Help! Sick chickens!

[Hollymykel]

please help! I found one of my chickens 2 weeks ago practically paralyzed. All her symptoms seemed consistent with a scorpion sting. We cleaned the coop and the area around it and kept her in the house. Chicken survived and two weeks later she still walks a little funny but she’s back out. Now, just a couple days later I found my Plymouth Rock! What is going on!?

 

[50-45-1]

Hi, and welcome to back yard chickens!
Sorry for the troubles you are having. Need more information about your chickens to better give you advice.
What are you feeding?
Do they free range or confined in a run?
How old and how many?
Fresh water at all times and free access to granite grit?
Size of coop?
There are some desieses that lead to paralysis, also some nutritional defincies. Im no expert but wouldent a scorpion venom kill a chicken?
I hope we can get to the bottom of this for you.
Welcome to the backyard

 

[rebrascora]

Hi

How old are these birds?
When you say all her symptoms were consistent with a scorpion sting, what do you mean? Was there an obvious sting site? Apart from the paralysis what other symptoms were there?
Can you describe the Plymouth Rock's symptoms in detail?
Were they vaccinated for Marek's?
Where did you get them from and how long have you had them?
Have you added any new birds to the flock in recent months?

 

[Hollymykel]

Hi, and welcome to back yard chickens!
Sorry for the troubles you are having. Need more information about your chickens to better give you advice.
What are you feeding?
Do they free range or confined in a run?
How old and how many?
Fresh water at all times and free access to granite grit?
Size of coop?
There are some desieses that lead to paralysis, also some nutritional defincies. Im no expert but wouldent a scorpion venom kill a chicken?
I hope we can get to the bottom of this for you.
Welcome to the backyard

They are in a about 20x20. We keep the coop clean and change the water every 2 days. I feed them pellets plus water fruit is on sale that week(recently it’s been corn, strawberries, grapes and watermelon)
I havent heard of granit grit :/
I have heard of chickens dying from scorpion stings or getting very sick. From the forums I read it sounded like they will have stroke like symptoms.

 

[Hollymykel]

Hi

How old are these birds?
When you say all her symptoms were consistent with a scorpion sting, what do you mean? Was there an obvious sting site? Apart from the paralysis what other symptoms were there?
Can you describe the Plymouth Rock's symptoms in detail?
Were they vaccinated for Marek's?
Where did you get them from and how long have you had them?
Have you added any new birds to the flock in recent months?

the first one was about 5 months and the current one, Plymouth, is 11 months, which is why I think she isn’t quite as bad as the first chicken. I shouldn’t say paralysis, but very weak. The first one I gave water with a stopper for the first 2 days then carried her to it. The current one is down but able to lift her head. We found her laying down on her side and not getting up. She seems super lathargic but is accepting water. She’s not eating but the first one didn’t eat for a couple days either

 

[50-45-1]

Chickens do not have teeth. They have a gizzard they collect grit ( small rock pieces) and as the food pass through the rocks grind the food so the chicken can get the nutrunall benefits from it.
With out grit chickens can literally starve to death with all kinds of food avaliable.
Offer free choice grit all year long. Its Not expensive, and they will not eat to much
I have 2 containers,one for grit and one for oyster shell. They need oyster shell for nice hard egg shells.
The container i use.

 

[rebrascora]

At that age, Marek's Disease is highly likely as the cause of such illness. It is an extremely common disease and very easily contracted. Some birds recover from an outbreak of it and others decline and die. The ones that recover will be prone to other outbreaks weeks, months or even years later usually at times of stress. The dormant phases of the disease make it difficult to understand and diagnose because you don't get half your flock going down with symptoms all at once like you would with a normal virus. With Marek's you get one or two here and there and symptoms can vary so dramatically from a bird being unable to keep one eyelid fully open to lying on their side floundering unable to get up, perhaps even with a twisted neck or tail. Some will display "classic" Marek's splits posture where one leg is forward and the other back but many do not. Some don't even get the neurological mobility issues but may die suddenly from visceral tumours or show ocular distortions like cloudy eyes or irregular shaped pupils. Some suffer from secondary infections due to the disease compromising their immune system and get outbreaks of coccidiosis or respiratory disease or internal and external parasites that their bodies would normally be able to fight off or control.

You didn't provide answers to some of the other questions I asked about vaccination or introducing new birds into the flock or how long you have had these pullets and where you got them from. That information can all help tie in towards indicating Marek's but getting a necropsy done if you lose a bird would be the best bet. You were lucky that the first one recovered. Your Plymouth Rock may be less lucky.... hope I am wrong there. Your state Agricultural or Veterinary Diagnostics lab are the place to get a necropsy done if the worst happens. It is important to know what you are dealing with so that you can be prepared, but also take responsible steps not to spread the disease. It will not mean that you have to cull your flock although the standard advice is to do so. I have had it in my flock now for 4 years and you get to figure out how best to manage it after a while and many birds do not get it, but you have to assume they are all carriers, so no selling or rehoming them.

I would recommend a good poultry vitamin supplement for your sick girl, like Poultry Cell or Nutri Drench and give her a couple of drops of the concentrated solution directly into her beak. Tempt her to eat with whatever you can.... sometimes scrambled egg is attractive to them and provides good nutrition for sick birds.
Good luck with her and please keep us posted.

 

[Hollymykel]

I can not tell you how much your responses mean to me! Thank you!
Shoot I’ll look into that sickness more for sure! My plimoth rock was only sick for 3 days thank goodness, she did great.
I had 5 of my girls and when they were about 10 months I brought in 3 more (4months). They have all been together for a little over a month. I haven’t done any vaccinations.