necropsy results in on limping chicken!

[karma]

The results of the necropsy from the Calif. animal health & food safety lab confirmed Marek's disease in my 4yr old rhode island red. "Severe multisystemic lymphoid neoplasia consistent with Marek's disease. Although this is a disease of younger aged chickens, the viral agent of Marek's disease is ubiquitous and occasional older chickens are found to be affected."
The rest of the flock is not showing any illness. Please be wary when the left leg of your chicken starts limping!!!!

 

[Year of the Rooster]

This exact thing happened to one of my hens! She was only 18 months, but she first started limping and eventually she died in quarantine. None of the others showed symptoms either. I would also advise to stay alert when your chicken limps and does not get better soon!

 

[karma]

I ended up culling her after a month of special care and feedings and the leg got worse. Now I will cull right away if i see any of the symptoms and make sure any other chickens that join the flock are definitely vaccinated for Marek's!

 

[juniper8209]

This kind of scares me. I noticed my 2yo rooster limping on his left leg just a day or two ago. I grabbed him and looked him over and couldn't find anything wrong with it. Thanks for this post...I'll be keeping a close eye on him.

 

[Tangerine farmer]

Can you let us know if your chick was new to the flock, anyone else new to the flock... or did it just appear from the wind? I'm in Venutura County.. there has been a lot of respiratory stuff going around here. Do we need to worry about this too? thanks.

 

[karma]

We bought the property in July/Aug 09 with the chickens. One got sick and died right after we bought the place. Now i suspect that was Marek's also based on similar symptoms. All those chickens were from an original flock approximately 3 to 4 yrs old. I bought 2 more chickens( 9 months old) after the first one died. One of those chickens was attacked by a red-tail hawk and had her breast skinned, but completely recovered. If she had the Marek virus in her i would think the stress of the attack would have made her sick. No other chickens sick so far. I just thought i should post the results because i see a lot of people with a limping chicken. She did not act like she was in pain except for the non-functioning leg. She was off her feed so I force fed her a mixture of scrambled egg, yogurt, oatmeal, applesauce, and a little honey. Her poops were a brighter green than normal. She would happily cluck when she saw me. I kept her going for a month or so because i thought she had some improvement some days. Then the leg progressed to sticking out straight behind her looking just like the photo in the vet manual of a chickens posture with Marek's. That's when i culled and sent the body for necropsy. Marek's is spread in the dander and feathers of the birds, so i probably will never be able to disenfect it out of my coop. Hope this helps someone.

 

[Tangerine farmer]

Karma: Thanks for the update. Another symptom to look for! It's a shame you lost such a nice hen! When they are such darlings it makes it so tough to say goodbye.

 

[Year of the Rooster]

My hen has been here her whole life. She was in my batch that I ordered from Ideal. Any other chickens I got were ones I hatched from these birds.

 

[bbowen]

Oh crap. I have a 19 week old hen limping on her left leg! Just noticed it yesterday.