My Chook has a bad leg!!

[FinneFarm]

Since there are multiple concerns (possible Mareks disease, riboflavin B2 deficiency, egg binding from calcium deficiency or too large an egg, or heavy metal toxicity,) going on with your hen to help explain her lameness, I would continue the B complex vitamins, helping her drink and eat, and offer a calcium tablet for 2-3 days. A chicken sling with her feet touching the ground may help her stay near food and water and keep her clean.

I am adding extra vitamin to her food and I will dose her with VitB daily, also a rennie (tums) Scrambled egg with blended shell. She gets a twice daily wash.

 

[FinneFarm]

Yes, I have had several birds come back from quite significant Marek's paralysis. One bird took about 3 months to recover enough to return to free ranging with the flock although she retained a slight limp. She was nest bound for several weeks initially and I actually set a date to euthanize her a couple of times but she was still bright eyed when the day came and I couldn't do it. As long as she continues to eat then there is hope with Marek's. Once they lose interest in food it is a downhill slide and I think it may signify the development of internal tumours. If you can put her outside in a safe cage (ideally on grass as mine that have recovered have actively eaten grass when they have had access and it is known to have healing properties for many grazing animals) on warmer days where she can see the others, that will help keep her spirits up. I would not put her in with the others. Firstly they may suddenly set upon her because they can sense that a bird is sick and it is instinct to drive a diseased bird out of the flock. Secondly, if it is Marek's, she will be shedding the virus whilst she is symptomatic. It is possible/likely that the other birds will have already been exposed to it but increasing the reservoir of infected material in their environment can only make things worse, so it is a balance between her having chicken company and minimising the risk. It is my belief that the place where infected material is most likely to collect and linger longest and most easily re-infect, is in the coop, so keeping her elsewhere overnight and putting her out near the others, perhaps down wind of them, during the day when weather allows might be the best compromise.

Thats reassuring! currently she is in the favorite part of the run with the other girls, in a tractor cage. she has bought her legs under her now, instead of them sticking forward, so she perches in her sling a bit better. better food and water access. She slept in the coop last night, seperated of course, but still close enough to feel protected.
Have you seen Mareks in birds older than 2yo?

 

[rebrascora]

Yes. I have had birds that recovered from initial outbreaks of Marek's as adolescents, go on to have secondary outbreaks later in life. The initial outbreaks were relatively short lived. I also had a 5 year old suffer her first outbreak nearly a year ago. I removed her from the pen because the other birds were harassing her and let her free range in the garden during the day and get special treats and then put her in the coop at night. She was very wobbly but able to walk as long as she wasn't being stressed by the other birds. It took about 2.5 months but she fully recovered from it and went back in with the flock and I allowed her to hatch and raise some chicks through the summer. The chicks are all OK so far although the pullet is at point of lay and should start producing any day, so she is at a critical age for suffering an outbreak of Marek's but the broody is still doing well. Sometimes you might miss an earlier outbreak as they can be quite fleeting or mild like being lame for a couple of days or not being able to keep one eye open. If you didn't know you had Marek's in your flock, you might not think anything of such short lived or obscure symptoms, but once you have a diagnosis, you start to see the more subtle signs showing up. It is also quite surprising how different a neurological limp is from a pain or injury limp.
It could also be that your bird was not exposed to the disease as a youngster and was infected later in life. There are so many stresses on them as youngsters, that if they have been infected, it will likely exhibit in those first few months if it is going to, so an older bird becoming symptomatic is usually either recently infected or recovered from a previous outbreak and is suffering a secondary attack. This is my experience anyway.

 

[FinneFarm]

Yes. I have had birds that recovered from initial outbreaks of Marek's as adolescents, go on to have secondary outbreaks later in life. The initial outbreaks were relatively short lived. I also had a 5 year old suffer her first outbreak nearly a year ago. I removed her from the pen because the other birds were harassing her and let her free range in the garden during the day and get special treats and then put her in the coop at night. She was very wobbly but able to walk as long as she wasn't being stressed by the other birds. It took about 2.5 months but she fully recovered from it and went back in with the flock and I allowed her to hatch and raise some chicks through the summer. The chicks are all OK so far although the pullet is at point of lay and should start producing any day, so she is at a critical age for suffering an outbreak of Marek's but the broody is still doing well. Sometimes you might miss an earlier outbreak as they can be quite fleeting or mild like being lame for a couple of days or not being able to keep one eye open. If you didn't know you had Marek's in your flock, you might not think anything of such short lived or obscure symptoms, but once you have a diagnosis, you start to see the more subtle signs showing up. It is also quite surprising how different a neurological limp is from a pain or injury limp.
It could also be that your bird was not exposed to the disease as a youngster and was infected later in life. There are so many stresses on them as youngsters, that if they have been infected, it will likely exhibit in those first few months if it is going to, so an older bird becoming symptomatic is usually either recently infected or recovered from a previous outbreak and is suffering a secondary attack. This is my experience anyway.

So, Marek's isn't always an immediate death sentence . I thought that the paralyzed legs where caused by tumors on the sciatic nerves.
What's the best nutrients to help repair such damage? I believe st johns wort/hyperium is a homeopathic cure for Sciatica....
Have you heard of anyone trying this?

 

[FinneFarm]

Hey everyone,
So unfortunately our girl has gone to the next yard...better foraging there i hope. I Had a vet deal with it because i wouldn't trust myself to do it correctly.
She started to slip into depression and eating, drinking, pooping became rare. Very, very sad.

Is there a way to aid prevention of my other girls getting Marek's? I have bleached and water blasted the coop, and am going to remove top inch of soil and maybe pour boiling water over scratching ground then bring in a few inches of top soil.

If one bird has it all birds have it, correct? Can i avoid symptoms somehow?

 

[Eggcessive]

I would not go to all the trouble of removing soil and pouring boiling water all over. Your other chickens have already been exposed to the virus, and they may have all been exposed at the same time by a wild bird. The disease is in your environment, and will remain there for up to several years. Some people use a disinfectant/antiviral agent such as Zircon S, available in packets or Oxine in the coop and run to try and minimize the virus, but your chickens are all now cardiers. More than likely, if this was Mareks, you may see another bird come down with symptoms, but hopefully not. Getting a necropsy and Mareks testing is the best way to diagnose it. Sorry for your loss.

 

[rebrascora]

So sorry you had to make that decision but it was the right one. Once they lose interest in food, they go down hill pretty quickly and in my experience with Marek's there is no coming back once that happens.
Forget bleach, get some Virkon S or I believe Oxine is also effective. Shop around for the small sachets of Virkon S as they are only a few dollars (£2 here in the UK) and each sachet dissolves in a bucket of water. The coop is going to be the place that will retain infected material the longest and be a potential source of infection, so give that a good ceiling to floor spray down.... the virus is shed via dander dust and it easily gets stirred up when birds are flapping up onto roosts and back down so much more likely that they will inhale some of the dust in the coop. Birds only shed the virus when they are symptomatic, so as long as there are no birds showing signs of the disease, you don't need to disinfect again. I also would not go to the trouble of digging the top layer of dirt.
With Marek's, it will lie dormant so that you have no idea who has been infected and who hasn't and birds will exhibit symptoms at times of stress, so making sure they have plenty of space, not being harassed by adolescent cockerels with raging hormones, adequate food and water and safe from predators etc is the best you can do. A vitamin supplement every once in a while to help support/boost their immune system is also probably a good idea. Poultry Nutri Drench or Rooster Booster Poultry Cell are good options for that.

As regards your query about recovering from paralysis, it is not caused by tumours on the nerves, just inflammation. As a result, an anti inflammatory may be beneficial in the treatment of Neurological Marek's. Unfortunately many birds also develop visceral Marek's which does cause tumour development inside the bird often on vital organs and this is usually when they stop eating and decline rapidly, but I have had birds recover from attacks of Neurological Marek's (one pullet recovered from 2 attacks of it) and went on to lay eggs and free range with the flock.
Good luck with your remaining birds and very best wishes for the festive season.