Help! Several of my Chickens are sick!

[SVChickens]

So, let me start by saying my chickens are like my kids....they even tend to wander into the house from time to time. However, I have had several in the last 2 days become listless and not walk, arch their head over. I have separated them and taken them to what we call our hospital (hay barn). Our chickens are mainly free range and are giving layer crumbles. Their pen is in between 2 sets of pig pens. The pig pens had ticks which we have treated. Not sure what else to do. Thanks in advance for your help. Oh, we have had a lot of rain in the last month, but all is dried up.

 

[seminolewind]

Are they not feeling like walking or not able to walk? Did they all get sick at the same time?

 

[SVChickens]

Not able to walk. They (6 as off this afternoon) all got sick in the last 24 hours.

 

[Pyxis]

When you say arch their head over, do you mean it's twisted back? The only things I can think of are wry neck, which is the better alternative and fairly easy to treat, or Marek's disease, which unfortunately isn't so good.

 

[199787]

Could definitely be botulism. Fowl Cholera also has paralysis and twisted neck as symptoms. Both these would be more sudden and tend to effect a large number of birds at once than Mareks.