New chicken mom in Mapleton, OR w/ chick illness problem

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mapletonmindy

mapletonmindy

Hatching
5 Years
Sep 3, 2014
6
0
7
Hi all....glad to know about this website. I am a new chicken mom and will hopefully have some eggs in a few months and keep enjoying having these fun and adorable birds for a long time.

I'm a little concerned about one of my chicks. Daisy is 10 weeks old and has been doing a lot of sitting lately...she seems to favor one leg and extending the right leg and wing out a bit to the side. she sometimes eats sitting down, or leans back resting on her upper legs to eat...but not always.

I bought a brand new mobile chicken trailer that is very large and I clean it out every day and put fresh paper down.

we have 2 acres and they free range the whole grass areas. the chicks came in pairs...started w/ 2 then got 2 more a week later, 1 died from some problem w/ poop stuck to her butt (even cleaning her butt 2 or 3 times a day didn't prevent her death)....then got 2 more (which is when I got Daisy). so ages and type differ...they are all different breeds.

Daisy just started exhibiting this behavior a week ago or less....and she doesn't look ill all the time.....she keeps up w/ the leader, Pipi and the pack most of the day, it is hard to tell at times if she is ill or not. but last night when I went to check the chicks in their coop, Daisy was sitting on the floor below the roost bar. I took her out and filled my cat carrier cage w/ paper and straw and had her in our bedroom last night. this a.m. I took her out and she struggled to get her footing but was able to walk and is out w/ the other chicks doing well now.

I've started to add garlic clove and a little apple cider vinegar to their water dish and someone mentioned getting a liquid multivitamin w/o iron and giving it to Daisy 3 or 4 times a day. I've heard she might have Maerk's disease in which I can't do anything for Daisy and the other chicks might already be infected....I just don't know what else to do.

any suggestions appreciated. check out yesterday's video I made of Daisy.



thank you!

mindy
 
Hello there and welcome to BYC!
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I am so sorry about your bird. You might want to post this question in our emergency section for more help...https://www.backyardchickens.com/f/10/emergencies-diseases-injuries-and-cures

I hope she is going to be ok.
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Welcome to BYC. Glad you decided to join our flock. I'm sorry about Daisy. Definitely post on our Emergency section and let out experts there help you. Please feel free to ask any questions you may have. We are here to help in any way we can. Good luck with Daisy. I hope she recovers soon.
 
VERY SORRY, Classic symptoms of Marek's Disease. No treatment, no cure, and, if not Sudden death, usual death in a few days to several weeks, One leg and one wing, then both legs and wings and cannot walk, just scoot around a little, then death. It is not painful and the bird does not know why it cannot get around. Sometimes called Range Paralysis, bird gradually becomes completely paralyzed and when neck and throat are involved, can no longer eatt and drink and bird most always quietly dies. It is infectuous and all your birds are now exposed, but all will not necessarily. develop the virus infection. Since it is a long lived virus carried in their dander, once you have it, you will always have the risk. From hatcheries, you can have chicks vaccinated at hatch. It cannot be done later--once exposed it is too late. (After receiving a purchased bird that died of Marek's 3 weeks after arrival--and did not know what Marek's was, at the time, I learned to only purchase vaccinated birds.) Now, I do not purchase birds at all, but hatch my own and VACCINATE day of hatch and keep them separate for at least for the 2-3 weeks it takes to develop immunity.

IF IT IS MAREK's??, cockerels often show syptoms at about 8-9 weeks, and pullets just when they are ready and maybe just started to lay. Marek's is not carried in eggs,l so any eggs layed, even from a sick pullet, can be safely hatched. (however, chicks will be exposed, if at the same premises, so must be isolated--and vaccinated at hatch day and kept isolated for several weeks, while developing immunity. There are other forms of Marek's besides paralysis, but not a good time to mention more. Researdh on line can help with information.

Information about Marek's Disease is still evolving; there are unreliale information sources that can be confusing. Since the virus does change and there are virulent and relatively benign infections, hope you have one that is not so deadly. That is little consulation, however, as if the bird DOES recover, (no treatment will cure it, it is forever a carrier, so all birds are still at risk, as well as any new additions that are not vaccinated. Vaccine is available from Poultry Supply catalogs, and is not difficult to administer--takes 2 peopke to do it --one to hold the chick and one to do the needle--not painful and chicks do not suffer at all.

Good luck--
 
I would hold off and deciding her fate until I had a vet confirm it was Mareks, other problems can mimic the symptoms. I know of someone with a gorgeous young rooster and it looked like certain Mareks but, was NOT. He is not contagious, and has regained most of his previous mobility.
 

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