BR Hen Crowing and Stumbling (pretty sure it's Marek's)

[mama251ders]

Hi All! I'm pretty sure my Barred Rock hen has Marek's Disease, but she's also molting. I made sure to up her protein when I noticed she was molting. She started stumbling about 3 days ago and I added cranberries and tuna (thinking maybe she needed even more protein) into the scraps they get. The next day and yesterday, she was much better, acting very normal and eating voraciously. Today, she seemed normal first thing this morning when I gave them meal worms, but I could hear her crowing and figured she was asking for some scraps. So I took out a pan and noticed she was kind of crouched down and crowing with almost every breath. I stood and watched her for several minutes and she kind of stumbled and fluffed up her feathers a couple of times, all the while doing the full body crowing thing and still crouched down. In between the crowing, she kind of slumps her head forward like she's falling asleep. She's now been doing this for about 40 minutes and won't touch the pan of scraps I took out, which is highly unusual for her. At this point, she almost sounds like she's lost her voice. I don't know what to do.

 

[MairyMai]

I would say this is mareks. I have never had to treat this so I cant tell you what to do, but there are lots of great webpages on the internet about it and how to treat it.

 

[EggSighted4Life]

Hi, welcome to BYC!

Sorry your hen is having trouble. Did she crow before this started?

Sounds like cocci might be a possibility. But have you seen Marek's in your flock before? Sometimes it will rear it's ugly head when a chook is under stress like molting.

Are you able to post a pic or video? What does her poo look like?

 

[EggSighted4Life]

Is there wheezing when she is breathing?

 

[mama251ders]

Hi, welcome to BYC!

Sorry your hen is having trouble. Did she crow before this started?

Sounds like cocci might be a possibility. But have you seen Marek's in your flock before? Sometimes it will rear it's ugly head when a chook is under stress like molting.

Are you able to post a pic or video? What does her poo look like?

Occasionally, I'd hear crowing. But not at all like this. She's still going...
I only have 2 chickens and I've only had them since May. They're older chickens, probably close to 2 years at this point?

 

[mama251ders]

Is there wheezing when she is breathing?

Yes, she was wheezing on Tuesday and Wednesday. Now, I can't tell because she's just doing the crowing thing. I'll try to post a video.

 

[mama251ders]

I can't get a video to upload :/ She's sounding worse by the minute and yes, she is wheezing. My husband thinks it's time to euthanize her. We're both worried that she's in pain based on her behavior.

 

[EggSighted4Life]

I would probably be looking more at Mycoplasma.

Check out this tool and see if it helps identify anything for you...
http://www.poultrydvm.com/symptoms

 

[EggSighted4Life]

If you think a chicken is in pain... it is!

They are prey animals and as such will do everything they can to hide anything that's off.

 

[mama251ders]

I put the video up on youtube, here's the link.