Oh, no!

[emmak]

My favorite little hen is not well. Per the sticky here are her stats:
Old English Bantam
about 1 year old
don't know weight, couldn't be much
She was laying on her side with her leg out, and her leg was shaking, spasming. I watched her for a while. She would walk around, then sit down and her leg would spasm out. Also, her tail feathers were way down, when she usually has a high beautiful set of tail feathers. After a while she got up, pooped (it looked perfectly normal) and seemed to be a little better. She carried her tail feathers higher, but not like normal.
She just started doing this today. She's been great, looking healthy and gorgeous
no signs of trauma
I got her last May, along with a silkie. The silkie died suddenly three weeks after we got her. Over the course of the summer we lost our Ameracauna and then our Golden Comet. Both had symptoms fairly similar, but not exactly the same. The Ameracauna and Comet were not able to stand, and died within a day or two of onset.
She eats lay pellets, scratch, free range from our yard (no chemicals are used here) and kitchen scraps. They have sand in the run and straw in the coop.
I haven't done anything yet. I have plumbers running in and out my back yard and back door. What I did in the past was isolate the bird in its own cage with food and water. It didn't matter. They died anyway.
I know I'm probably going to lose her, but it's really hard because she's so pretty and my favorite. Her picture is my avatar. Also, I have two other hens that I wish I could protect somehow, but I know that if this is Marek's there's not much I can do.

 

[KWAK]

maybe she is egg bound?

 

[ranchhand]

How long have the plumbers been running around? And before that, was there any access to household drainage?

Also, there are other things that present like Marek's - moldy feed come to mind first, for me. I had a beautiful little rooster who was the low man and as a result he got the dregs of the feed. And there was the tiniest amount of mold there.

Good luck, hope you don't lose anymore.

 

[emmak]

Plumbers are around just today. The hens haven't been out of their run at all today. No exposure to household drainage. She lays very well. Would being egg bound make her leg spasm? I don't know if she's laid yet today, but she laid yesterday.

 

[emmak]

Definitely not egg bound. Just collected eggs. She's my only bantam so I always know her eggs. She's acting a little more sprightly now, but I've been disappointed before when I thought a hen was getting better. . .

 

[silkieroo]

for her recovery! As my mom always says: Hope for the best but expect the worse! Oh and just FYI (in my not so expert opinion) that doesn't sound like mareks to me. Because:

1. Most birds aren't susceptible to mareks, and since you have already had three birds die it sounds like if it is mareks there may be some underlying condition weakening there immune system thus causing them to be susceptible to mareks.
2. In most cases Mareks takes a LONG time to kill a bird this i have witnissed first hand. it is a drawn out illness that really is awful to watch!
3. you didn't mention anything about weight loss? generally a bird with mareks will gorge itself even while it is wasting away and so skinny it feels like a skeleton. It is one of the signs (at least to me) its mareks.

Now, a few qeustions.

1. When was the last time (if you have) you wormed the birds?
2. how do the sick birds feel weight wise? you don't have to get the scale or anything... just feel the bird. Is the breast bone jutting out or can you barely feel it because of fat (highly doubt there fat though)

Now treatment. (this is what i would do! however i am no expert!)

1. I would stop with the scratch for now... and cut down on there treats... you want them to have a balanced diet while they are fighting off this disease.
2. I would seperate the sick hen and give her vitamins in her water... give the other hens vitamins in there water too for that matter.(nutridrench for poultry is my favorite but can sometimes be hard to find, I've heard good thing about rooster booster as well)
3. if you haven't wormed them i would worm all the girls who arent sick, i would wait on the little hen.
4. If the hen gets any sicker i would reccomend doing Tylan50 injectables.

Good Luck with your hen!
Maddie