Help! My chicken was flopped on her back today

[Gooselover567]

I am giving her the B complex daily, but she seems to be getting worse-she can barely walk at all now. She also keeps stepping on her wing accidentally when she tries to stand up. I haven't gotten a chance to thank you all for your help-I've been so worried. I think I am going to put her down if she doesn't improve soon because she seems to be in lots of pain. Thank you everyone for all the information. One last question-does anyone know how much it would cost to get her euthanized? I don't know if I could do it myself.

 

[Chickstarrs]

I am giving her the B complex daily, but she seems to be getting worse-she can barely walk at all now. She also keeps stepping on her wing accidentally when she tries to stand up. I haven't gotten a chance to thank you all for your help-I've been so worried. I think I am going to put her down if she doesn't improve soon because she seems to be in lots of pain. Thank you everyone for all the information. One last question-does anyone know how much it would cost to get her euthanized? I don't know if I could do it myself.

Sorry to hear your chicken is worse. It cost me $25 to get my second chicken euthanized at the vet. I am in Canada, so it will likely be less for you. My first chicken, we put down ourselves. The reason I went to the vet for the second was because I wanted to send her for a necropsy so that I could be sure what I was dealing with.

 

[Eggcessive]

I am very sorry about your chicken. Each vet may be a different cost to euthanize, and many vets do not treat chickens. You would do best to call around in the morning if any vets are open on Saturday am. If you have a friend, relative, or neighbor who hunts, they might put her down for you by removing her head with a sharp knife or garden shears. It is very fast.

Do you wish to get a necropsy on her body through your state vet so that you could get her tested for Mareks to confirm it? Most are only open on week days and the body must be kept cold, but not frozen until you can take them in to the state poultry lab. Cost varies state to state. What is your location? Here is a list of most state poultry labs with telephone numbers:
https://www.metzerfarms.com/PoultryLabs.cfm

 

[Gooselover567]

I am in North carolina

 

[Gooselover567]

Thank you for the list, but I don't think I want to get a necropsy. She is beginning to show more and more symptoms of the neural mareks disease, and I hope the other chickens will be ok. I also read somewhere that Humane Society will euthanize, so I am going to check them out. I forgot to mention I have geese, can they catch Mareks from the chickens?

 

[Eggcessive]

Mareks is mostly a disease of chickens. I think quail might be able to get it, but probably not geese. I would check with your state labs too to see if they will euthanize. @Wyorp Rock lives in NC, and she may know.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I am giving her the B complex daily, but she seems to be getting worse-she can barely walk at all now. She also keeps stepping on her wing accidentally when she tries to stand up. I haven't gotten a chance to thank you all for your help-I've been so worried. I think I am going to put her down if she doesn't improve soon because she seems to be in lots of pain. Thank you everyone for all the information. One last question-does anyone know how much it would cost to get her euthanized? I don't know if I could do it myself.

I am in North carolina

Thank you for the list, but I don't think I want to get a necropsy. She is beginning to show more and more symptoms of the neural mareks disease, and I hope the other chickens will be ok. I also read somewhere that Humane Society will euthanize, so I am going to check them out. I forgot to mention I have geese, can they catch Mareks from the chickens?

I'm sorry about your hen.
NC has 4 labs, I'm not sure if they offer just euthanasia services, I think you would have to have necropsy done as well. I don't think you would be able to take the body home either if that's important to you. There's a lab in Raliegh, Fletcher/Arden, Elkin and Monroe. The phone number for the main Raleigh lab is 919-733-3986 you could call and talk with them, they would tell you what all 4 labs offer.
http://www.ncagr.gov/vet/ncvdl/

If you can't find help and need to put her out of her misery yourself, let us know and maybe we can offer you some tips and support. I understand it's a hard think about having to do.

As for your Geese, the information I have read lends me to think that Marek's affects mostly chickens, but Turkeys and Quail are susceptible. I haven't found mention of Geese in my readings, but it's not to say it's unheard of.

 

[Isaac 0]

I forgot to mention I have geese, can they catch Mareks from the chickens?

Very little research exists on Mareks disease affecting waterfowl because it just hasn't ever really been a prominent problem in the field. More serious problems such as DH, DVE, and botulism are under more concern in regards to research.

As far as if the same chicken Mareks serotype is transmittable to Geese, I'm not sure. There have been reports such as this one where a wild flock of white-fronted geese was tested for Mareks and confirmed positive on several occasions.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21908212/

I've never heard of waterfowl being vaccinated for Mareks, nor have I ever heard personally of flocks being affected locally. If they were to catch the virus, it would be likely they would show little to no symptoms contrary to the chickens. You received great advice so far. So in regard to whether to worry about it or not, I wouldn't personally worry too much, waterfowl are extremely disease resistant.

 

[Gooselover567]

Thank you guys for all the answers, but I'm not sure if I will even need to euthanize her because this morning she could barely move, but when I went to check on her this evening, she was up and walking around. She was eating and drinking and pecking at things like normal. She still stumbled a bit though. Does this happen in Mareks or whatever she has? If she recovers fully I obviously can't get a necropsy even if I wanted one.

 

[Eggcessive]

Since most poultry labs are closed on the weekend, I would wait until Monday morning, and check with them about the cost and details about a necropsy. If she dies between now and then, and her body is kept cold, it would be best to have it done Monday or Tuesday. If she gets better, that would be wonderful. Usually chickens with Mareks get worse, but rarely, some may get better for a time. Let us know how it goes.