14-week-old possible leg injury?

[Chopper923]

It hurts so much to be unable to ease their suffering and to be unable to heal them. After I lost my sweetest girl - the one who was lame and yet came running to me just to sit on my feet - I cried a lot. And still feel grieved when I don't see her in the run. I, and I'm cetain so many others, understand how you feel, pages of emotions spoken through tears.

Keeping you and little Gimpy in my thoughts and prayers. I do believe God sees your little chicken.

Your words... So beautiful and kind. I thank you for your prayers. I think God heard them and took Gimpy home where she will no longer suffer, and I will no longer worry about her. This afternoon I finally feel a little less heart-heavy because I keep reminding myself that I am not alone in this. I cannot imagine how hard your loss was with how your girl sat on your feet. I didn't experience that type of bond with Gimpy, so my loss seems minimal in comparison. Just know that I appreciate your support thru this. ❤

 

[Finding Grace]

Your words... So beautiful and kind. I thank you for your prayers. I think God heard them and took Gimpy home where she will no longer suffer, and I will no longer worry about her. This afternoon I finally feel a little less heart-heavy because I keep reminding myself that I am not alone in this. I cannot imagine how hard your loss was with how your girl sat on your feet. I didn't experience that type of bond with Gimpy, so my loss seems minimal in comparison. Just know that I appreciate your support thru this. ❤

I'm so very sorry. No loss is less than heart wrenching.

 

[Chopper923]

I've been off from here... Just couldn't bring myself to look up anything chicken lately. Saturday I found a sister of Gimpy dead in the chicken run. (Everyone was great earlier... Then, about 2 hours later, she's laying on her side. No wounds, no symptoms of illness, nothing.) The flock has always been very active, eating and drinking together, beautiful healthy looking birds. This girl didn't wreck me, and I know part of it is because I hadn't bonded with her (like I did Gimpy), AND she didn't seem to suffer... At least not to my knowledge. BUT just because I hadn't yet had time to bond with her wouldn't normally cause me to NOT have a bit of a cry....Either my brain had shut down my emotions to protect me, lol, or I'm getting better about this? Not sure which. My husband now understands that we should've stuck to a smaller size to begin with. The difficult part is that I cannot even rehome some of them because of the possibility of Marek's. I know I should have sent this last one in, but by the time I was really thinking, she had not been refrigerated quick enough. Plus, I've looked up our state info, and it was very confusing! I will look more into it tonight so that I am prepared should any others become symptomatic/die. My mom just offered to take some since her chickens are all elderly, and she would like some young ones, but I told her what was happening, and I don't want to take a chance of exposing her chickens and chicken yard to this nasty disease. There is no test for live chickens correct? I feel like I read that someone said there was, though... I will have to go back through the suggested articles and reread.

 

[FunClucks]

I've been off from here... Just couldn't bring myself to look up anything chicken lately. Saturday I found a sister of Gimpy dead in the chicken run. (Everyone was great earlier... Then, about 2 hours later, she's laying on her side. No wounds, no symptoms of illness, nothing.) The flock has always been very active, eating and drinking together, beautiful healthy looking birds. This girl didn't wreck me, and I know part of it is because I hadn't bonded with her (like I did Gimpy), AND she didn't seem to suffer... At least not to my knowledge. BUT just because I hadn't yet had time to bond with her wouldn't normally cause me to NOT have a bit of a cry....Either my brain had shut down my emotions to protect me, lol, or I'm getting better about this? Not sure which. My husband now understands that we should've stuck to a smaller size to begin with. The difficult part is that I cannot even rehome some of them because of the possibility of Marek's. I know I should have sent this last one in, but by the time I was really thinking, she had not been refrigerated quick enough. Plus, I've looked up our state info, and it was very confusing! I will look more into it tonight so that I am prepared should any others become symptomatic/die. My mom just offered to take some since her chickens are all elderly, and she would like some young ones, but I told her what was happening, and I don't want to take a chance of exposing her chickens and chicken yard to this nasty disease. There is no test for live chickens correct? I feel like I read that someone said there was, though... I will have to go back through the suggested articles and reread.

I am so very sorry! That's heartbreaking.

We all process grief differently, and after losing a close pet, sometimes its hard to let yourself become so attached again. There are some chickens I know I'll be very, very sad to lose, and some I'll be sad, but not devastated about. It very much depends on the chicken.

I would get prepared so you can immediately ship your next dead bird off for an autopsy. It sounds awful to be prepared for one to die, but if it's Mareks, it may very well strike again. Whatever it is, you can't help the others effectively or even know for sure what's going on without testing.

So sorry you're going through this. Good luck!

 

[Finding Grace]

I've been off from here... Just couldn't bring myself to look up anything chicken lately. Saturday I found a sister of Gimpy dead in the chicken run. (Everyone was great earlier... Then, about 2 hours later, she's laying on her side. No wounds, no symptoms of illness, nothing.) The flock has always been very active, eating and drinking together, beautiful healthy looking birds. This girl didn't wreck me, and I know part of it is because I hadn't bonded with her (like I did Gimpy), AND she didn't seem to suffer... At least not to my knowledge. BUT just because I hadn't yet had time to bond with her wouldn't normally cause me to NOT have a bit of a cry....Either my brain had shut down my emotions to protect me, lol, or I'm getting better about this? Not sure which. My husband now understands that we should've stuck to a smaller size to begin with. The difficult part is that I cannot even rehome some of them because of the possibility of Marek's. I know I should have sent this last one in, but by the time I was really thinking, she had not been refrigerated quick enough. Plus, I've looked up our state info, and it was very confusing! I will look more into it tonight so that I am prepared should any others become symptomatic/die. My mom just offered to take some since her chickens are all elderly, and she would like some young ones, but I told her what was happening, and I don't want to take a chance of exposing her chickens and chicken yard to this nasty disease. There is no test for live chickens correct? I feel like I read that someone said there was, though... I will have to go back through the suggested articles and reread.

I'm so sorry. It may be completely unrelated; dont lose hope! There is a live test for Mareks that was posted on a thread I've been watching. ...be back in a few minutes after I look it up.

 

[Finding Grace]

https://www.vetdna.com/products

https://vet.uga.edu/diagnostic-service-labs/veterinary-diagnostic-laboratory/

These were from:

There is actually a live test you can do. There is a lab and Texas you can send samples too and they will do a pcr test. We just did this last month and from that test confirmed our fears that we have Mareks. You order the Mareks test kit from their site it’s 18 dollars and they will send you 3 test kits for 3 birds. One is for a swab the other for blood. You fill out the included form for what you want tested, Mareks is 20 dollars. We overnighted our test kit and I had my results in my email 2 days later.

We called the company prior to doing this and they were extremely nice I would recommend it to anyone who wants answers. I have included the link to the test kit.

https://www.vetdna.com/products

and

I have recommended the RAL Texas lab in @Bkaye ’s post to others. Someone else also used University of Georgia to get Mareks testing on live birds. Here is a link for them:
https://vet.uga.edu/diagnostic-service-labs/veterinary-diagnostic-laboratory/

I'm not sure how to link the thread itself here, but the thread title and OP is:

Chicken can't stand or walk, paralyzed??​

• Thread starterGotalotofpetstoo

I hope this helps in your search for answers for your flock.

Every time I come to this forum searching for answers, I'm struck by the knowledge many have, but I've come to realize they have that knowledge by experience. I'm sure it is hard-earned experience. But we all start the journey in the same place. You're doing all right.

 

[Chopper923]

https://www.vetdna.com/products

https://vet.uga.edu/diagnostic-service-labs/veterinary-diagnostic-laboratory/

These were from:

and

I'm not sure how to link the thread itself here, but the thread title and OP is:

Chicken can't stand or walk, paralyzed??​

• Thread starterGotalotofpetstoo

I hope this helps in your search for answers for your flock.

Every time I come to this forum searching for answers, I'm struck by the knowledge many have, but I've come to realize they have that knowledge by experience. I'm sure it is hard-earned experience. But we all start the journey in the same place. You're doing all right.

Thank you so much for taking the time to get the info and post it!! I, too, am very amazed at the knowledge shared on this website from long-time chicken owners, and I think you are spot on by saying that it's hard-earned experience! I will read through the info tonight after supper. Thank you again! (Your kindness & support is amazing, BTW ❤❤❤)

 

[Bkaye]

As @Finding Grace posted there is a test for Mareks for live birds. We did it and that’s how we were able to confirm we have a Mareks positive flock. I was a lot like you in our situation. I hadn’t even had chickens a year yet when we got our diagnosis. I suspected we had it after doing vitamin therapy with no positive results. I originally thought she got hurt. They had been fine all day, she got on the roosting bar that night and shortly after getting in the roosting bar I noticed she was on the ground. I put her back up and she immediately fell off and couldn’t get up. I brought her in and offered vitamins and we made a sling for her. I think we kept her about about a month before we got our diagnosis.

We called the company prior to ordering the test kit. They didn’t answer when we called but called up back fairly quickly. They answered all the questions we had. We ordered the test and when it came in we clipped a toe nail and put a couple drops of blood into the vial. I overnighted the package and 2 days later had the results in my email.

From what we were told the results are the most accurate when you send in a sample from a bird showing active symptoms.

If you have any questions I’ll be happy to answer any you may have about the test or Mareks. I’m very new to all of this so my knowledge is a little limited. I’ve learned a lot in a very short period of time though. I got my official diagnosis on Feb 9th of this year.

 

[Bkaye]

I’ll also mention this, not saying you have Mareks or not but I can only tell you what I experienced and have noticed.

When we started the vitamins with ours she seems to get better some. She was trying to stand up but never could fully stand. She got to where she would stand on her hocks. She had good days and bad days though. Some days she couldn’t even do that.

The only birds I’ve had that have been effected by Mareks so far I hatched our in September. We hatched out 13. Currently we have 2 left out of that hatch. Not all died from Mareks tho, Mareks makes them susceptible to many diseases and even parasites. We lost 3 due to coccidosis, we had one that got an eye infection that would never clear up even after a strong coarse of antibiotics and removing puss daily. We had one go off food and pretty much waste away and the rest started off walking like they were drunk and very unsteady in their feet and waste away.

It has been a very emotional rollercoaster. I am not saying any of this to try to scare you, IF what you are dealing with your not alone, there are a number of us on here dealing with it. Some will only purchase vaccinated chicks some are trying to breed for resistance.

 

[Chopper923]

As @Finding Grace posted there is a test for Mareks for live birds. We did it and that’s how we were able to confirm we have a Mareks positive flock. I was a lot like you in our situation. I hadn’t even had chickens a year yet when we got our diagnosis. I suspected we had it after doing vitamin therapy with no positive results. I originally thought she got hurt. They had been fine all day, she got on the roosting bar that night and shortly after getting in the roosting bar I noticed she was on the ground. I put her back up and she immediately fell off and couldn’t get up. I brought her in and offered vitamins and we made a sling for her. I think we kept her about about a month before we got our diagnosis.

We called the company prior to ordering the test kit. They didn’t answer when we called but called up back fairly quickly. They answered all the questions we had. We ordered the test and when it came in we clipped a toe nail and put a couple drops of blood into the vial. I overnighted the package and 2 days later had the results in my email.

From what we were told the results are the most accurate when you send in a sample from a bird showing active symptoms.

If you have any questions I’ll be happy to answer any you may have about the test or Mareks. I’m very new to all of this so my knowledge is a little limited. I’ve learned a lot in a very short period of time though. I got my official diagnos

I am so very sorry! That's heartbreaking.

We all process grief differently, and after losing a close pet, sometimes its hard to let yourself become so attached again. There are some chickens I know I'll be very, very sad to lose, and some I'll be sad, but not devastated about. It very much depends on the chicken.

I would get prepared so you can immediately ship your next dead bird off for an autopsy. It sounds awful to be prepared for one to die, but if it's Mareks, it may very well strike again. Whatever it is, you can't help the others effectively or even know for sure what's going on without testing.

So sorry you're going through this. Good luck!

Thank you for your response and support. I never suspected owning chickens would be so confusing and heartbreaking! I do love them, tho... They make me smile. I will be prepared, and hopefully it will be unnecessary.