Ok, I have read over a good chunk of the Marek's info posted by willowbranch (thanks for that!) and made some notes and compared the little hen with said notes. First marek's symptom, paralaysis: She does not look to me to have that problem. Her wings ARE drooping and her stance is hunched, but that looks to me like the same "sick stance" that every ill or injured chicken tends to get. There is no gasping, and her eyes are bright and pupils look normal. Her skin looks normal, there is no rough or raised areas like the Merck's page showed. Crop appears normal, other than it is almost completely empty? When I opened the cage, she attempted to jump out and lost her balance and fell. But she got right back up after, and when I set her on the floor she walks around and pecks at spilled feed, etc. It didn't look like she was actually swallowing much, but was mainly just pecking around. She moves very slowly, but doesn't seem to be having trouble walking.
I do feel she is dehydrated, her poops while normal size etc are quite dry looking. When I splashed my finger in her water bowl, she came over and took one drink but that's it. She is even more horribly emaciated than before, I can literally feel all her ribs and details of her keel bone. I am going to see if we can get any yoghurt down her in a little while.
