She is a Silver but her sister Lucy is a Golden..
I got all 5 at the same time (the other 3 are different breeds), but from the same place at the same time so hopefully its not the Mareks. I haven't given them Vitamins so it is very possible that she has a deficiency because she started laying. I will also put the Oyster Shell in a separate container.
Thank you..I'm gonna try all the other stuff first. If it is Mareks (after all has been ruled out) is the best thing to have her euthanized?
It it *is* Marek's (and you can't know that unless you do a necropsy on a dead bird and find the tumors), it really depends on her.
Marek's has an acute phase and a latent phase. The acute phase can present with the classic imbalance, leg dangling, drooping wing. Then it can resolve, and birds who were barely able to walk one day suddenly are up and running with the rest as if nothing happened. (I think it has to do with inflammation on the sciatic nerve).
Sometimes they do fine for years and succumb to old age. Other times they do well for months, but succumb to another illness. And others rally for a few weeks then you go out and find them sprawled dead.
Others simply waste away though they eat and drink and poo.
So it really depends on the strain of Marek's and how the bird's own immune system can fight it.
Of all the reading I've done on Marek's, St. John's wort shows promise. While the studies done (for bursal disease) used liquid injected of pharmaceutical grade, if I have a suspicious case again, I will put 500 to 700 mg of St. John's wort in mash for the affected bird daily. (I can't get the pharmaceutical grade stuff...you might be able to find tincture of it.)
As to the other flock members, those that survive with no symptoms, breed from!
I have bred from a rooster that showed suspicious mild symptoms but fully recovered. Thus far all of his daughters have been fine with one exception of a daughter that was bred to a mother (Cream Legbar) which is a breed known to have had problems with Marek's.
LofMc
