~~*HEN lethargic, yellow diarrhea, swollen chest: HELP SAVE A LIFE?*~~

[farmer macdonald123]

is that a Golden Laced Wyandotte????? well does she have a lump in her chest???

 

[my1smthop]

I just wanted to update everyone on Ethel, my hen that was attacked by a possum.

It’s been 3 weeks now and I just knew she was a goner. She had given up when I had her out in the pen by herself the week before last so I brought her in on the 21st and forced some pedialite down her and basically put her out in the dog igloo by my bedroom window to die. She was gasping for air.

That night her sister (Henrietta), got in the igloo with her and snuggled her. She’s been doing that every night and I put food and water in the igloo for her. Henrietta comes out and joins the other hens during the day, but at night she’s sleeps with Ethel. This morning I opened the door of the igloo and Ethel was standing up getting ready to come out! I couldn’t believe it! I guess all she needed was some love and companionship from her sister.

She’s not fully recovered, but at least she has gone from not eating or drinking to eating and drinking. When she comes out and joins the others I will know then that she has made complete turnaround.

I know she’s a hen, but they are part of my family & these little hens are truly amazing!

 

[rodriguezpoultry]

Quote:
Sorry, but that's a load of malarcky. I'm a student at the UofA in Fayetteville, AR and Marek's IS contagious and there IS a vaccine for it. It is a virus and is able to have a vaccine as it does not change as rapidly as a bacterium.

ETA: link to an abstract from a scientific paper from the UofA stating that Marek's is indeed contagious: http://ps.fass.org/cgi/content/abstract/82/6/893

ETA x 2: I bet you anything the person you talked to was thinking that the vaccinations were not 100%, not that it didn't HELP keep the bird from getting the disease. There are many issues when vaccinating birds. One reason I NEVER order vaccinated chicks, is because when they vaccinate the chicks, the maternal antibodies are still in the system and immediately destroy the vaccine. The chick develops no initial resistance to the introduced pathogen so no antibodies of it's own are introduced. Vaccination for chicks is best done around 2 weeks, but when dealing with hatcheries, they only have the birds on sight for 1 day...and take advantage of the fact that people see "vaccination" and want to keep their birds from getting the disease. Some chicks will develop immunity for Marek's but most it's just a hit-and-miss type of thing since they are vaccinating too early in the chicks life to help introduce the antigen for immunity purposes.

 

[sprinkles]

Hi wermfud. I was reading your post from 2008, and it ended without saying how your chicken came through. I'm asking because I find my self in the same place as you were. I have never seen anything like this. And it doesn't sound like Marek's either, So I just wanted to know how you made out. Bruce

 

[Fluffybirdie]

FWIW
Years ago, I thought one of my hens had Mareks. Everyone told me to put her down. I combed the Internet and found that there are 2 kinds. One is quick and usually fatal, the other is long term, but if given TLC and patience, they can recover. You may have to hand feed and water, since they are either too weak or vision impaired to find it on their own. I loved the bird enough that the option was worth it and she did fully recover.

 

[wermfud]

Noisy made it through this. She later was eaten by a fox.

 

[Pickaduck]

Quote:
Yikes