death and loss of voluntary muscle movement

redbear 37

Hatching
5 Years
Apr 22, 2014
1
0
7
hi found my old hen flailing on the floor of the coop this morning. complete loss of voluntary muscle control. swinging neck back. no sign of injury or diarrhoea, she is over 6years old. warmed her up and stroked her and she calmed. thought she would die within the hour so did not despatch her. she is still alive. no food intake. a little water was administered. partner will despatch her on his return what is it? i had a 3 yr old bantam cock just drop dead outside yesterday and 3 weeks ago we killed her partner rooster as her was not able to stand up anymore but still was eating and drinking. likewise has lost power to control his movements and kept falling over. help...........is this likely to spread? none of my hen are vaccinated if this is relevent. thanks x
 
Welcome to BYC. It definitely sounds like you have some sort of illness or toxin that is killing your flock. Sorry for your loss. Mareks disease can cause some of the neurological symptoms, but I wouldn't think you would lose 2 in 2 days. Rat poison, lead poisoning from old paint flakes in the soil, lawn treatments or insect sprays, and botulism are some things to rule out. Aflatoxin or aspergillosis could also be a problem. Botulism is a toxin that comes from decayed vegetation, animal and fish carcasses, and maggots that chickens ranging around can come across. Here are a couple of links to read:
http://www.thepoultrysite.com/diseaseinfo/19/botulism
https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/the-great-big-giant-mareks-disease-faq
http://partnersah.vet.cornell.edu/avian-atlas/search/disease/502
http://extension.unh.edu/resources/files/Resource000791_Rep813.pdf
 
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