Hen seems fine but won't stand

[JuwanaMan]

Cleaned up that spot and it was just dirt.
She's pooping, sometimes watery sometimes usual. She will stand for a fee hours, then just lay there most of the hours

I did notice that when she drinks water I can hear her trying to get a heavy breath after. This might be normal, but I'm not normally in thier face when they drink!

When I tried to soak her in the sink...
Day 1 - no fight, just stood there
Day 2- same thing
Day 3 - she was pissy and kept trying to jump out


So how long should I give her before calling it Marek's disease? Do I just let her chill out for a week or two - am I calling it too soon? If it is true maerks will she just have this paralysis of her leg or does it get progressively worse?

 

[Wyorp Rock]

It's hard to know what's going on with her.
It very well could be Marek's. The only way to know for sure would be to get testing.
You can look up your state lab in the following link
https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...sease-testing-lab-info.1236884/#post-19849025

If it is Marek's, then she may get worse, may get better - there's no hard and fast rules here. http://www.backyardchickens.com/a/the-great-big-giant-mareks-disease-faq
What happens with her is up to you - if you have time to care for her long term then try that. But her quality of life needs to be considered as well.

You can try a chicken sling to see if that makes her more comfortable.
Google images of slings for more ideas.

 

[JuwanaMan]

So yesterday and today she seems to have gotten some energy back. Had no need for a crate, she wasn't moving. But last night she made her way on to my couch to post up and is hobbling around up there moving back and forth. Guess I need to get a crate now! She had spent 4 days just sitting and standing on the blanket I had out for her.

She's not eating much of her feed, but will chow down on junk I feed her like hamburg, cottage cheese and corn.

 

[JuwanaMan]

If her leg was really paralyzed, could she have control opening and closing her foot? Cause that still seems to be functioning fine. Standing she keeps it closed but when she wants to steady herself or move it opens

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I don't know?
If it's Marek's then it can be varying stages of paralysis from what I understand.
@rebrascora knows more about Marek's than I do.

 

[rebrascora]

Unfortunately the term paralysis is a little misleading or difficult to understand especially with Marek's. It can cause loss of control of muscles in quite subtle ways as well as the more obvious stiff seizure type paralysis or complete floppy, loss of control. Some birds can use the muscle if they focus, but the "default setting" is affected. For instance I have seen some birds with one eye closed most of the time due to Marek's but if they are suddenly alerted and need to focus, they can open the eye, but in relaxed normality the eye closes again because the muscle responsible for keeping it open is not getting the message.... or some birds with wry neck where their head is twisted up over their back or between their legs or even just to the side. When they want to eat, they can often straighten it up for short periods of time but it is a conscious effort to do so and when they don't concentrate it goes back to being twisted. So yes, what you are describing could still be caused by Marek's