blackmountain
In the Brooder
Hi, I posted here last week about Nervous Nelly, our sick hen. I thought I would share her story.
We got her as a chick, and she was a nervous little thing. A Plymouth Barred Rock. We got her and 9 others from the same source that vaccinates for Marek's. You can see the direction this is heading.
Everything was fine as far as we could tell until Tuesday of last week. I noticed she was a little lethargic and not as active as she normally is. We decided to leave her with the flock overnight and see how she looked in the morning. In the morning when the other ladies had left the roosting bar, she was still sitting on it. This is when we knew something was wrong for sure. Under her there was a huge water puddle of clear diarrhea, with distinct mustard yellow and green parts to it. Clearly there had been a lot of it, because it spilled off of the manure tray down onto a lower shelf. Poor thing. At that point we brought her inside our house and kept her in a very warm room in a large dog crate that we have. The next morning, Christmas Eve, she didn't really seem much worse, but we did a ton of research and decided to pursue a couple of directions. First, Corid, in case it was coccidiosis. We mixed that with her water. We also were concerned about possible parasitic worms, and got Ivermectin and applied it to her back (Durvet Ivermectin Pour-On).
The next morning, Christmas Day, she had deteriorated. Someone suggested a possible infection so we got Amoxicillin and gave that to her as well. She was breathing heavier than normal, and was very lethargic. Throughout the morning I would say that she deteriorated pretty steadily and in the early afternoon it was becoming clear that she was getting much worse. In the end, I laid my head down on her and she died. It was, naturally, very upsetting. My girlfriend and I loved Nelly and were very, very sad that we couldn't save her.
Monday morning I drove her to UC Davis for a necropsy. We got a report yesterday from them and I thought I'd share the results at the bottom of this thread. It appears, that it was Marek's.
All in all it was a very sad experience for us, but something I suppose we need to get used to. We're very thankful for the UC Davis department that provides this service...it's amazing. They were very professional and friendly, and we're very appreciative.
Photos:
1. Nelly, on her last day. Poor thing was probably suffering and we had no idea.
2. Photo of her feces on a newspaper.
3. Same as above.
4. This isn't a photo we took, but is EXACTLY what her feces looked like 2 days before she died.
5. Her laying in the cage...we hoped just sleeping, but she was deteriorating quickly at this point.
YouTube video of her breathing:
RIP Nelly, you were a sweet chicken and we miss you.
12/30/2020. Postmortem findings suggest that this chicken’s cause of illness was a lymphoproliferative disease, most likely
Marek’s disease. Nevertheless, other lymphoproliferative diseases such as avian lymphoma/sarcoma or reticuloendotheliosis
(retrovirus) cannot be ruled out. Marek’s disease is induced by an alphaherpes virus. Marek’s disease is the most common
cause of mortality in the state and its agent is widely spread, especially amongst backyard chickens. The disease most often
occurs in birds between 2-5 months of age. Because the virus is common in the environment, vaccination of newly purchased
birds is highly recommended. Vaccination has dramatically reduced the incidence of the disease, but not of infection.
The whole body of a 9 months female chicken was submitted. At the time of the necropsy the animal was in a state of good
postmortem preservation.
Integumentary system: There were no significant macroscopic lesions.
Muscular system: There were no significant macroscopic lesions.
Skeletal system: There were no significant macroscopic lesions.
Body cavities: There were no significant macroscopic lesions.
Respiratory system: There were no significant macroscopic lesions.
Cardiovascular system: There were no significant macroscopic lesions.
Alimentary system: The liver was severely enlarged. There were no other significant macroscopic lesions.
Urinary system: There were no significant macroscopic lesions.
Endocrine system: There were no significant macroscopic lesions.
Reproductive system: There were no significant macroscopic lesions.
Hemolymphatic system: The spleen was severely enlarged. There were no other significant macroscopic lesions.
Nervous system: There were no significant macroscopic lesions.
Liver and spleen: Infiltrating, expanding and replacing the normal parenchyma there is an atypical lymphoid cells proliferation
consistent with lymphoproliferative disease.
Brain: There was no significant lesion.
We got her as a chick, and she was a nervous little thing. A Plymouth Barred Rock. We got her and 9 others from the same source that vaccinates for Marek's. You can see the direction this is heading.
Everything was fine as far as we could tell until Tuesday of last week. I noticed she was a little lethargic and not as active as she normally is. We decided to leave her with the flock overnight and see how she looked in the morning. In the morning when the other ladies had left the roosting bar, she was still sitting on it. This is when we knew something was wrong for sure. Under her there was a huge water puddle of clear diarrhea, with distinct mustard yellow and green parts to it. Clearly there had been a lot of it, because it spilled off of the manure tray down onto a lower shelf. Poor thing. At that point we brought her inside our house and kept her in a very warm room in a large dog crate that we have. The next morning, Christmas Eve, she didn't really seem much worse, but we did a ton of research and decided to pursue a couple of directions. First, Corid, in case it was coccidiosis. We mixed that with her water. We also were concerned about possible parasitic worms, and got Ivermectin and applied it to her back (Durvet Ivermectin Pour-On).
The next morning, Christmas Day, she had deteriorated. Someone suggested a possible infection so we got Amoxicillin and gave that to her as well. She was breathing heavier than normal, and was very lethargic. Throughout the morning I would say that she deteriorated pretty steadily and in the early afternoon it was becoming clear that she was getting much worse. In the end, I laid my head down on her and she died. It was, naturally, very upsetting. My girlfriend and I loved Nelly and were very, very sad that we couldn't save her.
Monday morning I drove her to UC Davis for a necropsy. We got a report yesterday from them and I thought I'd share the results at the bottom of this thread. It appears, that it was Marek's.
All in all it was a very sad experience for us, but something I suppose we need to get used to. We're very thankful for the UC Davis department that provides this service...it's amazing. They were very professional and friendly, and we're very appreciative.
Photos:
1. Nelly, on her last day. Poor thing was probably suffering and we had no idea.
2. Photo of her feces on a newspaper.
3. Same as above.
4. This isn't a photo we took, but is EXACTLY what her feces looked like 2 days before she died.
5. Her laying in the cage...we hoped just sleeping, but she was deteriorating quickly at this point.
YouTube video of her breathing:
RIP Nelly, you were a sweet chicken and we miss you.
12/30/2020. Postmortem findings suggest that this chicken’s cause of illness was a lymphoproliferative disease, most likely
Marek’s disease. Nevertheless, other lymphoproliferative diseases such as avian lymphoma/sarcoma or reticuloendotheliosis
(retrovirus) cannot be ruled out. Marek’s disease is induced by an alphaherpes virus. Marek’s disease is the most common
cause of mortality in the state and its agent is widely spread, especially amongst backyard chickens. The disease most often
occurs in birds between 2-5 months of age. Because the virus is common in the environment, vaccination of newly purchased
birds is highly recommended. Vaccination has dramatically reduced the incidence of the disease, but not of infection.
The whole body of a 9 months female chicken was submitted. At the time of the necropsy the animal was in a state of good
postmortem preservation.
Integumentary system: There were no significant macroscopic lesions.
Muscular system: There were no significant macroscopic lesions.
Skeletal system: There were no significant macroscopic lesions.
Body cavities: There were no significant macroscopic lesions.
Respiratory system: There were no significant macroscopic lesions.
Cardiovascular system: There were no significant macroscopic lesions.
Alimentary system: The liver was severely enlarged. There were no other significant macroscopic lesions.
Urinary system: There were no significant macroscopic lesions.
Endocrine system: There were no significant macroscopic lesions.
Reproductive system: There were no significant macroscopic lesions.
Hemolymphatic system: The spleen was severely enlarged. There were no other significant macroscopic lesions.
Nervous system: There were no significant macroscopic lesions.
Liver and spleen: Infiltrating, expanding and replacing the normal parenchyma there is an atypical lymphoid cells proliferation
consistent with lymphoproliferative disease.
Brain: There was no significant lesion.
