Marek's hen , hypericum not working, please help

[kellygreen]

I took on a stray rooster, he went lame after a few months, I had him put down and tested , positive for mareks. My hens are 15 months now, had been vaccinated, one has fallen sick. Won't eat, feathers puffed up, mostly just stands there. I have her inside, roaming (and crapping) around my living room. She mostly stands or sits in the corner.
I've been giving her hypericum 30 for 2+ days with no results. Last night read that tap water is bad, so today I used some hazelnut milk (box says its made with filtered water). I manage to get her to take little bits/ drops, but no wet mash or even formerly loved tomatoes. Should I force feed her?
Also, she hatched 10 chicks just 2 months ago ( most hers), and I think lost some weight then. Any food I gave her went straight to them. She took it very seriously.

 

[tammye]

B12 seems to beef them up a bit. It gives them energy and with that they may eat. I believe my hens have been exposed to merke's I have had a hen go suddenly paralized. I looked it up here and they said to give vit B12 and vit. E. I do for two weeks and she was walking again, that was 2.5 years ago and she is still with me.

 

[kellygreen]

Thanks, that sounds promising! Any tips on what kind or how much b 12 to give her? I can't find any instructIons in a search.

 

[tammye]

I get the liquid stuff for humans, costs 10 bucks lasts a while or get the pull apart powder pills and dissolve some in water. I put just enough to get a little color in a dish. I think if you put to much in the water it gets a little bitter and they don't like it. I gave it to her every day for one week, then everyother, then every few days, now like twice a month and during times of stress. hope she gets better. I have had a hen go off and on now for four years, I give her support care when weak and she does ok.

 

[Hennyhandler]

I am curious if your bird with mareks hasn't been laying for a long time. I have a bird and she is puffed up, isn't really eating, and lays there. I found her on the roost for the whole day. I have separated her. She hasn't laid for months so I was wondering if that is one of the symptoms. Thanks.

 

[kellygreen]

Thanks for the tip... I happened to have some of those red dissolvable B complex pills for humans, so I made a weak solution. I can only get her to take small amounts of liquids, though. Then she struggles to get away.
And no, she hadn't been laying for a while, but she hatched a bunch of chicks two months ago and had been busy taking care of them. I hadn't looked it up, but I just assumed that was normal not to lay for a while after that. She was happy and healthy though, until a week ago.
She was sick once before (soon after I brought in the mareks rooster), but snapped out of it after a day.

 

[tammye]

chickens do cycle in laying, they won't lay in the winter months unless you give them light for 14 hours a day. They also don't lay while in a molt which can last for a few months. As they get older they lay less as well. I have 5 hens have not gotten eggs in 3 months due to molt, now most are laying like everyother day or so and they are almost 4 years old.

In my limited experience, that seems to be how the Merke's strikes, they get infected, get sick for a bit, recover and then have repeat bouts until it takes them, usually when another stress comes along like winter, very hot summer days, a molt. I have one now, that is not doing well. She has been going like this for 3.5 years, but I think we are near the end-stinks, but with life there is death. I have to keep telling myself with pets. Good luck

 

[Hennyhandler]

I understand they stop laying for a time and start back do to molts and weather but all of a sudden this one wouldn't come off the roost, she was falling asleep, tail down, fluffed up and not interested in food. My others are sporadic in their laying right now as well but with the other signs my americauana is showing I was I was wondering about this. There seems to be no reason for her to be like this. I had read that mareks usually happens when a chicken is young and when they are a couple years old you do not really have to worry about it so much. Do ya'll agree with this?
I thought maybe egg peritonitis but she is not waddling and her abdomen is not overly swollen either. I am simply at a loss. There is no snuffles, no crop issues, nothing.

 

[chickloveschick]

I have only three Buff Orpington hens. I am a complete novice. I bought them from the feed store and now they are approx. 3 mos. old. Suddenly, one became lame then paralyzed with "the splits" looks like Marek's. I have been giving hypericum and she drinks it readily. I think that there is an improvement. This chick does not want to die! I am a hospice nurse and I am OK with death, however, every morning she is awake and as soon as food and water are placed in front of her...she goes to town eating and drinking up a storm! My son who is disappointed with this outcome, has said to "put her down." I just keep seeing her trying to stay with the other, two. In the run, she uses her legs which are now out to the sides of her body to do this crazy thrashing and she can move 5-6 feet on her own and will do anything she can to be near the other chicks, especially when they are lying down. The feed store said that they had all been vaccinated in the egg. I think this one was passed over. I didn't separate them because the other two have already been exposed and supposedly Marek's lives in the soil x 6 mos. One interesting thing that I did notice in the very beginning is that the chick had "greenish/blue eyes." They looked like the Marek's eyes in the pictures on Google. Now, with the hypericum, she no longer does the splits, mostly uses her left foot to get her from point A to point B. She has more strength in the left foot. The right leg has a curled up claw and is not used as much. Now, her eyes have changed to brown. Maybe, there is still hope that she will recover some more over time. How badly affected was the Marek's chick that recovered? Thanks so much for any tips!

 

[seminolewind]

Hi Chickloveschick,
I think that since they have been vaccinated, and they are your first, it would be a good thing to check all the possibilities. I would give her B vitamins in case it's a vitamin deficiency. I would think about if she got into moldy anything. That can cause paralysis as well.

I had a vaccinated 8 week old chick get paralysis, I put her in a cage in the garage, and she ate and drank well. Her crop would fill and empty. She sat there like a little princess. After 6 weeks of living in my bedroom, she started to learn how to walk again and eventually went back out with the others. She's now 2, and a good layer.