Sudden onset balance/mobility problem

[Shepshill]

I'm so sorry for your losses. This is so upsetting... I know the feeling too well.
Did you have a necropsy done on either of the ones that passed away to check for Marek's? It does sound like the most likely thing given your experience with the chicks, but since they were vaccinated (for sure?) it might be worth checking. I'm sorry for your last girl, I hope you are able to spend a lot of time with her to help her feel less lonely. It's my experience that integrating a single chick into an older flock is sometimes very rough for the new chick; if she makes it you might see if anyone in your area has any vaccinated chicks her age for sale. You would still need to do a quarantine period (to make sure that they aren't carrying anything else) but it's an option for you. I truly hope your last one makes it!

Thanks. I am considering adding a vaccinated chick that is about the same size and age, if and when this third one seems sufficiently out of the wood and once we feel reasonably sure our four adults will be ok. She will certainly need a companion before winter. I am just not sure when that should be. We didn’t get necropsies because the symptoms seemed unmistakable. (My vet thought so, too.) We did have them cremated as recommended by my vet and some sites I found.

 

[Shepshill]

Third chick today.

 

[rebrascora]

Oh no! I'm so sorry! It must be a pretty virulent strain to affect all 3, especially when they had been vaccinated..... or perhaps they were not vaccinated..... oversights happen. Also the vaccine is not effective against all strains from what I have read, but I do wonder if their immune systems were perhaps not strong in the first place.

 

[Shepshill]

Oh no! I'm so sorry! It must be a pretty virulent strain to affect all 3, especially when they had been vaccinated..... or perhaps they were not vaccinated..... oversights happen. Also the vaccine is not effective against all strains from what I have read, but I do wonder if their immune systems were perhaps not strong in the first place.

Oh, no! I didn’t mean the third chick now has Marek’s disease, I just posted her picture in case she is showing signs that I am missing. She looks okay to me—tail up, no falling or tripping. She is lonely, though, which is making her much friendlier toward me than she was before all of this. She responds to my voice and has even hopped onto my lap. I am keeping an eye out for a potential companion for her, but I wonder how I can quarantine a new pullet from exposure to Marek’s, given the fact that a mouse could carry it from one coop to another. Also, if I quarantine for a month, I think I would have to get two, lest the potential companion get stressed as a solo bird, or my Cream Legbar dies. Meanwhile, this poor girl, should she survive, is alone.

A friend found Marek’s vaccinated RIRs that are three months old. I love their look, but I heard that they can be bullies. Of course, they would be the youngest.

As to my Cream Legbars, I wonder about their immune systems, too— enough that I will never get another one. Maybe that’s unfair, but it is hard to watch a chick die of Marek’s. And I know I cannot be sure if they were vaccinated properly or if the vaccine failed or what. Since I don’t breed chickens, I think one of the crossbred breeds makes a lot of sense, like Golden Comets or something similar.

If my adults stay healthy, I will be so relieved.

 

[Shepshill]

Tonight I observed that my surviving Cream Legbar has one back toe turned forward. The foot looks a bit curled, too. I am guessing that’s a sign of some paralysis in her foot. Does that sound right to those with experience with Marek’s disease?

 

[chickengeorgeto]

Oh, no! I didn’t mean the third chick now has Marek’s disease... If my adults stay healthy, I will be so relieved.

Marek's Disease is an ailment of young chickens and is very seldom if ever seen in adult chickens.

 

[Shepshill]

Marek's Disease is an ailment of young chickens and is very seldom if ever seen in adult chickens.

This is a Feb 2018 chick. The two chicks I bought with her both died of what appeared to be aggressive Marek’s disease. I have been watching herl like a hawk, hoping upon hope that she survives. She’s only about three months.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Tonight I observed that my surviving Cream Legbar has one back toe turned forward. The foot looks a bit curled, too. I am guessing that’s a sign of some paralysis in her foot. Does that sound right to those with experience with Marek’s disease?

Toe curling can be from other things, like improper diet of the parents or improper incubation temperatures. At least that's what I read. I've had a few over the years with curled toes.

In general I see either a whole leg going, or a balance issue in my Mareks birds.

 

[Shepshill]

Oh no! I'm so sorry! It must be a pretty virulent strain to affect all 3, especially when they had been vaccinated..... or perhaps they were not vaccinated..... oversights happen. Also the vaccine is not effective against all strains from what I have read, but I do wonder if their immune systems were perhaps not strong in the first place.

The third one is looking progressively more off. I saw her fall into a sit a few times. She barely moves. She makes a pitiful honking noise if I touch her. She is starting to lean sideways a bit when she’s lying down. She spends a lot of the day with her eyes closed, looking like she is dozing off and catching herself so her head kind of bobs or rocks. She no longer responds to my voice or sits on my lap. When she stands, her feet are somewhat askew. I’m losing hope that she’s going to won this battle.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Whatever it is the outcome doesn't sound good. A necropsy could help to find out what they had.