Marek's disease?

HomeSweetHomeOR

In the Brooder
Feb 11, 2023
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I have a 5-week old chick that is suspicious for Marek's disease - she has a large tumor on her neck causing her head to be turned to the side and she is uncoordinated (not sure if due to the tumor or neurological issues). The other 3 chicks (same age and breed) are totally normal. She still eats/drinks and gets around, hides a bit more but could be because the others aren't the kindest (but she gets super anxious when I isolate her). All of my chickens are from Wilco and they vaccinate all their chicks. So my question is, IF this is Marek's and my chick is just a case of vaccine failure, are my older hens (presumably vaccinated as chicks) still at risk for contracting this from my new chicks or are they still protected? I don't want to wipe out my whole flock but I don't want to needlessly cull my sweet babies either. Thank you for any advice you can give me.
 
Please post a picture. Chickens do not show signs of Mareks at that age. Usually symptoms are seen later than 5 weeks, normally in a couple of months up to a year old. Take her aside and feed and water her. Teach her where the water and food are, and guide her beak. Wet a small amount of the food for her. A couple of drops of Poultry NutriDrench daily for a couple of days might give a boost. How many chicks are there?

Are you seeing the chick’s crop in the right upper chest (sometimes around the shoulder) where the food goes until it moves on to the gizzard and intestines. If so, that is easy to do. Here is a good picture of a baby chick full crop:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...-one-side-is-this-normal-pic-included.506577/
 
Thank you so much for your help! Here are some pictures from when I first noticed it and then two days ago. Could that be her crop? It looks like it is displacing her neck to the right hand side. I thought maybe wry neck but she eats commercial chick starter and gets ChickBoost in her water. We have 4 chicks total and the other 3 are totally healthy. I have watched her and she manages to get food and water okay, and her size is comparable to the other 3. She goes crazy for treats. But she does sometimes fall over onto that left side and it takes her a minute to get back up again.
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