Derperella, the (weird) Faverolles, & Friends

[Nickeyo]

This is just a though but I have seen this one veterinary programs and it really does work very well. chicken physio. you buy a chicken life jacket, put it on then put him in the water, hold him so he cant actually swim around but so he paddles on the spot, it should help him learn to use his legs again. before you judge try it!!!!! it can only help.

 

[Knittycat]

where does one acquire a chicken life vest anyway?

 

[KayTee]

The Baron crowing (must be fun now that he's a house chicken), and Mildred laying eggs - that's all excellent news! What size are they? My 19 week old pullet, Igor, laid her first egg four days ago - she's a light sussex, so not a small breed, but her eggs are just so cute - about half the size of my other girls' eggs! I know they'll get bigger with time, but they are just so precious right now, and she's so proud of them - sings the loudest egg song ever!

How did Mildred react to her first egg? Igor got totally confused - didn't know if she was allowed to leave it or not, so she stayed and guarded it on the nest until I got home and collected it - then she happily went out and free-ranged with the other girls again!

Mind you, I'm a bit worried that she's developing Derp tendancies - the other week she watched a sunflower seed on the ground for over a minute and a half - didn't move a muscle, just stood with her head on one side, looking at it until my dh came over to see what was going on - she looked up, shook her head and ran off quickly, as if to say "Me, Derping? No, not a chance!"

 

[Nambroth]

Some news!!

I JUST got a call from my vet. The results came back from the Marek's blood testing that we sent away to the University of GA's Poultry Sciences dept. They ran several PCR tests for us and all came back negative for Marek's.

Now, these tests are not 100% accurate, but it's worth mentioning that they ran it several times and all were negative, so there's a good chance he actually is negative.

I had left an extra vial of blood with the vet, and she is going to have it tested for lead toxicity as she said that she's seen similar symptoms in birds before (leg problems and paralysis) due to lead. We should hear back on Wednesday. She said that even a single rogue BB on the ground is enough lead to cause serious problems for a bird of his size if he ate it.

We'll see where this goes!

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Oh, Nambroth, I just read through the past few pages! So glad to see your most recent post! Hopefully, the Baron has something that can be fixed!

 

[Knittycat]

Yay I guess? I guess not yay until you figure out what it is. At least it's not Mereks!

 

[Nambroth]

Probably not Marek's... at least, not an active infection/symptoms of it, as it would be much more easily detected in his blood.

This actually brings up more questions than it answers, but for now, I'll roll with it in case we can figure this out.

My theory, as someone that is hardly an expert, is that he has Marek's... all of my birds do, as they have all been exposed... but he is not actively symptomatic and thus it is not in his blood stream, but instead is latent in other cells in his body. If he had active, raging Marek's causing paralysis and an immune response (as guessed via his bloodwork), we should have found Marek's virus markers in his PCR testing.

Of note, lead toxicity can cause the same elevated white blood count that we observed....

Again I am just a layperson, trying to puzzle this out. Hardly an expert.

Hmmm.
At least he is still doing okay! This morning he launched himself across the basement while I had stepped out to take care of the girls... I found him near the couch, with a trail of gross cecal poops between him and his chair! Thanks for those special presents, Baron Rufflerump!!

So I guess he is feeling pretty spunky!

 

[blueberrychickens]

Phew on the negative Marek test results!! But I guess that also deepens the mystery of what is going on with him. You should launch a kickstarter or a gofundme page for fundraising efforts of chicken vet bills! You can ask for any sort of fundraising donations. You should check into it....a friend of mine did it for his dog and raised several hundred $$$. Can't hurt to look into it.
Glad to hear the rest of the flock is doing ok with the never ending brutal winter we are having this year. I've had quite enough of it myself, so much that we are escaping the northeast for Costa Rica on Monday. I might just have to miss my flight home! (But then I'd miss all my critters...)
Happy very belated birthday too Nambroth!!

 

[drumstick diva]

BARON and FUD LADY


HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY


WE LOVE YOU

 

[Nickeyo]

you can probably get the life vests online