PotPie84
Hatching
- Jun 19, 2016
- 2
- 0
- 7
I recently brought home a 10 week old Golden Crested Black Polish cockerel from a friend, the result of a mis-sexed chick from a feed store. He started crowing, and since they lived in the city limits they were not allowed to have a rooster. Things were going great, for about a week, then it all went downhill, rapidly.
2 days ago, he started getting weak in the legs, and by mid afternoon the same day he could not stand. The only other symptom of note is he did have some abnormal stools, and at the time I attributed to the stress of leaving his "sister" whom he had spent his entire life with, and being dropped in entirely new surroundings with new sights and sounds, as well as possibly a nutritional deficit as I was feeding him the feed I give my hens. The stools were mostly just loose, normal color, until the day he started getting weak, 2 days ago, he had two that were mostly clear liquid. It was quite warm so I thought maybe heat and stress, so kept him indoors in the cool and offered him water with electrolytes and vitamins (rooster booster powder added), chick food I picked up to restart and yogurt. Stools pretty quickly returned to normal chick turds, and have been normal since.
His appetite is normal, and he's drinking normally. He's very alert, constantly looking around to see what's happening anytime he hears something. His eyes are bright with no deformities, his feathers are still coming in, but he seems to have no feather irregularity. I looked over his legs to see if maybe he injured himself but for the life of me I cannot see any sign of injury and both of his legs are of a normal body temperature so I don't think this is the result of a clot.
He doesn't seem to be truly paralyzed as he can move his legs some, he just cannot support his weight. I'm truly hoping this is a nutritional deficiency, and not marek's but I've never dealt with this before and am so worried.
The biggest concern I have is the welfare of my four 16 month old hens I raised from hatchlings, if this chicken does indeed have marek's, it's my understanding that it is insanely contagious and despite segregation they're probably going to be exposed. Does this mean they too will get ill? They're all four in pristine health, and have never had any health issues. Can they become infected and just be asymptomatic carriers? Is there hope if he does have mareks, that they will be OK?
It's unfortunate if this young cockerel has it, but I haven't bonded with him as I have the other 4, they're part of the family.
I'm absolutely heartbroken that I have potentially exposed them to such a terrible disease.
( I got them at the feed store February 2015, and there was no mention of vaccinations so I'm assuming they have not been vaccinated. Being my first chickens, I was so naïve, and I still know so little)
Any information is greatly appreciated. Any suggestions for remedies to try, openly accepted. I am willing to try anything to help this guy out. I'm just at a loss.
I
2 days ago, he started getting weak in the legs, and by mid afternoon the same day he could not stand. The only other symptom of note is he did have some abnormal stools, and at the time I attributed to the stress of leaving his "sister" whom he had spent his entire life with, and being dropped in entirely new surroundings with new sights and sounds, as well as possibly a nutritional deficit as I was feeding him the feed I give my hens. The stools were mostly just loose, normal color, until the day he started getting weak, 2 days ago, he had two that were mostly clear liquid. It was quite warm so I thought maybe heat and stress, so kept him indoors in the cool and offered him water with electrolytes and vitamins (rooster booster powder added), chick food I picked up to restart and yogurt. Stools pretty quickly returned to normal chick turds, and have been normal since.
His appetite is normal, and he's drinking normally. He's very alert, constantly looking around to see what's happening anytime he hears something. His eyes are bright with no deformities, his feathers are still coming in, but he seems to have no feather irregularity. I looked over his legs to see if maybe he injured himself but for the life of me I cannot see any sign of injury and both of his legs are of a normal body temperature so I don't think this is the result of a clot.
He doesn't seem to be truly paralyzed as he can move his legs some, he just cannot support his weight. I'm truly hoping this is a nutritional deficiency, and not marek's but I've never dealt with this before and am so worried.
The biggest concern I have is the welfare of my four 16 month old hens I raised from hatchlings, if this chicken does indeed have marek's, it's my understanding that it is insanely contagious and despite segregation they're probably going to be exposed. Does this mean they too will get ill? They're all four in pristine health, and have never had any health issues. Can they become infected and just be asymptomatic carriers? Is there hope if he does have mareks, that they will be OK?
It's unfortunate if this young cockerel has it, but I haven't bonded with him as I have the other 4, they're part of the family.
I'm absolutely heartbroken that I have potentially exposed them to such a terrible disease.
( I got them at the feed store February 2015, and there was no mention of vaccinations so I'm assuming they have not been vaccinated. Being my first chickens, I was so naïve, and I still know so little)
Any information is greatly appreciated. Any suggestions for remedies to try, openly accepted. I am willing to try anything to help this guy out. I'm just at a loss.
I
