Already lost. Confused and concerned.

[SpeckySussex]

Hey, Minor Questions: We have a chicken with those similar symptoms that has been unable to walk for a long time. The mortality rate for chickens with Mareks is 90%. Do you guys think it is Mareks? We've done a lot of research and haven't found anything that was very similar? Any Ideas? Any Cures? If not, we might have to put her down.....

 

[azygous]

Petroleum distillates poisoning can cripple a chicken while not outright killing the chicken. If you have any machinery that leaks onto the soil where the chickens pick up grit, it's usually how this crippling occurs. Eventually, though, the chicken will starve due to not being able to get adequate food.

 

[microchick]

IMHO if a chicken is showing signs of Marek's Disease and the flock is positive for MD, the mortality rate is much higher than 90%. It was 100% with the the strain that infected my flock.

No cure for Marek's Disease. It is a herpes infection in chickens that manifests itself in tumors, neurological, skin or the eyes. No cure although we took one step closer in a vaccine for HPV in humans.

My best advice is to have your bird necropsied post mortem so you can get a definitive diagnosis. If and when to cull the bird is a decision nobody can make for you. If the bird has MD, then it is shedding the virus at a higher rate if it is in decline/sick. When to let it go is when the bird lets you know that it is time.

I'm sorry, wish I could offer more advice. Marek's sucks.