I recently had a 5 month old hen (cream legbar) die after taking care of her for 2 months.
She was unable to walk or sit up so I treated her for curled toe paralysis. It was not one leg back behind the other but the inability to use it.
After 2 months of hand feeding her with vitamins she got better and was able to walk and get her own food/water but she was a little left sideways.
So I put her in a dog crate in the run so she could be with her mates again. Her eyes started to go blurry after a week. And then I found her with a droopy paralyzed neck and couldn’t open her eyes much so had to cull her which was very sad after spending so much time with her and giving me hope when she got better.
These are the signs she has Mareks so I did a necropsy to see if I could see anything. And surprisingly I found….. nothing. No tumors. I am not exactly sure what an enlarged leg nerve looks like so I’m going to attach a picture of it to see if anyone has answers in this matter.
The only other thing that makes it seem like it’s not Mareks is that no other chicken is showing any symptoms. (Yet anyway) (i did have one pass away but she was found upside down which makes me think it was a heart attack) I bought all of my chickens as day olds, 3 separate times, from reputable places who vaccinate.
What do you think my fellow and much more knowledgeable chicken keepers? Thank you in advance.
I have more pictures of the necropsy if anyone is inclined to them.
first picture is near the spine, second is on the leg and that is my finger.
She was unable to walk or sit up so I treated her for curled toe paralysis. It was not one leg back behind the other but the inability to use it.
After 2 months of hand feeding her with vitamins she got better and was able to walk and get her own food/water but she was a little left sideways.
So I put her in a dog crate in the run so she could be with her mates again. Her eyes started to go blurry after a week. And then I found her with a droopy paralyzed neck and couldn’t open her eyes much so had to cull her which was very sad after spending so much time with her and giving me hope when she got better.
These are the signs she has Mareks so I did a necropsy to see if I could see anything. And surprisingly I found….. nothing. No tumors. I am not exactly sure what an enlarged leg nerve looks like so I’m going to attach a picture of it to see if anyone has answers in this matter.
The only other thing that makes it seem like it’s not Mareks is that no other chicken is showing any symptoms. (Yet anyway) (i did have one pass away but she was found upside down which makes me think it was a heart attack) I bought all of my chickens as day olds, 3 separate times, from reputable places who vaccinate.
What do you think my fellow and much more knowledgeable chicken keepers? Thank you in advance.
I have more pictures of the necropsy if anyone is inclined to them.
first picture is near the spine, second is on the leg and that is my finger.
