7 wk chick can't walk - Update: botulism? - 6th day - new pic

[kelar]

You will probably never know how the chick contracted the disease - it can come in on shoes, car tires, wind - the possibilities are endless. You could have a carrier in your flock that is shedding the virus without your knowledge. Vaccinated birds do not infect other birds - the vaccine is not the infective wild strain of mareks. I would advise vaccinating everything on your place - while your best chance of preventing the virus is by vaccinating & immunity prior to exposure, vaccination of adults or exposed birds will not do them any harm and may provide some resistance. Going forward, try to get vaccinated birds or keep new birds in isolation and vaccinate them prior to exposure to your flock. Keep in mind that if this youngster has mareks, she is shedding the virus and is really a "typhoid mary" for the rest of your birds. For this reason, I no longer attempt to treat birds that appear to have mareks, but euthanize them immediately and disinfect like crazy afterwards. If you have a place to have a necropsy done, you could find out for sure if it is mareks and take the precautions necessary to protect the rest of your flock.

 

[coolchickens]

One of the reason I went ahead and treated with Hypericum was because every where it stated that Mareks was highly contagious to the flock and others would also show signs. It has been 2 mos. now and no other chicken, young or old, has shown any signs of Mareks or illness for that fact. My pullet had symptoms like Mareks but still no evidence elsewhere. As far as it being too late to tx with Hypericum, I was treating the first 2 wks with antibiotics bef. I even started it. I really thought it was too late also. It did take me 8 wks of drops ea. day but I did see signs of improvement after the first wk to wk and ahalf. It took awhile for her to walk normal and stop the head twisting whenever she swallowed but she now can walk, today flew out of her playpen, and tries to go free range with the others, which I am not allowing yet as she is not fast enough to avoid hawks at this point. Some say to avoid contaminating the flock but basicly, you have already contaminated the entire flock by the time yours showed the symptoms. I treated for the neurological problems, regardless of what mine had (am still thinking it was poss. moldy food) and at least it worked. If you have the time to do possibly a slow & long tx. then I'd try the Hypericum. Good luck with whatever you decide, I know its a tough decision to make.

 

[reveriereptile]

Reminds me of a hen I had. It was the begining of spring and about time to move the chickens back outside when I noticed one of my hens in the roosting position. She had her feet tucked up under her and wouldn't get off the roost. I picked her up and she kept her legs in the bent position. I thought maybe she had stiff joints due to it being cold and just sat that way to long but I seperated her to her own cage. I put food and water next to her and she ate fine and even bit me a few times. She was a hen I had gotten from someone else that was a bit mean. I worked her legs for a few days but had no luck in getting her to do more than walk on her legs bent like that. I was about to go on vacation for a month and my FIL watched her for a few days and decided to cull her since she was starting to get sores on her legs. Never knew what was wrong but none of the other birds got it.

 

[ArizonaDesertChicks]

Thank you all for your help and advice.

We decided to put her down last night after all. I gave it a good try and worked on helping her for 9 days with no sign of improvement. It was distressing to see her getting into such awkard and uncomfortable positions every day and not being able to untangle herself on her own. Almost every time she decided to move around, she ended up getting her right foot/claws stuck on top of her right wing and inadvertently holding her wing down (looked very uncomfortable and maybe even painful). Sometimes she'd end up on top of her water dish (with no way to drink) and have to wait till someone discovered her and could move her back into position. It was a lot of work trying to care for an indoor chicken with paralyzed legs - I had to change her paper towel diapers, adjust her position, and give her vitamin drops and acidophilis about 6-8 times a day. I have a busy schedule with my job, kids, dogs, school, and my other chickens and I just couldn't see doing this for 1-2 more months, not knowing if recovery was even possible.

If I still thought it was botulism and there was a chance she would get better, I would have kept going, but with the idea that it is most likely Marek's and there is a much smaller chance of recovery (most sites say there is no treatment) I just wanted to let her go. CoolChickens - I'm so glad the hypericum worked for you and appreciate you giving me the info --- I just don't think I could do the hypericum twice a day in her beak for 2 months, not knowing if it'd work (she's a fighter and it was awful trying to open her beak enough to give her those flushes that first day). I was also a litle nervous about putting a possibly contagious chicken back into the flock (what if it's not Marek's, but something else?).


Chickens vaccinated for Marek's can still have Marek's disease and be carriers - they are just less likely to come down with symptoms of Marek's than unvaccinated chickens. I was wondering if my two new hens were carriers of a different strain of Marek's than my original flock, but then remembered that my last 2 batches of chicks I raised in Feb and April are totally fine - no lameness or health problems, so that elimates that possibility.

Many of my chickens came from the feed store as chicks and were not vaccinated - 2 of my groups of chicks were raised by mama hens, so it wouldn't have done any good to vaccinate them either - the vaccination doesn't work, unless given to chicks before they are exposed and these chicks have to be kept away from other chickens for 10-14 days, giving the vaccine time to work. The sad thing is; this particular chick could have been vaccinated - I just didn't choose to pay the extra $30 (for 30 chicks) because I didn't think it was necessary - hadn't had any previous problems.

Maybe my little Welsummer just became extra susceptible to Marek's because of her body being stressed when I changed her feed to a type she didn't like and wouldn't eat? I've heard that Marek's disease attacks chickens when they're stressed and since she wasn't eating her food for 2 days, maybe that stressed her body enough for the disease to take hold of her? I hope the rest of the chicks stay healthy and don't come down with any symptoms - so far, they're doing great. I believe my older chickens are already past the danger zone.

 

[chkn]

Aw, you really tried hard, some things are just not meant to be I guess...

 

[coolchickens]

So sorry for your loss. Its hard to lose a chicken as we always wonder what we could have done. It sounds like yours was really suffering and I think you made a good decision for her. I asked myself that same question many times with mine but I had the time and wanted to see what I could do just in case this happened in the future. If I was not retired, I could not have spent the time deal dealing with this. You tried hard and did a good job. She is in "chicken heaven" now!