Its been a week and no change could it possibly be Mareks??

[FinsFeatherFur]

I've had chickens for at-least 15years, we usually have about 12-15 mostly RIR, some mixed ones out in the yard.

This chick is about 4-5mths old, hen raised. RIR and Banty mix--I call it a him *im not sure* He is aleast 1/2 the size of the others.
Well a week ago today I went out to feed in the AM and he was just laying there on his side looking at me, i picked him up and brought him inside, he was shivering really bad so I thought the cold snap got to him. We had 40-50s the day before and at night it dropped well into the teens. Half of his body is naked, no feathers, he still has his "baby" feathers on his head, all the others a completely! feathered and beautiful looking.

He lays on his side and trys to push himself around with it, can't stand, can't sit-up falls on his face. I made a sling out of fabic and put him a fish aquarium, he eats really well and drinks. He gets veggies, baby food, and our chicken mix that the others get. But it has been a week and no improvement at all, but at the same time he hasn't gotten any worse. The leg that sticks out the farthest "shivers" when he's laying down.
His poo was normal until yesterday, now its greener, smells horrible, and its runny, I thought maybe from the baby food?

He doesn't talk when we do anything to him, I even gave him a bath, and he chirped maybe 2 times.

He did have mites when he came in, I treated him and they are gone, he got a really good bath today and still nothing. I also started treatment on all others outside.

We have not added any strange chickens to the family in years, everybody is hen hatched/raised, or hatched by us from our eggs.

Any ideas if this really is Mareks? Everything I've found shows a leg out in front and one out in back?.?.?

I feel bad for him, someone suggested a chicken wheelchair, which believe me I would attempt if its not Mareks, but I don't want to spread it to the others, and what do you do with a chicken in a wheelchair when you go away? I honestly do not know what I would do with a chicken in a chair, I start college next week--for vet tech of all things too!! lol

 

[MarzBar874]

Poor chicken maybe take him to the vet or get someone to check up on him and just keep a close eye on him.

Hope he gets better and good luck

 

[FinsFeatherFur]

He just went potty again, this time it was just like water =/

The closest vet that specializes in Avians is about 1 1/2 hours away, and our emergency vets are about 200$ just to walk in the door....
I worked a few years a vet hospital, the doctors would guess at ducks/chickens, they usually just put them down, because they didn't know what else to do. At a cost of 150$+

We seem to live in the middle of nowhere when it comes to getting a vet for anything other then dogs/cats/horses, my neighbor had 2 lambs with maggot infections, the vet talked us through everything as it was 2 days before he got out to us. She lost 1 to dehydration. =(

 

[Pear Pear]

Last winter we lost several young chickens to Marek's (it was confirmed by the Vet on autopsy), and I hate to say it but they did kind of look like that. The earliest symptom was that their balance would be a little off and they'd stumble a bit. The first one we thought had a hurt foot. They kind of stiffened up and couldn't walk well. It came on very fast, only a couple days from looking fine to being paralyzed. They still ate and drank well until the end.

I hope your little guy is ok! I'm sure there are other things it could be, so see what everyone else says....

 

[MarzBar874]

Well mabe just keep a eye on him and reasearch