Hens can't walk

[ameliadanielle]

I have a 4-5 month old pullet, who a couple of weeks ago couldn't walk. She was walking on her hocks, her wing on the left side droops, and her left leg is not working well. Every time I try to catch her, she gets up and runs away drunkenly. She's not very agile but she is still fast and will run on the leg. I was assuming Marek's, as she was a yard chicken that was not vaccinated. I have 4 other pullets and a cockerel the same age that show zero symptoms.

Now, I have a silkie hen who cannot walk. She was over 1 year old when I got her last summer, so she's about 2 years old now. 3 days ago she was limping a little. I caught her up to check her feet and saw nothing. Today, she can't even stand. She's still fully alert and moving her head, using her wings to balance herself. She just went downhill... FAST. It wasn't like the pullet, who just couldn't use her one leg one day and then never got worse, the silkie started with a small limp and in 3 days she can't even sit up.

Neither hen has had any change in appetite, no changes in their poop, they have no respiratory symptoms or any other signs of being ill. Neither shows any change in eye color or blindness, no outside lesions. Roosters were still attempting to mate with them before they were separated. We were just about to put the pullet down when the silkie got sick. Today, the pullet is standing more and walking a little bit better, her condition has definitely improved since last week.

Does Marek's affect young, adult chickens? Should we put these two down and just watch the rest of the flock? The silkie is my husband's chicken, he loves her. Short of a vet visit, is there any way I would know if it's Marek's? Will chickens affected by Marek's ever recover? I'm going to keep watching the pullet to see if she continues to get stronger or if she just goes back downhill. If it is... it appears I will be stuck forever with some of the chickens I was planning to trade or sell, since these two are ill all of that is on hold and nothing new is coming in and nothing is going out. I can get a very inexpensive necropsy done here... but I would have to put them down to do it.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I would separate them so you can monitor their food/water intake. Also add Vitamins to their water or use some vitamin water to make a wet mash out of their feed. Without them being tested, there is really no way to determine exactly what is the problem. There are several illnesses, neurological disorders and deficiencies that can mimic Marek's, those are listed in the first link provided - it is packed full of information.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/the-great-big-giant-mareks-disease-faq
http://www.thepoultrysite.com/diseaseinfo/90/mareks-disease/
https://www.beautyofbirds.com/mareksdisease.html

 

[Eggcessive]

If you lose either of them I would send their refrigerated not frozen bodies in to the state vet for a necropsy to test for Mareks.
Here are the links to state vets, how to ship, and some other poultry labs that may do them:
http://www.metzerfarms.com/PoultryLabs.cfm
http://www.usaha.org/Portals/6/StateAnimalHealthOfficials.pdf

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Well, not the main poultry lab, but one of their branch offices. I bet I could call them and find out if there have been any problems like this around my area.

It's worth a try to ask, they may be able to do some type of testing to help you out.
I hope they both get better.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I'm sorry she is getting worse

I don't know much about Silkies, but I have found this for you if you have not read it: https://poultrykeeper.com/blog/diseases-common-to-silkies/

 

[Wyorp Rock]

You may not hear until next week. Today is Good Friday. Depending on where you live a lot of places are closed today.
I know you don't want to hear that, but it may ease your mind as to why you haven't heard yet.

 

[ktpaco]

Sorry for your loss - in my short experience, it is only the favorites that get sick and die .

As far as the necropsy goes, I am in Virginia - and I just turned in a rooster on Thursday. The technician told me to call for a prelim the next day - so I did. I talked to the vet on Friday about his prelim findings, which turned out to be a massive parasite infestation in his gizzard. He will email me the final results - however I didn't ask how long that would take. So, maybe you could call, and get a few answers that way.

I knew parasites were bad, but I thought I would have more warning than lethargy for less than 24 hours and then dead. What another horrible learning experience, and yes, it was my second favorite rooster that died - and not one of the mean ones that hate me

I hope you don't lose anymore - and enjoy your Easter weekend. Good luck

 

[ameliadanielle]

I know all about the favorite always going. That seems to happen more often than not. My sister raises rabbits and her daughter had picked put a male to keep and he was the sweetest thing. He was the nicest one of the litter, and she'd named him. My sister was already calling him the small tragedy. He died one night and they don't know what happened to him. My daughter has his sister at the house and she's doing great, we haven't had a single issue. If it's nothing contagious with our chickens my husband is already talking about not keeping the silkies. Because our silkies, with the exception of the one that passed, are turds. We got them as adults and the others never really warmed up to us. They just keep to themselves. Mildred loved my husband and she'd run up to him and let him pick her up and cuddle her. The others don't really care if we're ever around as long as they have food. They're all completely healthy. Our nicest laying hen that likes to sit with us had an ingrown scale that we had to remove from one of her toes. She nearly got bumblefoot. Thankfully because she spends so much time with us we caught it before it got bad. Hopefully my silkie mix that I just think is gorgeous will be safe because she hates us. Lol.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

"Morbidity is 10-50% and mortality up to 100%" according to Poultry Site. http://www.thepoultrysite.com/diseaseinfo/90/mareks-disease/
3 and 4 wks old IMO is still a little young for symptoms to appear. Sometimes you may have birds that exhibit no symptoms but would still be carriers since they are exposed.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/the-great-big-giant-mareks-disease-faq

Hope you get your results soon so you know for sure what you are dealing with.

 

[ktpaco]

Looking back - I have a few that I wish I had sent off instead of buried, but live and learn from the mistakes.

I also had an egg binded hen, but presented as bad prolapse. I did take her to the vet, however it still ended up with her being euthanized (because of their lack of experience with chickens - I would have had her female parts removed, however it had gone on too long in their care, and they felt by the time they would get her on the table, she would be septic). So see, doesn't mean she would have been saved - so think of her if you have another problem in the future (which I hope you DO NOT) and maybe you can help there, or even on this forum.

Take Care, and I really do know how you feel - I feel like I killed my beautiful wyndotte rooster who passed last week, but we really are new to chickens, so we are going to make mistakes. But our hearts are in the right place, so hopefully our chicken ownership endeavor will be more rewarding and less heartbreaking as time goes on. Hugs