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I have put vitamins in the water and given her pain meds, but it is clear as of tonight. I picked her up this afternoon, she hasn't moved in 2 days on her own. I put the waterer up to her and she drank real well this morning, but this afternoon she was very wobbly and had a hard time drinking. She seemed confused. I am pretty sure that she has mareks.
Where did this come from ..hmmm, well, I got a hen from a good friend of mine who has never had mareks that she knows of and I have seen her flock, very well cared for. I got that hen about 3-4 weeks ago. Prior to that I got some hatching eggs from a guy locally, but that was july. So...was it the hen..she is a hatchery bird, did I pick it up at a poultry show I went to? could be a lot of scenarios unfortunately.
I have to look at the differential for lymphoid leukosis vs mareks. I plan to clean out the coop and spray with roccal (it is a disinfectant and it specifies that it is effective against herpes and mycoplasma and a whole bunch of stuff, it also it more effective that bleach because it is effective in 5% soil matter aka poop) So I will take the coop apart, clean it out and wipe it all down with roccal. It's a Quaternary ammonia solution. I will let the coop air out for the day. This will be a major task!
My DH doesn't believe in euthanasia, it is harder for him to be the cause of death and easier for him to let nature take it's course. BUT he isn't the one hand feeding them and scooping the poo. It's sad I do believe her wings are becoming affected and I would bet that soon her neck will be as well. I may secretly euthanize her and just tell him she passed overnight. He won't know..I do all the chicken handling.
I hope zylechicks that you have better luck. I hoped it was a soft tissue injury, clearly not the case.
Such a dismal update for you guys, sorry. Thanks for all your help and I will continue to update as to how she proceeds to do cause I know a timeline for her decline may help someone else in the same shoes (which is a surprising amount of us
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seminole wind - did you do preventative measures and still continue to lose chickens?
Hi. LL is similar to Marek's but does not cause paralysis. And that Roccal sounds good. I just ordered something similar, says it works on porous areas, like wood. I think it's the same ingredient.
Sounds like you got it from that hen. I have to say that most people do not know their flock carries it. If they are not visually symptomatic, there is no test for it. There is no cure. It does not pass in the eggs.
As for preventative measures, My first died 2 years ago. Vet diagnosed him as Eastern Equine Encephalitis because there were no tumors. (He didn't look for inflamed nerves) . So then over 2 years I lost 5 more-they wasted away. There was actually nothing to give me a clue. The demises were all chicks hatched by me, but less than 8 months old. The clue came this past summer, 10 chicks hatched and started dying one by one with paralysis and/or wasting away. Some had this slow gasp. They all looked normal except for that, they all acted hungry and ate. The last little roo could not control his neck enough to eat. He actually had paralysis, got better, and had it again 3 weeks later.
The first of these 10 chicks had a" broken leg". The second one with a "broken leg" --I knew then , and cried. So there were no preventative measures, the chicks died because it was in my flock and I didn't know. Afterwards , after all the deaths, I sprayed everything down with Oxine, removed all the shavings, and limed the dirt, but on a half acre, it will still be there.
You can't prevent it, unless you never buy a chick or chicken that has never had contact with another chicken. See with that hen you got from a friend, see how important the flock history is? I had hatched all my eggs here. I made the mistake of buying ONE pullet from a breeder at a swap. So I know where mine came from.
So my current "prevention" is: cleanliness, hatched chicks vaccinated at one day old, and quarantined for a month or two (mine), or buy vaccinated hatchery chicks and quarantine. My original flock are carriers , I have a few that are a year old now and survived. My silkies, that had the direct exposure, have hatched and raised their own chicks with no problems-I think resistance can be passed on by resistant parents. And you should not sell your birds to others unless they have all vaccinated chickens, or have already been exposed to Marek's.
It's a horrible disease.
