the paralysis started in his legs....

Here's a pic of those 4 the day before symptoms started....


The black on the far left is the one exhibiting symptoms now....

I love these birds, my kids love these birds....I swear that I won't let this ugly disease defeat me!!!

I know the feeling. I am so afraid sometimes to walk out and notice something. My 4 original silkies were exposed to the white silkie known as "Typhoid Mary". My roo died with all the classic signs. Vet dx'd eastern equine encephalitis because he didn't see any tumors inside. I thought he was right. Anyway, the 3 silkies left after "TM" died, went on to have 6 offspring. As the Polish they hatched died 8+ weeks later, all the silkies were fine. Except for one on the end. But if the exposed had 5 other offspring that are fine, they must have passed some resistance on.

It does slow down at some point. The chickens get older, and have some resistance. But I've still had a pullet or cockerel waste away every 3-4 months for the past 2 years, never knew why till this past summer. Aside from those 10 Polish chicks, out of the 6 chickens I had, 5 were under a year old, and from that, 4 were blue or had blue in them. I have 3 blue hens left here, and they look good, but I worry.

You got hit hard. Very sad.

 

[leadwolf1]

Anyone who has been 'touched' by this disease knows the heartache that it leaves behind. Those who haven't don't know the watching and waiting that goes on....and just when you think you are safe, wham...it rears its ugly head again. Thanks everyone for listening. It's been a rough month. I've lost my favorite little OEGB roo and pullet to this disease, I was diagnosed with a pinched rotator cuff, my husband had knee surgery, that same night, my 17 year old son knee dislocated. He has been in an immobilizing brace for 5 weeks. It's been crazy around here...sometimes, it just seems like I want to run screaming.....

 

[Lobzi]

Sharing on threads like this where folks have things in common is a wonderful thing. It is important to talk about your problems...that is how you discover solutions. The answers are inside of you. You just need to realize them. Im very sad over the loses Ive experienced but Im realizing that my sadness to selfish to some degree. I miss my babies. I cared for them and became very close to them. They were not always suffering but the certainly were not able to live the life of normal chicken. I love my little paralyzed girl but I dont think even with my great care and therapy she would ever experience a normal chicken's life. I miss her but perhaps she is better off. She could never tell me if she was hurting or unhappy or uncomfortable and it was time to switch her to the other side to lay. We had a way of communicating but her needs were not always clear to me. Chickens are best off being able to take care of their own needs. The best we can do as humans is give them a chance at a good chicken life.

 

[seminolewind]

It is devastating. I am always feeling them at night. My rooster has NO fat on his body. And you would never know, he is big with big full feathers, my fingers have to dig real deep to get to his keel bone. He's one of those roos who will never take a treat in front of his girls. When I had him penned a few months ago, a hen would walk by the pen, and he would pick up a piece of food, walk over and drop it near her even with the pen between them. His 2 hatchmates, 2 years ago, wasted and died about 4 months apart. A Blue Orpington, and a Blue laced red Wyandotte.

Leadwolf, you seem to have alot of bone injuries going on there!

And Robin, yes, that's what helps me get past some of this is that they were given a good chicken life.