Chick with Possible Marek's - Put Down?!?!

[ranchhand]

Good luck, here's hoping for the best!

 

[minge]

My current situation seems exactly the same as yours. I just do not know what to do. For the last two weeks our 8 mos old chicken has had the same symptoms as yours and we think it is Marek's disease too... paralysis, poor appetite, weak, doesn't want to move. Our vet told us to try come antibiotic which we have given her with moisten wheat bread that she takes well. The medication is complete and she is much stronger now... she can at least stand up and take a few steps, still has an appetite. We just do not know how long we should go though. Is yours better? any suggestions?

 

[juliecox]

She's more alert and active than she was; her appetite is strong now. Yesterday I noticed the skin on her belly seemed irritated, all red. I wonder if that's another symptom or from her scooting around on her belly.

 

[lynne9576]

I also have a chick doing something like this. I keep the mama and babies separated within the same coop and tried them out one day to see how they'd do. The chicks were about 2 weeks old. this was about 1 1/2 weeks ago. After that day this chick acted like it had no balance. It was still trying to follow the others and eating and drinking, but it couldn't get around. I though it got pecked but couldn't find any evidence of that. I watched it a couple days (keeping them separated again) and then brought it in the house under a lamp at night and in the window in the sunshine during the day. It's been eating and drinking fine, but if it tries to stand it falls over and flaps it's wings to get righted again. It just became apparent that one of it's legs is turned way out to the side. I tried tying it to the other leg but I wasn't too sure how to do it and it didn't seem to help. It's a little smaller than the others but is very vocal and is still eating well. I'm wondering if it's Marek's and if so how long till it's fatal or will it live? If it's not Marek's, should i put her back with the others? She can't keep up but she tries and seems happier with them. She is an egg that the mama hatched and so wasn't vaccinated, but 4 of the other chicks were. The mama and 3 of the babies weren't.