New to chicken keeping & I made a stupid mistake. Two of my 3 hens got taken by a hawk, rushed out to get two replacements and ended up w nightmare. Found two on CL and brought home Marek's.
I should have known better, maybe I can list some of the VERY early clues that I ignored or wrote off & it will be helpful to those hoping it's an injury & not Marek's.
1. She was floppy. Just floppy everywhere. Like a half filled bean bag.
2. had NO weight to her
3. did not see well, couldnt figure out where roost was without a half hour of work.
4. black, had more white dander than any other chicken
5. had feather quality issues, quills were not fully covered
6. was cheerful and sweet to the end
7. started w a slight limp and by the next day could not bear weight on one leg.
8. Within a week she was not able to walk or limp around (I took this to be her instinctively resting)
9. Her appetite was huge. She drank & tweeted to me.
10 She would doze off and startle awake. She would 'stall out'
11. Her eyelid then was not working right.
12. I noticed feather loss on her legs.
13. She did not show signs of pain when I touched her legs.
14. She could move her legs, just not stand on them. One leg was worse than the other but both eventually were unusable. I noticed in the sling she would not use the leg I thought was good to adjust herself.
15. I swear I saw her twist her head completely around 360 degrees.
16. Her wings became less contolled.
We put her down on Sunday and limed the yard, bleached everything. We only had her a few weeks. The other hen is also likely infected & exposed my other one I hatched a year ago. These two are past the age for death but are now carriers. Blech. Nightmare.
I should have known better, maybe I can list some of the VERY early clues that I ignored or wrote off & it will be helpful to those hoping it's an injury & not Marek's.
1. She was floppy. Just floppy everywhere. Like a half filled bean bag.
2. had NO weight to her
3. did not see well, couldnt figure out where roost was without a half hour of work.
4. black, had more white dander than any other chicken
5. had feather quality issues, quills were not fully covered
6. was cheerful and sweet to the end
7. started w a slight limp and by the next day could not bear weight on one leg.
8. Within a week she was not able to walk or limp around (I took this to be her instinctively resting)
9. Her appetite was huge. She drank & tweeted to me.
10 She would doze off and startle awake. She would 'stall out'
11. Her eyelid then was not working right.
12. I noticed feather loss on her legs.
13. She did not show signs of pain when I touched her legs.
14. She could move her legs, just not stand on them. One leg was worse than the other but both eventually were unusable. I noticed in the sling she would not use the leg I thought was good to adjust herself.
15. I swear I saw her twist her head completely around 360 degrees.
16. Her wings became less contolled.
We put her down on Sunday and limed the yard, bleached everything. We only had her a few weeks. The other hen is also likely infected & exposed my other one I hatched a year ago. These two are past the age for death but are now carriers. Blech. Nightmare.
