Oh my. I'm so sorry for all of you that are going through this. I too have always been told that vaccinating a backyard flock isn't necessary. I always thought those major diseases were common in hatchery or food production type places. I'm going to get vaccines for my birds first thing payday! I had a real scare this evening with one of my gold-laced polish hens, and now I'm terrified that it could be something that might potentially kill my whole flock. I check on my birds several times a day, and all day long, everyone was just fine (except for one of my geese but that's a whole other story). This evening when I went to put everyone to bed for the night, I noticed one of my Polish hens was laying at the back of the pen. This is a new pen and they've only been using it for about two weeks. There are two roos and two hens in this pen. Well, to make a long story a bit shorter, one roo and one hen figured out the roosting stick right away, the other two however, have been completely clueless. I have to literally pick them up and put them on their roost every night. I've watched both of them to see why they aren't roosting, and they both just seem confused about it. The one roo has even jumped at the front of the pen which is just chicken wire. Anyway, as usual, both were on the ground tonight, but I could tell right away that something wasn't right with the hen. I went over to get her, and was shocked at what I saw! Her neck was twisted completely around and her head was upside down and she was looking straight up at me! I'm not talking about her head laying towards her back, I mean it was completely twisted around like the exorcist or something! Anywho, I calmed myself down, put the roo on the perch, and began to examine her. At first, she was rather limp, and still had the crazy neck so I started petting her, I straightened out her neck and sort of massaged it, feeling for lumps or ...ACK! a break? I coaxed her, trying to get her to stand and after a few minutes, she did. She seemed to be a bit dazed, but I went
ahead and put her on the perch. I went and put the ducks up and when I came
back, she was back on the ground. I coaxed her to stand again, saw that she seemed a little more "normal", and put her back up on the perch. I've went out and checked on her about five times now and she's still perching. I hate if she's hurt herself or sorta knocked herself senseless, but I'd much rather that than Mareks or some other disease. I really hope that's all it is. I've been on byc all night trying to find out about twisted neck, and apparently, that too can be a symptom of Mereks so I'm super worried! If she's acting strange in the mornin, she'll go right into my house (in a crate) for intensive care.
Any of you had twisted neck type symptoms? Also, with your birds, were they literally fine one minute and sick the next or did they gradually go downhill? Thanks guys. Sorry about the ridiculously long post. I'll be prayin for you and your birds.
