Is this Mareks and what should I do? HELP

[adcockfarm]

she has had blood in her poo occasionally and we have her in a sling like this...

if you need any more videos i can take more! thanks!

 

[coach723]

She definitely appears to have something neurological going on.
The only way to definitively diagnose Mareks disease is through a necropsy.
The legs going forward and back is a symptom.
While Mareks usually jumps to the front in people's minds, there are other diseases that also cause neurological problems, like Lymphoid Leukosis. Really in most of those cases, all you can do is provide supportive care and see if she pulls through. Most of the causes of neurological issues have a high mortality rate. If it is Mareks it is highly contagious so could easily spread to other birds. For the bloody poo's I'd suspect coccidiosis perhaps, as an immune compromised bird would be more susceptible.
I'm going to give you a few links for info, and there are a lot of Mareks threads here too.
This would be a good time to take advantage of an avian vet, if you have one available to you. I know many people do not.
If she doesn't recover, a necropsy would be highly recommended, so you know for sure what it is and can take future action as necessary with your flock.
I'm sorry for your troubles with her, and do hope she can recover.

https://www.beautyofbirds.com/mareksdisease.html

https://sites.google.com/site/moodysbantams/poultry-health-1/poultry-diseases

http://www.chickenvet.co.uk/health-and-common-diseases/mareks/index.aspx

 

[adcockfarm]

so is it 100% she will die? thanks i will look at those articles

what should i do to protect the flock?
here is my post about protecting the flock: https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/1164936/can-adult-chickens-get-mareks

 

[coach723]

IF it is mareks the mortality rate is very high. I can't say it's 100%, but it's very, very high. I would give her vitamins, and the best supportive care you can and see if you get any improvement. I did look at your other post and Eggcessive gave you some good info. There are so many things that it could be, it is hard to say. The only other thing I thought of is poisoning, which could also cause neurological symptoms. Some people use activated charcoal for that. You can search for that too, if you suspect it. Either she will improve, or not. The necropsy in this case would really be advisable if you lose her. I know it sucks to think that way, but it's the only way to know for sure and know whether the rest of the flock has been exposed or not. Many people have dealt with Mareks and continue on with chickens, usually with a closed flock, and the expectation of greater than average losses, especially among chicks. I'd spend some time researching the disease, and read some of the threads here. Especially: https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/894589/moving-forward-breeding-for-resistance-to-mareks-disease
But you need to know for sure. Sorry I can't give you more positive info. I really wish you luck and hope it's something else.

 

[adcockfarm]

closed flock? wait... i can't get any more chicks without them dying? forever or for a yr or so.. should i continue to give corid because i originally thought it was cocci judging by the blood in poo... what about corid to the other chicks? how at risk are the chicks? how at risk are the adults? sorry for all the questions! thanks for the help!

 

[Kiki]

eta I don't have anything to add...I would just like to keep up with this thread.

Best wishes.

 

[coach723]

It is unlikely that the Corid will do any harm. It is a thiamine blocker which starves the cocci. Generally speaking it is a pretty safe medication.
If it were my bird, I'd go ahead and treat with that if I thought it was cocci.
But you don't want to give vitamins that contain thiamine at the same time you are treating with corid as it may lessen it's effectiveness.
If you are going to give riboflavin supplements to see if that helps the neurological symptoms, then I'd use a specific riboflavin supplement rather than a multivitamin supplement until corid treatment is complete.
As for the rest, it's really hard to advise because different people feel differently about how they keep their birds. There are people on here (thread I previously linked to) that have a lot of experience moving forward from Mareks and their advice would be much more valuable than mine.
Here is a link on a closed flock discussion: https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/170058/can-someone-clarify-closed-flock-to-me
I know some will bring in vaccinated chicks and raise them separate until they are old enough to be less susceptible to the virus, then integrate them into the flock. They will still have some losses. (This would not be a closed flock).
Many only breed from the birds they have (closed flock). Which, long term could be problematic genetically.
The biggest deal is that if you KNOW you have mareks it would be irresponsible to sell or give away birds, or to show them, or anything that could expose other birds. And I think the virus survives in the environment for a very long time.
I know that one of the links I gave you gave a morbitity rate of up to 60% (meaning up to 60% of birds exposed will likely get sick) with nearly 100% mortality among those. The vaccine is not 100% effective and I've read reports that there is more than one strain of Mareks and some strains are more virulent than others. I'm far from an expert and mostly know from reading. There are some posts on here from people who have Mareks in their flock and have a much lower morbitiy rate than that. Which is why I recommend reading as much as you can.

 

[adcockfarm]

so are my other chickens infected? they were in a coop inside their coop for the purpose of integrating them when they were older... and they were outside in a pen because they were small, and we let the big ones inside that pen when they weren't around one time so... the sick chicken has been outside separated the other ones are inside but I'm concerned because it is dusty in their coop so i might clean it today if i have time. thanks

 

[adcockfarm]

also we may move the sick chicken to a non-chicken owner's house to she doesn't "shed" the disease on them, and if they are carriers for life, could it "reawaken" under stress or something? and about the closed flock thing, and, if they recover, (not that I'm a breeder or anything) I couldn't give one away if it was a rooster or something because it would be a lifelong carrier?

 

[coach723]

Once you know for sure if it is in fact Mareks, then any exposed bird would be at risk. There is no test, other than necropsy.
If you find out it is mareks, then your other birds have been exposed. Whether any more get sick only time will tell.
If it's confirmed mareks then the safest policy would be to assume you have mareks in your flock, even if no other current birds get sick.
I would not give away/sell/rehome any bird from that flock unless the receiver of that bird was well aware of what it is and the risks involved.
There may be others near you that have mareks in their flock, and that could be an option.
Here is a link that may be the best info for starting to figure it all out:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/the-great-big-giant-mareks-disease-faq

I want to re-emphasize, that it's important that you confirm mareks positively.
I'm sorry, I know that it's probably overwhelming at this point to consider all this.