Marek’s disease?

[Whycomeudead]

Recently we saved a chicken who was dropped off alive and left outside to die, and wandered onto my families property. She was staying with my sister until a few days ago. We brought her inside and are rehabilitating her inside, as its too cold for her with how weak she is. She has not been in contact with ANY of our actual flock.

When she was first found, she was skinny as she had been outside with no food. Her color was pale, a bit like this, probably paler. (Which I found on google.)

by the time we took her in, her comb looked like this, and has consistently stayed like that.

As much as she has been eating, she should be gaining weight. I’m not sure how old she is, but she’s not full grown, and had a rooster with her (which we relocated as we already have one.) who looked mostly grown by the time we took them. She was not growing at the same rate he was, she still looked like a chick and was not “thriving”. She still feels very bony, and she has access to plenty of food and water 24/7, although she has only been eating the treats out of her food, so we plan to find a way to sneak her some regular food and see if she starts gaining.

She has a leg injury on her right leg, she cant seem to put much pressure on it, and when she lays down, sometime she lays down, her injured leg splays back like this, which is a chicken with marek’s i found online.

We made her a splint after researching them online, and she seems to put more pressure on the leg now that it has a splint. Unfortunately we didn’t take her until a month or so of living with my sister, as we did not have the requirements to raise her. She has an odd wheeze-like (perhaps not the best way to describe it) sound that doesn’t seem to come from her head(?) and it sounds like it comes from somewhere in her body maybe? It seems like its more when she moves, but i think that may also be because she starts breathing heavy when she moves around on her leg too much, so it may just be a wheeze when she breaths heavily. She doesnt have a wheeze when she’s breathing normally.

She has a pant every once in a while, which also may be just from her moving on her leg which probably hurts. But sometimes she’ll be laying down, not seeming stressed and falling asleep happily, and start panting with her mouth open.

When she starts to fall asleep, her head doesnt seem stable. Ive seen it drift to the side as she falls asleep, or slowly fall down.

She’s been kept in a cage for most of her time, not moving much because of her leg.

Thank you for your time, please let me know if you think its something else!

 

[Debbie292d]

Hi!

What is the injury on her leg? Like a wound or a sprain? That "pose" does look like what a chicken with Mareks looks like, except she's got an excuse, perhaps due to this injury. Does your sister have chickens with Marek's disease? If not, just wondering how she'd have wound up with it, but sometimes we never know for sure.

Vitamins would help with whatever is going on. Poultry Cell and/or Nutri-Drench are the two most used poultry vitamins, but any would work. If you have some B-Complex, she could have half of one of those.

To get her weight up, she might eat more if made into a mash (mixed with a little water). If you have any chick crumbles, I'd use that unless your chicken feed is all-flock. I'd give her some scrambled eggs, too. A little more protein may help.

Do you deworm your flock? If so, I'd consider deworming her, too, as that could be part of the problem.

 

[Whycomeudead]

Hi!

What is the injury on her leg? Like a wound or a sprain? That "pose" does look like what a chicken with Mareks looks like, except she's got an excuse, perhaps due to this injury. Does your sister have chickens with Marek's disease? If not, just wondering how she'd have wound up with it, but sometimes we never know for sure.

Vitamins would help with whatever is going on. Poultry Cell and/or Nutri-Drench are the two most used poultry vitamins, but any would work. If you have some B-Complex, she could have half of one of those.

To get her weight up, she might eat more if made into a mash (mixed with a little water). If you have any chick crumbles, I'd use that unless your chicken feed is all-flock. I'd give her some scrambled eggs, too. A little more protein may help.

Do you deworm your flock? If so, I'd consider deworming her, too, as that could be part of the problem.

It seems like a sprain or a break, not an open wound. There’s nothing visibly wrong with her leg other than her inability to walk on it.

My mother looked up merek’s and she had a few of those symptoms and I wanted to make sure. My sister doesn’t have any other chickens, just the two she was temporarily taking care of, but we aren’t sure where the chickens came from.

The rooster she was with showed no signs and seemed healthy. I have not wormed our flock, although I plan on it to be safe. I’ll try what you suggested, thank you!

 

[Eggcessive]

It would be good to provide more pictures of the actual chicken, instead of ones off the internet. Look for any mites or lice on her skin under her vent and belly, since mites can make them anemic and pale. Injuries, nutritional deficiencies or Mareks might be possible. It is usually tested for with a necropsy after death by the state vet lab. Here are some good links to read about Mareks:
https://vetmedbiosci.colostate.edu/vdl/colorado-avian-health-program/mareks-disease/

https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/the-great-big-giant-mareks-disease-faq.66077/

 

[Whycomeudead]

It would be good to provide more pictures of the actual chicken, instead of ones off the internet. Look for any mites or lice on her skin under her vent and belly, since mites can make them anemic and pale. Injuries, nutritional deficiencies or Mareks might be possible. It is usually tested for with a necropsy after death by the state vet lab. Here are some good links to read about Mareks:
https://vetmedbiosci.colostate.edu/vdl/colorado-avian-health-program/mareks-disease/

https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/the-great-big-giant-mareks-disease-faq.66077/

I know lol I’ll try to get some pictures of her leg if she lays like that again.Her color isnt pale now and hasnt been since she was with us. She seems to be laying more normally on the leg with it under her instead of all the way back like she was before. She can stand on it, but it stays farther behind her. It doesn’t seem to hurt her when we move her leg up where its supposed to be while she’s walking, but it clearly hurts in some positions.
I think she lived with her leg like this for at least a month, so unfortunately if it was a break it may not have healed right and I don’t think we’d be able to help.
Her right leg is the hurt one.

Her laying down normally ^^
She seems to lay like this a majority of the time.

We fed her scrambled eggs this morning and she liked them, so we’ll start giving her eggs to hopefully help her gain some weight.

We have checked for mites, and we washed near her vent, and haven’t seen any signs of them so I think she’s good. She seems pretty happy and content unless she’s panting. I’m new and not quiet sure how to send videos in a post, but I’ll send a video when I figure out how. I’ll read up on Marek’s. Thank you for your help!

 

[coach723]

I would also get a weight on her and check regularly to see if she's gaining. If not, you might consider worming her. That can sometimes be a reason for being very thin. Safeguard liquid goat wormer or Safeguard horse paste (fenbendazole) are usually available locally and can be used.
That there has been improvement in her leg(s) would lead me more to believe that it was injury or malnutrition rather than Marek's, but time will tell.

 

[Whycomeudead]

I would also get a weight on her and check regularly to see if she's gaining. If not, you might consider worming her. That can sometimes be a reason for being very thin. Safeguard liquid goat wormer or Safeguard horse paste (fenbendazole) are usually available locally and can be used.
That there has been improvement in her leg(s) would lead me more to believe that it was injury or malnutrition rather than Marek's, but time will tell.

I’ll weigh her as soon as possible and buy a dewormer just in case. We took the splint off her leg and it seemed like she was walking better with it, so we’re gonna try it again. Ty!

 

[Whycomeudead]

Recently we saved a chicken who was dropped off alive and left outside to die, and wandered onto my families property. She was staying with my sister until a few days ago. We brought her inside and are rehabilitating her inside, as its too cold for her with how weak she is. She has not been in contact with ANY of our actual flock.

When she was first found, she was skinny as she had been outside with no food. Her color was pale, a bit like this, probably paler. (Which I found on google.)

View attachment 4250898
by the time we took her in, her comb looked like this, and has consistently stayed like that.
View attachment 4250899

As much as she has been eating, she should be gaining weight. I’m not sure how old she is, but she’s not full grown, and had a rooster with her (which we relocated as we already have one.) who looked mostly grown by the time we took them. She was not growing at the same rate he was, she still looked like a chick and was not “thriving”. She still feels very bony, and she has access to plenty of food and water 24/7, although she has only been eating the treats out of her food, so we plan to find a way to sneak her some regular food and see if she starts gaining.

She has a leg injury on her right leg, she cant seem to put much pressure on it, and when she lays down, sometime she lays down, her injured leg splays back like this, which is a chicken with marek’s i found online.
View attachment 4250904
We made her a splint after researching them online, and she seems to put more pressure on the leg now that it has a splint. Unfortunately we didn’t take her until a month or so of living with my sister, as we did not have the requirements to raise her. She has an odd wheeze-like (perhaps not the best way to describe it) sound that doesn’t seem to come from her head(?) and it sounds like it comes from somewhere in her body maybe? It seems like its more when she moves, but i think that may also be because she starts breathing heavy when she moves around on her leg too much, so it may just be a wheeze when she breaths heavily. She doesnt have a wheeze when she’s breathing normally.

She has a pant every once in a while, which also may be just from her moving on her leg which probably hurts. But sometimes she’ll be laying down, not seeming stressed and falling asleep happily, and start panting with her mouth open.

When she starts to fall asleep, her head doesnt seem stable. Ive seen it drift to the side as she falls asleep, or slowly fall down.

She’s been kept in a cage for most of her time, not moving much because of her leg.

Thank you for your time, please let me know if you think its something else!

We inspected her further while putting her splint back on, and she has a bunch of scabs near her pinfeathers. Her stomach looks more red. She has a spot extending from her pupil (which has already been there) and her eyelids look sort of yellow. We looked at her right hip closely, the leg that was injured, and it looks more purple almost like it was bruised. My mom felt her hip and said it feels a little bigger than her left like it was maybe inflamed.


(3rd pic is by her stomach, 4th is her right hip. Ill get a better picture later.)

 

[Whycomeudead]

We inspected her further while putting her splint back on, and she has a bunch of scabs near her pinfeathers. Her stomach looks more red. She has a spot extending from her pupil (which has already been there) and her eyelids look sort of yellow. We looked at her right hip closely, the leg that was injured, and it looks more purple almost like it was bruised. My mom felt her hip and said it feels a little bigger than her left like it was maybe inflamed.


(3rd pic is by her stomach, 4th is her right hip. Ill get a better picture later.)

We inspected her further while putting her splint back on, and she has a bunch of scabs near her pinfeathers. Her stomach looks more red. She has a spot extending from her pupil (which has already been there) and her eyelids look sort of yellow. We looked at her right hip closely, the leg that was injured, and it looks more purple almost like it was bruised. My mom felt her hip and said it feels a little bigger than her left like it was maybe inflamed.


(3rd pic is by her stomach, 4th is her right hip. Ill get a better picture later.)

Sorry, the second one is the stomach and the third one is her hip!

 

[coach723]

So that kind of confirms she was injured somehow. So I would continue treating those and see how she progresses. Daily soaks in warm epsom salts can help with pain and swelling, so that might help her leg/hip. If it's cold where you are make sure she's completely dry afterwards. You can use a blow drier on low.
For the eye, I would say to also keep an eye on that and see if it changes. It doesn't look exactly like what I've seen in my birds who've had occular Marek's, and it also doesn't look like the classic gray eye that most literature shows. But progression can be slow. The dark spot may be just spot of pigment in the iris, it happens sometimes. Do both eyes look the same, or different from each other? Does she seem to see OK and pupils react to light?
Below I will attach some examples of chicken slings, which if needed you can use for periods of time to let her rest more comfortably, eat, drink and poop. You do need to supervise so that she doesn't hurt herself trying to get out of it.