laying down?

[Kiluad]

About three days ago i went to the coop to feed my chickens and noticed one of my golden laced was standing a little weird, her wings were hanging down a bit, and just seemed doppy in general, the next day, i went in and she was laying down, i thought oh no, she died! so i headed her way and saw her head was moving, it was hot out both those days, thought maybe she wasn;t getting enough water, so i brought her to the water where she proceeded to gorge herself, and stood, i started looking around at the other chickens for signs of something similar in them, when she wabbled closer to my feet and began to "puke" all over my shoes, she then went and drank some more. the next day she couldn;t stand at all, heer feet and wings seem to have limited mobility, but her head and seems fine, she loves to eat and drink, if i can get the food to her, which i can, she sits there and eats away, at this point i started looking for more physical signs and noticed she has a small prolapse, i figured this must be it, i cleaned her up, put ointment on her, and have secured her away from the other chickens. the prolapse seems to be healing, but she is not, her feet are clenched her wings don't flap well, she just lays on her side as though shes semi paralized.

I have no idea whats going on with her, her head and neck seem great, she loves to eat, loves to drink, its her body that seems to be giving out. she has been laying curled up for a couple days now, i don't know what to do, i loath the idea of killing a chicken that could recover, but shes not showing any signs of recovery in the mobility department, its just weird, other than her inability to move, shes acting fine, she cherps a bit, pecks around the area she can get to, eats, drinks....

any help would be great, thanks.

P.S does it sound like marek's disease?

 

[ChicKat]

Welcome to the forum Kiluad,

so sorry your first post is about a sick chicken. It seems that there is definitely something neurologically wrong with your hens wings and legs. The fact that she is recovering from a prolapse may be an influential factor.

Here is a link to tons of information that I am trying to collect for the forum on Marek's facts.... If you care to read up on any of it

https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/mareks-disease-fact-site

There is a man called Peter Brown, who will call you back for 25.00 and that amount goes toward any medications you would buy at first state vet supply, in the event you don't have a nearby vet who cares for chickens or the only local vets charge 200 a visit for birds. You can also go online and get vet on line -- I believe that the cost starts at 30.00. (I have used both when in need of chicken answers...vets on line is 24/7 - after hours your vet will most likely be answering from another country. You could possibly call your local ag extension office and see if your agent could put you in touch with someone with poultry expertise. Here is a link to first state vet:
Here is a link: http://www.firststatevetsupply.com/

Unfortunately the only way to confirm Marek's is to have a Necropsy done. (the link listed for Mareks has some Necropsy links toward the bottom of the page too.....)

If you have more information post back to the forum or if anything changes.... Hope you chicken will get well.

 

[soler]

Hi there, check the description for botulism too
http://www.avianweb.com/botulism.html

Do you think she is paralyzed/has severe balancing issues, or could she be exhausted from not feeling well? Was she vaccinated for Marek's?

I have a 7 week old chick that is going through more or less this scenario as well. It seems a lot of messages are popping up on the board with similar situations.

 

[Kiluad]

thank you both for your replies.

Solar, she is definitly more or less paralyzed, with balance issues. She is not very old, about the same age as your bird, i was holding her upright by her feet, sort of perched on my hand for a bit yesterday, she wabbled a little, but i had a somewhat firm grip on her feet as she couldn;t grip well with them herself. with me remaining steady, she did manage to retain some balance and sat quite comfortably on my hand, droopy eyes though. if i moved she would react by trying to use her wings for balance, but not moving them much at all, and failing for the most part to regain her balance. her legs are strong for the most part, her feet are weak. when i went to set her on the ground, she pushed off to jump the last two inches to the ground, which didn't end well, she basically face planted the ground.

I'm hoping you're right, i have two "pens" for 4(5) types of chickens, silkies (+1 bantom) and polish golden laced, in one coop/area, rhode island and barred rock in the other. the silkies and polish get water differently than the others, their watering system is a basic low pressure watering system i set up for them, im not sure if this is a recipe for botulism or not, they also enjoy some tomatoes and bugs from the garden, usually tomatoes that are damaged, or overun with bugs, as well as stink beetles which are le blegh, dunno why they like them. Again not sure if this could cause more harm than good.

I will do a lot more reading, and keep checking on my bird to see if anything changes, so far she seems a lot more vocal, though at the same time, she seems less eager to eat and drink, not that she's opposed to doing so, just not as interested in doing it none stop like she was.

Again, thank you both for your responses, i will keep this thread informed with her progress the best i can, in hopes it will help someone else in the future.

 

[leadwolf1]

7 weeks old is a bit young to see Marek's symptoms. I haven't seen symptoms earlier than 12 weeks. I've had a lot of experience. I've lost 40+ chickens to Marek's in the past year and have researched it extensively not only in regular periodicals but, also on my own using my own flock. It's not impossible but, it is unusual to see one so young.

I would more think that it is a vitamin deficiency of some sort or, botulism as stated above. There are several other diseases that present with these symptoms also.

Try using .25mls of poly vi sol, without iron, daily
200 ius vitamin E twice daily.

This will either prove or disprove a vitamin deficiency problem. In the meantime, do some research on botulism.

If there is no improvement or, she gets worse in 2 weeks, then you are dealing with something worse. Call your local government extension office and find out the location of the nearest state facitlity that will do a necropsy. They are usually low in cost. You will need to know what you are dealing with in case it does end up being something contagious.