2 Very sick chickens possible Mareks disease - please help!!

[chicken_little06]

Hi.
I have two very sick chickens at the moment. It started yesterday with one of them, we came home and she was lethargic, unable to walk and was struggling to lift her head. Came home again today and found the same thing with her (half) sister. The first one was able to drink from a dropper on her beak until tonight where she refused it, but the other didn't drink at all. At the moment both of them are in a box (the same box) in our kitchen with soft hay in it. Both of them have there eyes shut and i haven't seen either of them open. The second girl is having fits about every few minutes (just shaking of her body and wings) for about 2 seconds. Their breathing is unsteady, shaky and they seem to really be struggling with it. I have done a little googling and i have a feeling it may be Marek's disease but i am not sure. My dad is taking both of them to the vet in the morning for an examination. I can't remember if they have been vaccinated or not. Please help if you can, i don't think they are going to make it but maybe i can stop it from the others. I really care about all of them. Please feel free to ask question as i am sure i have not remembered all of the information.

 

[coach723]

How old are they? Any possibility that they got into something toxic? Check feed for mold, discoloration, odor, clumping, etc. Any fluids leaking from vehicles they could have gotten into. Anything rotting laying where they could get to it, etc.

 

[chicken_little06]

Also, there are no signs of injury as far as i am aware of and no blood. It is really awful.

 

[Mrs J]

https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/the-great-big-giant-mareks-disease-faq.66077/
Here is a link that might help you understand if it is Mareks. It could be a number of things, mouldy food etc, it might be best to have a good look around to eliminate any other causes.
Best wishes

 

[chicken_little06]

How old are they? Any possibility that they got into something toxic? Check feed for mold, discoloration, odor, clumping, etc. Any fluids leaking from vehicles they could have gotten into. Anything rotting laying where they could get to it, etc.

They are around about 1&1/2 - 2 years old. It is night time at the moment here so i will have to check in the morning but it is possible that there was a cane toad in their water that may have poisoned them or something. There is a bit of poop that i haven't gotten around to cleaning out yet around the place but nothing that isn't really out of the norm for them (i get a little lazy sometimes). There may have been potentially something like weed killer around that i didn't know of. Thanks for your reply!

 

[coach723]

With sudden onset and those symptoms in two of them at once, I would really look hard for something they could have gotten into or been exposed to.
https://opensanctuary.org/article/things-that-are-toxic-to-chickens/

 

[chicken_little06]

I am looking at a few articles and 'botulism' seems to be popping up a lot. The description matches perfectly, but obviously i can't be sure. Muscle tremors, sudden onset, limp neck, labored breathing etc.

 

[coach723]

Those can be symptoms of many kinds of poisoning, botulism is one possibility.
Are they seeing the vet today, or tomorrow? If it's tomorrow I'd call back and say it's an emergency, they may not last til tomorrow.

 

[chicken_little06]

They are on their way to the vet at the moment. The second chook unfortunately passed away last night. She is still being taken to the vet I think to be checked over. It is really devastating, they are both but her especially had some really great personalities and I never thought this is how she would go.

 

[coach723]

I'm very sorry.
Please let us know what the vet says.