Bird died, unusual symptoms

[Ruler of the Roost]

So I had a bird, buff silky, die tonight. I found her in the coop two days ago laying in the middle of the run allowing herself to be trampled. This seemed odd as she was acting perfectly healthy the day before. I brought her inside and set her up in a rubbermaid tub for observation and rest. She was eating and drinking, though she wouldn’t/couldn’t use her right leg. I didn’t feel any obvious breaks. I felt her abdomen and could not feel any hardness. In addition, she usually laid every 3-4 days, and she’d laid an egg three days prior, so she likely wasn’t egg bound. Her feathers were full of mud and bird poop from herself and the other birds so I had given her a bath upon bringing her in, immediately after which I dried her with a blow drier. But she was just acting like an injured bird, and she was laying more on her side letting her left wing support her weight and leaving her seemingly injured leg outstretched. She was also acting very lethargic. Today that changed and I saw that when she ate or drank she was basically letting her head fall beak first into the waterer or feed bowl and then pulling it back up to swallow. Still eating and drinking, she within hours of that observation stopped holding her head up. This is the third bird from this batch, which I purchased from an outside farm, to die though the other two died at weeks old. One had wry neck symptoms and I woke up to the first one dead in the brooder. This bird is nearly a year old. I’m starting to worry about Mareks and wondering if the rest of my flock is in danger. I haven’t had any other birds die like that at all. What do you guys think?

 

[PeaShack]

So sorry for your loss! I’m curious to see what others think may be the cause.

 

[FrostRanger]

I would refrigerate her in a garbage bags and contact your state poultry extension for a necropsy. I also suspect merak's but it's better to have testing to be sure

 

[CCsGarden]

Sorry for you loss! Can you do a necropsy?

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Would you at all describe her behavior as paralysis?

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Or partial parslysis, like paralysis of that leg?

 

[Eggcessive]

Sorry for your loss. To get a necropsy and testing after losing a bird, here is a list of state vets to contact near you. The bird should be wrapped inn2 plastic bags and kept refrigerated, but not frozen. A cooler with ice would be good.
https://www.metzerfarms.com/poultry...8MbqG8ugmo4Ok3AD_MfKs3-t76a0KPvEU3dMtHvRx_Kj0

 

[Ruler of the Roost]

Would you at all describe her behavior as paralysis?

Partial… maybe

 

[Ruler of the Roost]

Sorry for you loss! Can you do a necropsy?

I thought about it. I can’t afford it. I gave as respectful of a burial as I could far away from the other birds and wrapped in multiple plastic bags.

 

[Ruler of the Roost]

Or partial parslysis, like paralysis of that leg?

Possibly. My most recent clutches that I hatched from my free roaming birds, who share a general area with my coop birds, birthed a blind bird and a bird that periodically suffers from wry neck. Our turkey tom also developed a neck issue and sometimes walks backwards in circles. All this time I thought it was just a crick in his neck cause the unnatural curvature matches how he sleeps leaned up against the coop wall. I’ve tried to brace it and massage it out, but the bird has none of it. I was planning on taking him to the vet about it after I get my dog spayed. It will be the earliest I can afford to take him. I’ll be taking Houdini and Ray Ray with now for blood testing. (Houdini cause every time he’d have an episode he’d get out of the brooder and we’d have to hunt for him and ray ray cause, we’ll, the late great Ray Charles.)