Is it wrong . . . EDIT: Check out page 3 for discovery!

[ICallMyselfCherie']

Thank you so much, Stephanie. You've given me something to work with, which really, really helps. I will study those articles, contact a vet, and do more research. Thank you again.

 

[Funky Feathers]

Oh no, sounds like you are in quite a pickle. I feel your pain. I would immediately cull (sacrifice) the sick bird & have her tested by your state Dept. of Ag for Marek's and anything else. Refrigerate her body and send it to them asap. Then clean, clean, clean! Sanitize everything and ask if you should vaccinate your healthy birds. And ask if there's anything more you can do to protect them from disease. Good luck.

 

[Ksane]

Yes, I'd immediantly take her in and have her put down and a necropsy done if I were in your shoes. It's literally the only way you'll know for sure. Because if she recovers....she's a carrier (IF that's what she's got) and you won't know where you stand.
Edit: If you sell any without a necropsy to find out for sure you really have to explain the situation to potential buyers.

 

[ICallMyselfCherie']

Wow . . . you guys are probably right . . . it is just so hard. She is beginning to get better, if she was getting worse it would be so much easier!!!!

Thank you guys so much for the support, it really means a lot. There really aren't any blood tests that could be done, a necropsy is the only way?

 

[deerman]

ICallMyselfCherie' :

Deerman, I am asking the question because I need help dealing with the problem, not because I'm looking to "take someone's money for a sick bird". If I needed help understanding how I would feel as a buyer I wouldn't be on here asking for help, I would just sell the birds.

Mississippifarmboy's and Stephanie739's answers were helpful because they give me ideas of how to deal with the situation. Duramax, thank you for your input, it helps to have more opinions. If people had answered that most birds carry Marek's anyway, as I have heard before, and so it was kind of inevitable as a breeder to sell exposed birds, that would be a different story. I am NOT planning to sell sick birds.

Sorry didn't mean to come across as a smart a** I know you are trying to do the right thing.

My father told me many years ago , when dealing with animal/birds never spend money you can't afford to lose...becauise they can get sick and die, be killed and etc.

Again sorry , i think you are doing right thing getting advice.......sure didn't mean to be negative ,

Thing is there are people out there that will sell birds that have been sick or are sick.......can tell you are not that type. One big problem when buying birds some that have been cure of a disease they are carrier of that disease. so be very carefully adding need birds to your flock. Once you get all this taking care of try you best to keep a closed flock.

go ahead give me

wish you the best​

 

[ICallMyselfCherie']

Oh, thank you, Deerman, I understand. Don't worry about it, I was just really upset about the whole situation and feeling vulnerable.

But you're right, I am not a person who would sell someone a lame or sick bird -- at least never intentionally!! That's why I wanted to make sure I know what the consensus is, because I keep hearing people speaking of Mareks saying, "pretty much all chickens carry it anyways", and I wasn't quite sure if they had meant it in terms of breeding and selling, too. Of course I would never have sold a bird I knew was sick, but in terms of my breeding flock *possibly* being exposed to a bird that *might* have Mareks, I still wasn't sure because I've heard so many times that virtually every chicken has been exposed at some point. Whether or not that in itself is true, I'm still not sure. But about the selling thing, I needed to ask since I am now in that situation. I knew I might seem like a jerk for asking, but I figure I'd rather look like a jerk now and learn the right thing to do than stay ignorant and wind up making a huge mistake later.

Anyways, again, thank you for clearing things up.

 

[Sjisty]

How many days did it take your sick girl to become sick and paralyzed? How fast is she getting better? Are her feathers coming out easily? It could be botulism instead. It could be a vitamin deficiency.

I had a problem a few years ago with mold in my feed. My alpha roo became paralyzed and couldn't even lift his head. Within three days he was better. It wasn't Marek's. From what I've heard about Marek's it takes weeks for them to get better.

Good luck with your flock!

 

[ICallMyselfCherie']

Thank you for the response, Sjisty. Unfortunately, it has taken a few weeks for her to start walking again. I just found her one day in the coop paralyzed, and have been giving her special care ever since. Her feathers have not been coming out much at all, as far as I've seen. Is that good or bad?

 

[speckledhen]

I am so sorry for the stress you're going through. Sounds like you really do want to do the right thing. First of all, you need a diagnosis, a real one, not an internet one. Your state poultry vet should be able to test that hen for Mareks, but she'll have to be put down, I believe. If you're not dealing with that, then you've been worrying for nothing. It's worth it to know. If she did have it, then you need to consult the same state poultry lab/vet about the probability of the other birds having it and go from there.

There are several things that can cause paralysis. Maybe it isn't Mareks at all. You need to be sure in your situation.

 

[ICallMyselfCherie']

Thank you for the support, speckledhen, it helps so much not to feel alone. The difficult thing is, this hen seems to finally be out of the woods. To nurse her through this hard time for so long, only to put her down just when she's getting better, feels too cruel to bare. You see, I thought at the start that it was Mareks, but after talking to people on here for quite a while and getting some very helpful input suggesting other causes, I decided against that possibility. The symptoms didn't quite fit, the way I'd heard them described, and I so wanted to believe it was something else. But tonight I signed on here and found a post from one last person, linking me to her thread that described the EXACT symptoms, which had turned out to be Mareks. This is the reason I've dealt with things the way I have . . . now it seems that I've made all the wrong decisions. I could see my way through to putting her down when she was at the worst of it . . . but now, up and around, with so much more life in her . . . I just don't know if I can do it.

What if I were to treat everything exactly as I would if I had her put down, had a necropsy done, and it came back Mareks? Scrubbed everything down, sanitized the heck out of everything, vaccinated every new chick that hatched, used the extra vaccine to inject all the other birds just in case it might help for prevention if they haven't been exposed, even though they are older (what could it hurt?) . . . but just kept her as a pet. I would keep her quarantined from everyone else. It wouldn't be easy. I would have to scrub up between contact with her and other birds, change my clothes, everything. But if I was willing to do it -- could it work?