10 1/2 year old hens both experience sudden partial paralysis

[Clucktown]

You could try lysine, it's a vitamin supplement that inhibits the replication of this family of viruses. In the future, vaccinating birds for Marek's is recommended.

Thank you. Yes, unfortunately, the hatchery would not vaccinate bantam chicks 10 years ago. The option was only given for full size chicks. Hopefully, this has changed.

 

[Eggcessive]

Actually many people now do not want their chickens vaccinated for Mareks, for various reasons. I have had both vaccinated and non-vaccinated chickens, and have never seen the disease in my flock.

 

[goats-n-oats]

Thank you. Yes, unfortunately, the hatchery would not vaccinate bantam chicks 10 years ago. The option was only given for full size chicks. Hopefully, this has changed.

What you can do now assuming this is Marek's is isolate the sick chickens, and thoroughly clean the coop with bleach, Lysol etc. Remove all poop. I imagine that dusting the coop with barn lime would help as well.

 

[Eggcessive]

I would leave the chickens in the coop with the others unless they are being bullied, especially the lame one. But separating her in a wire dog crate with food and water and kept with the others may protect her. It would be rare for 10 year old chickens who have lived all those years with the same birds to have Mareks.

 

[NatJ]

My 2 remaining 10.5 year-old bantam hens are both presenting with sudden, partial paralysis.

They have never left our backyard and we have never introduced any new birds to our flock since we got them as chicks a decade ago.

Do you only have the two chickens?

If yes, you can ignore all the advice about separating them from the "rest of the flock."
(But if one bullies the other, you might need to separate them from each other.)

 

[Clucktown]

Actually many people now do not want their chickens vaccinated for Mareks, for various reasons. I have had both vaccinated and non-vaccinated chickens, and have never seen the disease in my flock.

I would leave the chickens in the coop with the others unless they are being bullied, especially the lame one. But separating her in a wire dog crate with food and water and kept with the others may protect her. It would be rare for 10 year old chickens who have lived all those years with the same birds to have Mareks.

These are my last 2 hens! The others from my initial flock of 9 have all passed in recent years. I will not separate them. They come into the house most nights to sleep in a dog crate with a roost my husband constructed. I truly would never have even considered Marek's a possibility if it wasn't for the simultaneous onset. I will start on the e & b tomorrow and hope for the best. I know the are really old. If you were to see them in person, you would never know it. They went through a hard molt this fall and feathered beautifully.

 

[NatJ]

These are my last 2 hens!

What you can do now assuming this is Marek's is isolate the sick chickens, and thoroughly clean the coop with bleach, Lysol etc. Remove all poop. I imagine that dusting the coop with barn lime would help as well.

Since there are just the two, and both of them already have symptoms, there is no real point in cleaning with bleach or lysol or anything of the sort. There are no other hens to be infected. If the hens have a disease, cleaning the coop will not cure the hens themselves.

Keeping it generally clean is always a good idea, but the level of cleaning that was good for the first 10 1/2 years is probably fine now as well. There is no real need to change anything or do any special extra cleaning.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

These are my last 2 hens! The others from my initial flock of 9 have all passed in recent years. I will not separate them. They come into the house most nights to sleep in a dog crate with a roost my husband constructed. I truly would never have even considered Marek's a possibility if it wasn't for the simultaneous onset. I will start on the e & b tomorrow and hope for the best. I know the are really old. If you were to see them in person, you would never know it. They went through a hard molt this fall and feathered beautifully.

I'm sorry they are both having problems.

Did you notice onset when you bought a new bag of feed or anything additions to the coop/run - new bag of bedding, treats, anything "new" or different?

Feed smell fresh and good as always?

I'd try the vitamin therapy and see if that helps. While Marek's is always a possibility, I feel it's less likely, they are the only 2 hens and have been together for all these years...

 

[Clucktown]

I'm sorry they are both having problems.

Did you notice onset when you bought a new bag of feed or anything additions to the coop/run - new bag of bedding, treats, anything "new" or different?

Feed smell fresh and good as always?

I'd try the vitamin therapy and see if that helps. While Marek's is always a possibility, I feel it's less likely, they are the only 2 hens and have been together for all these years...

Thank you for the input. I do not recall anything new, but I wondered the same and threw out the bag of feed I was using last week to be on the safe side. The manufacture date on the 10 pound bag Dumor chick starter was older that I would have liked, May 30, 2023, but it was all they had in stock and appeared fine.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Thank you for the input. I do not recall anything new, but I wondered the same and threw out the bag of feed I was using last week to be on the safe side. The manufacture date on the 10 pound bag Dumor chick starter was older that I would have liked, May 30, 2023, but it was all they had in stock and appeared fine.

That's quite old when it comes to feed.
It's best to try to find one that is no more than 6weeks out.

Can you get a fresher date? I hope so.
I definitely would start them both on the vitamins, it won't hurt them for a week or two and hope that it helps.

I can't say for sure that the feed is the issue, but vitamins/minerals start to deplete in feed that is older, so this could be at least part of the problem.

I know you are having to buy a smaller bag of feed since you only have 2 hens because it will take a while to go through it. If the Dumor or smaller bags are older in the store, then try looking to see if they have 25lb bags of Purina or other brand Chick Starter that may have a very fresh date, then split up the bag when home in keep 1/2 in a sealed bucket or container until you're ready for that. Just a suggestion.

I pretty much stopped buying from TSC because it was hit/miss on whether they had the feed I wanted, whether it was fresh and in date and whether or not it was molded. I've bought Purina in date and it had mold clumps in it, so it had gotten damp at some point, whether in storage or transit or...???
I found a small locally owned feed store in the "bad part" of town that has good fresh feed and is competitively priced too. Never have had an issue and they have great service to boot! So, you may want check in your area just to see what else may be available to you as well.