marek's, wry neck, or mites? PLEASE HELP

[birdbrain5]

sorry this is lengthy, please read!!

i have a young RIR hen, shes been laying for a little over a month now and never missed a day, very active bird, and always first out of the coop. a week ago i noticed she hung back in the coop while the other went out, i thought it was strange but she seemed ok so i left her alone. next day she did the same thing, but she didnt look so good. she was just standing there blankly and hunched down. i coaxed her out of the coop and she just stood there, so i put her back in. i first thought, egg bound. i checked, im new so im no pro, but i didnt see any signs of it or feel anything. then i read about impacted crop, and tried to give oil soaked bread but she didnt take to it. i seperated her since my roo suddenly started to pick on her. i put her in a cage with her own food and water but still inside the coop so she wouldnt be stressed from seperation. she slept constantly, and i would have to try to wake her up and then she would blink a lot and then go back to sleep. her head seemed to be cocked to one side and i then thought she was injured. after a few days, no egg passed, she actually looked a little brighter. the next day a little brighter again, actually standing. i let her out in the coop with the rest, and when she came out of cage she kind of stumbled. she went over to eat and drink and then she slept in the nest box that night. next day she was standing, looking the same as the day before, but still wouldnt leave the coop with the rest. i noticed that night she wanted to get up on the roost but she acted like she couldnt judge how to jump up there, her head was cocked still like she couldnt see depth or something. now shes still acting this way, wont roost, and wont leave the coop. ive tried to read things and came up with a few possibilities.
marek's? does this sound like it could be? how can i know for sure? should i seperate and isolate her? will she get better?
mites? how do i know/see them? wouldnt she be itching? wouldnt they all have them by now? how do i treat them?
wry neck? is this possible at this age or is this only in chicks? how do i treat it?
with any of these, would she still be alive after a week or so of these symptoms?
please give me some advice here, i have no idea what to do with her, id hate for something to spread to my flocks. thanks!

 

[dawg53]

There's a few things that could be wrong...but wry neck and marek's doesnt sound like one of them. Keep it simple: First, visually inspect her for lice/mites. You can see them crawling, lice are faster, mites slower and look like tiny black or red dots...like pepper. Check around her vent area. The second thing and most probable is that she might be eggbound. Put her in a container filled with warm water about halfway up her sides. Gently massage her underside for about 10-15 minutes. Remove her from the water and dry her off well. Next, wear a plastic glove and put olive oil on it and gently insert one finger into her vent with the olive oil on it. Check for any obstructions. Remove your finger and add some olive oil around her vent. By placing her in warm water and massaging her, the warmth will cause her innards to expand possibly allowing the egg to move along. By adding olive oil inside her vent, it will help lube it and stretching helped as well, will make the egg pass easier. Check her poop, what color is it? Green and yellow isnt a good sign and usually indicates something serious. Did you see any worms in her poop? If so, you need to worm her. Good luck.

 

[birdbrain5]

my hen has been seeming better, but now im wondering about and injury. shes more alert than she has been, but still wont leave the coop. she still wont roost, but she looks like she wants to but almost cant see depth or something. i threw bread in there for them today, and she was actually trying to go after it but she couldnt see it right infront of her, this happened a couple times. i think shes not leaving the coop because she has to jump up on a roost to get out the door, and shes unable to do this now. i dont see mites or lice, i dont feel an egg, and i dont think she has worms. its really looking like some kind of neck problem or sight problem. could she have gotten pecked in the head by one of the others and now has an injury? i dont know what to do about/for her...

 

[dawg53]

Quote:
Are her eyes clouding over? If so, it might be a sign of marek's. Possible eyeworm could cause eventual blindness as well. Supposedly, you should be able to see the worm in her eye(s).

 

[birdbrain5]

her eyes look just fine, more alert than before, she used to have them closed all the time. today she could pick up a piece of bread after a few tries, but no where near back to herself. still has a head cock, and still isnt roosting. still no egg. im baffled, im just hoping she will continue to get better and be back to normal, but im not sure she will. any ideas on what i could do for her?

 

[NewToFarming]

Can she see? Do you think she might have lost her vision? I have a blind pullet that does hold her head in some very strange positions that I have never seen a normal chicken do. I think it is a way for her to hear where the sounds are coming from and figure out where she is at.

 

[birdbrain5]

im really not sure if she can see, how would i know? she slept in a nestbox lastnight, so could she have found it if she were blind? i guess maybe. maybe she is blind in one eye? what would make her lose her vision without obvious trauma to her eyes? would this make her stop laying also? everyone is out today besides her, again.

 

[NewToFarming]

I got my girl when she was about 8 weeks old and she was blind when she came to me and her previous owner did not know it so they can adapt pretty well. She only had problems when she came to my house and everything was new to her.
How I figured it out is, she got very weak from not being able to find food or water, (I didn't know that at the time)I brought her into the house and attempted to feed her some moistened chick feed with vitamins and she was pecking everywhere except where the food was at. Once I got her aimed correctly, she ate fine. I tried giving her different things and the same thing, she knew it was there but could not find it. I then of course like waved my fiingers directly in front of her eyes and nothing, not even a jerk back, flinch, nothing. She is now going to be 5 months soon and she has not recovered any of her vision. I have no idea if she was born like this or something else happened. Her actual eyes look fine, no clouding over or anything.
I don't know how this might have happened to your girl but it just made me think for you to check when you said she is not making up on perches, or having the depth perception, not able to get the food, and also how you said her head is cocked. My girl holds her head in some very strange positions and it will also drift to the side and it is because she can't see and I believe when she is turning her head almost around, it is to kind of figure out where sounds are coming from. But definitely she doesn't hold her head like the others alot of the time. It might be something to check on her???

Please keep us posted how she is doing! I hope you can figure out what is going on with her!!!

 

[birdbrain5]

very interesting, has your girl layed an egg? mine was laying but she stopped now. im going to try putting my fingers infront of her eyes to see if i get any response. she turns her head almost all the way around too. would this cause her to stop laying if she suddenly lost vision? i would imagine maybe so because of being distressed if she suddenly cannot see. im almost wondering if its one eye because she did seem to see the bread i threw in one day, just couldnt see it on the ground to pick it up. maybe she only heard it.. im going to do that when shes in the coop alone tomorrow. do you keep yours in with the others now? and does she go out to range or stay back in the coop too? i will let you know what she does tomorrow.

 

[Miss Lydia]

did you check her head for wounds? sometimes they can get a peck on the head and it can cause nerological [sp] problems.. Mine are constantly pecking each other on the head. I hope she makes a full recovery..