10 Week Old Buff Orp seems almost paralyzed

[farmgirlsk]

I found one of my 10 week old Buff orpingtons laying underneath the rest of my chicks on the ground. She is alert and can move her head but I haven't seen her move her wings at all and she is lying on her side with her legs straight out, not underneath her. She can move them a little but barely. Any idea what's wrong with her? Can she be saved? Feel so bad that she's so alert but struggling..pls help
I have since separated her, brought her inside with some sugar water & feed and placed her under some heat to keep her comfortable

 

[realsis]

can you please post a picture? the picture would really help in diagnosis. best wishes

 

[farmgirlsk]

Here are pictures of her from this morning. She is fully alert, eating and drinking like normal but no movement in her wings. She can move her legs a bit but, without her wings she can only lay there on her side. She is only comfortable on her left side, her right side makes her squabble...breaks my heart

 

[farmgirlsk]

 

[realsis]

hi I think you should look up Marek's disease. read about the symptoms and look at examples and see if you agree that this looks like Marek's. I'm so very very sorry. I truly hope I am wrong! Marek's disease is a highly contagious airborne disease. if she does have it that does Not mean your other birds will necessarily become ill. but it DOES mean your other birds are now CARRIERS and can infect other birds. I know there are a lot of very knowledgeable people here on this forum that can help you move forward if it is mareks. they are also dealing with it in there flock and I'm sure they can be of great help! I think your best weapon here will be education. learn as much as possible about this disease. Marek's is such a prolific disease the stats say over 60% of unvaccinated birds will get Marek's. equally as disturbing over 5% of vaccinated birds will still get Marek's although vaccinated. please take a look at Marek's disease on Google and see if you agree it looks like she could quite possibly have it.? I do hope I'm wrong here! but take a look and see what you think. I wish you the best. good luck and God bless.

 

[BravewingTheHen]

Yes; it is probably Mareks. I very sorry. I once read an article about a chicken who got Mareks and lived, though. What that person did was she held the bird up over the ground so their feet dangled just above it, and then gently let their feet touch the ground. This gave the bird strength in its legs, and eventually it could walk, but still had weak legs. You would have to do lots of those leg excersizes for a while. So sorry about your little bird!

 

[realsis]

yes I read an article like above post mentioned someone had made a little sling for there chicken to hold her up right. I'm not sure of the long term prognosis but it helped keep the bird more comfortable while she was going through this. have you looked up Marek's disease yet? how is your bird doing now? please update and I'm very very sorry for the bad news..

 

[farmgirlsk]

I just did a complete inspection and she has no pimple like bumps on her skin so I'm praying maybe it's a bad case of cocci? She has movement in her legs and head but nothing in her wings. Husband wants to cull her so she doesn't get anyone else sick, I don't know what to do! I will keep my other 14 pullets away from my big gals til I know for sure they don't have something like Marecks. I really don't want to cull my whole new addition of pullets. What should I do?

 

[Haunted55]

Here are pictures of her from this morning. She is fully alert, eating and drinking like normal but no movement in her wings. She can move her legs a bit but, without her wings she can only lay there on her side. She is only comfortable on her left side, her right side makes her squabble...breaks my heart

Okay...need to know feed, vitamin supplements, if any, treats and anything else you can think of to add. Are any of your other birds showing symptoms at all? Were they vaccinated for Marek's?