Mareks question

[Bubs]

We've lost 3 chickens over the last 2 years and at first I thought it was just old age, but I'm nervous that it may be mareks. The first hen was 7 years old and started losing the use of her legs, she was fine otherwise. We'd mover her to a shady spot in the dirt in the morning so she could scratch and be happy. She lived like this for a couple of weeks, the passed in the night. About 3 months ago we had a 4 year old hen seem to get wobbly legs, but she died within just 3-4 days after noticing her symptoms. Now, we have a 4 year old orphington hen who started showing the wobbly legs about a month ago, she is slowly getting worse but can get up on the roost, eats happily and still lays eggs.

Could this be markeks? I keep finding information that they get it within the first couple of months, but all of our gals seem to get it later in life and only one at a time. We get all of our hens from the local feed store, and added 4 more to our flock early this spring. We do keep them separate until they are about 2 1/2-3 months, but that's always been our practice. When the first hen was sick, I called to some local vets, but no one around my area works with chickens.

Any thoughts and information would be helpful, thank you.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Very unlikely for a bird that old to get Marek's.
Marek's usually manifests itself in birds under a year of age.
Mature birds with problems moving are more likely things like osteoporosis, strep, gout, staph arthritis, botulism, tapeworm or fowl ticks.
Any other symptoms?
Do you feed layer feed year round? If so, it could be gout.

Since you are losing birds that don't recover, I would highly recommend taking an ill bird to your state poultry lab for humane euthanasia and a full necropsy. Lab work is the only way to know what you're dealing with.

What state are you in?

 

[Bubs]

I'm in Nebraska and yes they do get layer feed year round, but free range most of the day and in the summer we don't give them as much feed since there is plenty to eat. I'm relieved that it's probably not Marek's. They have no other symptoms, eyes are clear, no drainage, coughing and their waddles and combs are nice and red. It seems to happen more on one side, the first one to go down I though had a stroke since it was one side that was affected. Our hen now seems to have less us on her left side and tail droops to the left. If it were any of the things you mentioned, would the rest of my flock be infected?

Thank you so much for your help!

 

[ChickenCanoe]

The reason I asked about feed was with their age, they likely molted several times and were therefor getting 4% calcium while not building egg shells. That can cause kidney damage and gout.
http://www.worldpoultry.net/Breeder...-damage-is-emerging-in-laying-hens-WP008719W/
http://www.hyline.com/aspx/redbook/redbook.aspx?s=5&p=36
http://ps.oxfordjournals.org/content/64/12/2300.abstract

http://vbms.unl.edu/nvdls
http://www.metzerfarms.com/PoultryLabs.cfm
http://www.nda.nebraska.gov/lab/index.html

 

[chickengeorgeto]

Very unlikely for a bird that old to get Marek's.
Marek's usually manifests itself in birds under a year of age.
Mature birds with problems moving are more likely things like osteoporosis, strep, gout, staph arthritis, botulism, tapeworm or fowl ticks.
Any other symptoms?
Do you feed layer feed year round? If so, it could be gout.

Since you are losing birds that don't recover, I would highly recommend taking an ill bird to your state poultry lab for humane euthanasia and a full necropsy. Lab work is the only way to know what you're dealing with.

What state are you in?

2X

 

[Bubs]

I will be calling UNL tomorrow, offices are closed now. Went out to look for ticks on the chickens and found one of our 6 month old hens dead in the coop and two more showing the same symptoms and signs. I was able to look at those two but see no signs of bites or ticks. These girls are one and two years old. I looked into the gout and not sure if that's the problem. I did notice that there is some dark brown wet droppings in the run along with some healthy looking ones.

I've been reading up on botulism and that might be it, but I don't know where they would get it. We have a small flock on 3 acres, so if there were any dead animals we'd know.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Botulism can be from feed that has gotten wet. It is the soil borne bacteria Clostridium Botulinum that is common in poultry environments.
They produce toxins when they multiply in warm moist decaying vegetation or animal matter.

Definitely send a bird for necropsy. Your best bet is to send a live bird since the test results will be more accurate.
Do you have a way to separate the sick ones?