Is it marecks disease??

[LorenMcHugh]

I would get her away from others at this point now just so they don't pick on her. Is your girl still eating and drinking? Any discharge from the eye?? Mine looks totally fine but I know there is a kind of marecks that is internal...ughh I just wish I knew what it was, so I can treat her if it is something treatable ya know.

 

[Nambroth]

I have her in my garage so she's away from my other 2 girls. I have only 3 hens including her and a very small coop and pen. I'm maticulous about keeping it clean...don't understand how she got sick. I bought her at about 3 weeks from a livestock auction with 2 others that were killed by a hawk. My other hens I've had since day-old chicks from a hatchery. My older girls never accepted her and picked on her. I'm regretting getting birds from the auction and not the hatchery I normally use. She always seemed healthy till now and she's about 6-7 months. Ughh. I'm gonna totally inspect her again now that I know how to find her crop...learning new stuff about chickens everyday....

I think you may have answered your own question. No matter how spotless and clean we keep our coops and runs, if disease comes it, it does not care about cleanliness. Livestock auctions are a very easy way to bring home infectious disease, sadly....
If the other chickens pick on her regularly, it is entirely possible your hen is already quite stressed. Stress reduces the immune system's ability to fight disease, and so we often see diseases "pop up" in stressed birds. They may have been carrying the disease for a long time, but it can only get going once the immune system becomes compromised.

My girl has the same problem, but she has a sore eye and is slightly uncoordinated, should I just keep her with the flock as she has been with them for months so I assume that they have already been exposed. Any suggestions on how I can make her more comfortable? My main question now is do I have her put to sleep or leave her be? She seems to be ok in herself at the moment!

This is a personal choice. If she does not seem to be suffering, and you are willing to put a little extra effort into her, you might be able to save her. It matters what is wrong with her, really. Can you describe her symptoms in as much detail as possible?

I would get her away from others at this point now just so they don't pick on her. Is your girl still eating and drinking? Any discharge from the eye?? Mine looks totally fine but I know there is a kind of marecks that is internal...ughh I just wish I knew what it was, so I can treat her if it is something treatable ya know.

I regret that there is only so much we can do online. If symptoms seem clear, sometimes you can get pointed in the right direction for treatment... but sadly all too often, symptoms are very similar in a lot of chicken diseases and all we can do is guess and make suggestions. Do you have an avian vet that you can go to? There really is only so much we can do online. Keep her comfortable, eating, and drinking for now.

 

[MissG90]

No discharge at all, she isn't chesty or snotty. She just keeps it closed and looks like a ulcer. We are treating her for that with cream from the vets but it was the unsteadiness that made me suspicious. She is still eating and drinking etc her poos are maybe a little green but normal sized. She is in with the other girls in a nest box for the night, they don't seem to bother with her but she is in her own pen during the day so that she gets some food to herself. I would say she has been quiet for about a week but still acting normally, like you would only notice if you knew her really well that she was doing slightly less than normal and distancing herself from the crowd. The wobbling only started today! Why do we keep em eh, they get into our hearts!

 

[Nambroth]

In the section under "Symptoms and Disease Details" there is a question called "Are there any other diseases that look like Marek's?"
Read it carefully and see if anything seems to 'fit': https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/the-great-big-giant-mareks-disease-faq

 

[LorenMcHugh]

I know these chickens have become my feathery children. I love having them more than I ever thought I would...I'm worried now about the new chicks I have now. Pretty sure they were not vaccinated and now they are almost 3 weeks old. Seems like its too late to do it now. They won't be going out to coop for a while but if it is marecks making my Edith sick then these new babies are bound to get it...even though I cleaned and sanitized my coop that you could eat off of it. I could still smell bleach when I went out there this morning. Very disheartening that seems nothing can kill this virus and my take years to clear from the area...I'm an rn

 

[LorenMcHugh]

So that is just crazy to me that a virus can live that long on something exposed to the elements.

 

[chicknmania]

If she lives through this can I ever integrate her back into my flock? If it is marecks will she always be contagious?

Yes. It's not difficult to do that. Let's get her living through it first though. I agree that it's important that she can hear and see her friends, but still have some protection from them
(like being in a dog crate). Chickens develop an immunity to it, it's everywhere, as many diseases are. That does not mean that they will not live a long and normal life.

 

[MissG90]

We had a bantam silkie a few years ago that suddenly became uncoordinated with a neck twist, she recovered once but not the second time. Do u think this could have been mareks too? You guys have made me feel better about it. None of my other girls seem stressed or affected so I guess carry on regardless and fingers crossed they don't show symptoms?

 

[chicknmania]

When our hen had mareks (or that's what we think she had) she was the only one in the flock who had it. she started out with a slight limp, it got worse over a week or so and she ended up not being able to walk at all, and was flopping onto her back.She was not eating well, and had a little loose droppings. We put her in a rabbit cage, and started her on the Hypericum ( SJW.) She showed slight improvement within a few days, then there was none for a few days, then a huge improvement, and she continued to steadily improve. That was last summer. She's still with us, and she's acting normal. Hopefully my talking about it won't jinx anything.

It helps with many neuro issues, but you do have to make sure that it is a neuro issue, because it can backfire on you if it isn't. If you are pretty sure it's marek's you can try it and see. The thing with Hypericum is, that when they start showing signiificant improvement, you have to stop with the Hypericum, or it can go the other way. But lots of people have used it with great results.

So yeah, just keep an eye on the others. I'd keep your hen to herself, in a pen, but just near to the others. I wouldn't necessarily let her mingle with them until she is well again.

 

[seminolewind]

yes. You need to get her eating and drinking first of all. If she won't drink, you could try moistening her feed and adding a little applesauce or yogurt to tempt her. Or oatmeal. Grapes...chop them up, they're juicy. hens with Marek's or neuro diseases can live. But first evaluate her for a day or so and see what other symptoms she has. There are pages of information on BYC about Hypericum and how it can cure Marek's. It worked for one of our hens, it was a miracle. Lots of people say that. If she quits eating and drinking altogether, you will need to tube feed her..it's not difficult, but I don't like to do it, I think it's hard on the hen as far as stress. But they gotta eat and drink to live. A lot.
Search Hypericum on here and you can decide if you should try it. But the unsteadiness could be from a lot of things, so that's why I say evaluate her.

Wow. A cure for Marek's? You mean that the 29 chickens that I lost from Marek's in the last 4 years could have been saved?