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

[EggSighted4Life]

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

Sorry, I don't think that is your typical crowing but rather gasping for air. Seems like it's with every breath. I could be wrong though.

 

[speckledhen]

She's not crowing. She's dying. She's trying to breathe. Sorry, but it's time for her to be helped along to that Great Roost in the Sky.

 

[mama251ders]

Sorry, I don't think that is your typical crowing but rather gasping for air. Seems like it's with every breath. I could be wrong though.

Yeah, I was just using "crowing" to describe the sound. It was much different when it started out. It's very disturbing and it's just getting worse.

 

[mama251ders]

She's not crowing. She's dying. She's trying to breathe. Sorry, but it's time for her to be helped along to that Great Roost in the Sky.

I was afraid of that. I really thought yesterday she was getting better.

 

[EggSighted4Life]

Yeah, I was just using "crowing" to describe the sound. It was much different when it started out. It's very disturbing and it's just getting worse.

I'm sorry. I think I probably would cull at this point. Unless you have the funds for a vet visit, knowing they may not be able to do anything to help her either.

Only other suggestion would be vitamins and electrolytes/propiotics and maybe some sort of antibiotic. I have no experience with meds though so I can't make a recommendation.

 

[mama251ders]

My husband is going to come home as soon as he can and put her down. I'm going to have to take my girls and leave while he does it. There's no way I can be here and they won't want to either. Thank you everyone for your help and support! I really appreciate it.

 

[speckledhen]

Honestly, I'm not convinced she has Marek's at all. Some folks think that any odd gait or inability to walk equals Marek's, seems to be the go-to diagnosis at times, when there are probably 50 other reasons for that. Any dying hen who has fluid or infection may lose the ability to walk eventually. I even had a hen begin to squat-walk, but it was something pushing on a nerve inside (she had reproductive cancer and was full of fluid). And hens can get arthritis, though that usually is in later years. I have two who have lost the use of one leg to it over time, one almost 11 years old and one almost 10 years old, plus two more who have a profound limp on one side, same reason. Sheer weakness will cause her to lose the ability to stand, too. Your hen is very bad off-see her flopped over purplish comb? So, her systems have been shutting down.

The culling is the upsetting part, though you're doing this hen a big kindness. I'm very sorry.

 

[mama251ders]

So, now she's up and eating and breathing normally. Not stumbling, not gasping. I don't know what to do.

 

[speckledhen]

So, now she's up and eating and breathing normally. Not stumbling, not gasping. I don't know what to do.

I have been in that position, too, I get it. Having seen hens dying from different illnesses, they usually rally right before they go down again. I'm not sure what is happening to your hen, could be something is obstructing her airway, but it could be something you cannot remove like a cyst/tumor, which, when it shifts, it could give her more air, then shift back and be choking her. There are too many things to count to say anything without actually seeing the hen, and even then, sometimes, the problem remains a mystery.

Have you actually held her mouth open and peered down her throat with a flashlight? I've done that many times to see if there was an obstruction I could remove. I still think she is on her way out, but it can't hurt to look.