4 month old Marans pullet very small, weak, lethargic. Never grew up! Why?

[VictoriaTemple]

Hi all. I just lost an unrelated BC Marans cockerel a few days ago with the same condition. He and Ready (the pullet, an experimental Red Mottled Marans) are/were 20 weeks old, but are about the same size as my 7 week old backyard hybrids. They both seemed to reach a certain point and just stopped growing. They aren’t deformed in any way, but they are slight and weak, and as I said, the cockerel died, and now the pullet is declining fast. I am deworming the flock with DE (the only dewormer I can get locally), can worms cause these issues? There seems to be some kind of respiratory virus or mycoplasma present in the flock as well, it does not respond to Denagard and sadly we just live with it. Could that stunt a young chicken’s growth? Both she and the cockerel (Hosanna) almost died from the respiratory thing when they were about 2 weeks old, I thought Ready had recovered until she started falling behind her “siblings”. Pictures are of her with her “siblings” of the same age. It’s hard to see, but she is a fraction of their weight, and Hosanna was even smaller. Any thoughts? Please?

 

[Ihavesomechickens]

Hm. Here’s a article I read recently, it might do you some good to look into it, though I don’t know if that is what your chickens have/had.


https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/thyrogenous-dwarfism-in-poultry.72684/

 

[LaFleche]

Hm. Here’s a article I read recently, it might do you some good to look into it, though I don’t know if that is what your chickens have/had.


https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/thyrogenous-dwarfism-in-poultry.72684/

Very interesting link, thank you!

 

[VictoriaTemple]

Fascinating, thank you @Ihavesomechickens ! I wonder if this is possibly what’s going on, especially since both the cockerel and the pullet are suspiciously dying at the cusp of sexual maturity. Neither has the facial or toe deformities, but maybe it’s different for Marans. I might email MCCUSA and see if they know of dwarfism (thyrogenous or otherwise) occurring in American-bred Marans. I’m especially concerned because the 2 birds came from 2 different breeders. Thanks again for the article!

 

[Ihavesomechickens]

Fascinating, thank you @Ihavesomechickens ! I wonder if this is possibly what’s going on, especially since both the cockerel and the pullet are suspiciously dying at the cusp of sexual maturity. Neither has the facial or toe deformities, but maybe it’s different for Marans. I might email MCCUSA and see if they know of dwarfism (thyrogenous or otherwise) occurring in American-bred Marans. I’m especially concerned because the 2 birds came from 2 different breeders. Thanks again for the article!

Your welcome. I read it the other day and thought it might be helpful here. Thyrogenous dwarfism would match up with what you are seeing, especially because they are weaker so they would be more likely to get a disease likes yours did.

 

[VictoriaTemple]

Came home to my poor pullet sitting in her sick box in a massive amount of fecal material. Loose and wet, but otherwise seemed normal, just a LOT of it. No diarrhea on her vent feathers, vent looked pink and normal, but wasn’t “pulsing” like they usually do when I pick them up. Eating a little, but very very weak. I’ll be surprised if she lives through the night. The cockerel, Hosanna, blew out his poop like that too, just before the end. Could it be worms? Not tapes, certainly, no segments in the poop. I didn’t do a necropsy on Hosanna, but I’ll have to on Ready when she goes because I need to know what’s going on here.

 

[VictoriaTemple]

Ready passed away this afternoon. I’ll do the necropsy tomorrow, but other than worms I really don’t know what to look for. Can’t afford a professional necropsy. I’ll just do the best I can. Thanks for your help, @Ihavesomechickens .