Don't know what's wrong with my chicken. Marecks? Egg Bound? Worms?

[amylou96]

I just can't figure this out. About four days ago she could not walk, when she tried she just used her wings to kind of flop around. So I have been trying to figure it out since then.

I read on here it could be marecks disease and that giving her St. Johns Wart woud help so I tried that. She has been able to get up now and walk a little but still kinda limps and doesn't really want to walk. I am continuing to give her the St. Johns Wart.

She also seems to have a loss of appetite. I've seen her eat just a tiny bit but even when I give her an oatmeal milk and fruit mixture (I read on here that is good for a vitamin deficiency) she's not to interested. I gave her a few worms and she ate those but other than that she is just not interested in food.

I thought maybe she had worms or is egg bound. She hasn't laid an egg since I separated her from the other chickens but she is also molting right now so that could be why.

Any suggestions here?

 

[chickenzoo]

Easiest to do is worm her and see if that helps. Use Safeguard liquid for goats...1cc per 10 lbs of bird. Or Safeguard paste one pea sized dollop. Research worming chickens for more info.
Many chickens like scrambled eggs......

 

[amylou96]

I started her on a wormer today called Wazine for chickens. Hopefully that will help.

 

[janelle18]

how old is she?

the symptoms sound very similar to mareks. I lost a bunch of birds to it when they were about 13 weeks old I think, I didn't think it occurred in older birds but I'm not sure...My chickens who had it almost seem like half of their body got paralyzed. They couldn't walk and would flop and often get stuck on their back, it was really sad. They also lost a lot of weight from not eating.

 

[amylou96]

She is about a year and 8 months old so i guess Marecks isn't as common at that age. I've been treating her with the St. Johns wart (as suggested on this website for Marecks) for about 4 days and started the wormer yesterday. She has been up and able to walk but limps still. Looks like she ate a little of her food last night. On top of it all she is molting like crazy so every time I pick her up I feel bad because they're very sensitive when they're molting. I'm still just not sure what her problem is but I'm doing everything I can. I'm going to get a liquid vitamin today for birds and see if that helps her at all.
I have never had a chicken egg bound. Do you think there is any chance of that? I was going to give her the vitamins and let her sit in some warm water tonight to see if that helps. I'd really like to save her so trying just about everything.

 

[casportpony]

The avian pathologist that I spoke with last week says that Merek's is one of the most common causes of death in CA and that birds of all ages die from it.

 

[casportpony]

I started her on a wormer today called Wazine for chickens. Hopefully that will help.

If she has roundworms it will help, but that's the only worm that it works on.

 

[marthacolleen]

I recently received a whole shipment of chicks infected with Mareck's from Healthy Chicks and More and there is no cure, nor is there any hope of introducing new birds, as if they manage to survive (very doubtful) they will be carriers for life with this contagious viral disease. They need to revise their name to anything BUT Healthy Chiks and More!