I'm going to try and answer a bunch of what I read here....please bear with me.
If your chick isn't showing any respiratory distress, or other infection, then the answer is no, don't give antibiotics. Give the vitamins and probiotics.
Marek's doesn't usually 'hit' in a day. A vitamin deficiency can, actually it only seems to, because the prior symptoms went unnoticed, as birds hide problems well. Marek's...not so much. There are always warning signs and most can not be missed. You may not put them together until you have it staring you in the face, but they're there. Even the birds with the non-neurological forms of Marek's have symptoms. To someone new to chickens, it may be hard to figure out at first, but if you have a bird that is wasting away and eating 3Xs the amount of feed it should be...I'd be thinking Marek's.
As for seperating the bird now, you can, but how long were they together before this? There are two thoughts on this. One is that it's way too late, already exposed, why bother now? The second and one I agree with is yes, seperate because it's the constant "in your face exposure" that brings it on full blown. I will say if this bird has been with the others since the beginning, then removing it now isn't going to do a lot of good. They have been exposed, how strong their resistance is is anyone's guess. Since, from your original description, it doesn't sound like Marek's to me, the choice is yours.
Here's something a lot of people don't know....a bird can have Marek's and never show any type of symptoms...ever. They can be carriers of it and shed the virus in times of stress or not. It's pretty much a crap shoot. How do you know if you have one of these birds? You don't, sad to say. You can guess, if your others start showing symptoms and this bird or birds doesn't get 'sick', but other than that, you would never know. Another BYC member, Seminolewind, who also has marek's in their flock, described it perfectly....Seminole said Marek's is like fighting a ghost, I can't think of a more apt description.
"eyes seem normal to me the pupils get larger and smaller slot, is that normal? Some of my outdoor chickens sneeze should I treat that? And is honking like a goose normal sounds in 12 or 13 week olds?"
What do you mean by 'slot'? Are you saying that the pupil isn't round? Chickens who sneeze when they are outside only, are probably running into some kind of pollen that is bothering them the same as you or I. If they were doing it constantly, had watery eyes, gape mouth breathing or a really foul smell near their head as well, I'd say one of the diseases. The honking like a goose. More than one? Are they roos? If they aren't, then I would start medicating them and looking at any other symptoms they may show. Are they doing this during the day? What causes it? How does their breathing sound at night? Is it worse at night? Feel under the wings, does it feel like sweaty armpits? Have you ever wormed these birds? Alot of things could be going on here....need your eyes to show me what we're looking at.
Finally, if you give this little one the B Complex as I said earlier, you could see improvement within 3-4 days. You add in the probiotic and it could be as early as 2. It isn't going to cure the bird this quickly. Sorry, not going to happen, but you should still see something. If you are worried about the little one not eating you can try this...his regular feed, an egg, scrambled and chopped fine or raw, 1/2 tsp of honey and warm water enough to make a sloppy feed. Try this and if he still won't eat, add more water and you can dip your finger into it and drip it onto his beak and allow him to take it in. If he's drinking, I think if you put the Bs into the water, he will want to eat pretty darned quickly. Remember though, the drinking is so much more important than the eating right now. I will leave you with this...Even if this does turn out to be marek's in the end, there is life after Marek's for both you and your birds. No it's not the dream you may have had, but you can still have a flock of chickens that lay eggs and do all the normal chicken things. Not all of them will die, not all of them will have to be culled. I have birds that are survivors and are over a year old. Their babies, that I hatched have also had babies. Out of these two groups that I call Control Group #1 and Control Group #2, I have lost 2 birds from the first group. One was definately Marek's, neurological affecting the legs, and the second, I can't say for sure. It was a Show Girl Silkie and it was just found dead one morning. No other symptoms at all. To be honest, I think it was pecked through the wire between cages by another bird. Anyways...none of these birds were vaccinated for Marek's and are doing extremely well. They are housed in the same building as the original survivors so get the 'in your face' everyday. These birds are symptom free. Some are even bigger than their parents.
My point, if it does turn out to be Marek's, which I sincerely do not believe, you can do nothing except vitamins and TLC or you can cull. I would want a necropsy report before I did that though. Most probably, it is vitamins.
got vitamins in water. He will drink but still haven't seen him eat. And these past few days haven't felt anything in crop, how do I make him eat?
so thats awesome news. Ya'll have been awesome thanks so much, now I get to play waiting game and hope he improves.
