paralysis in 2 of my hens legs, strange signs here, help!!!

[Dudu]

Quote:
I know how you feel. 100%. But I guess giving up is not an option either. You're doing your best I'm sure, and as long as we do that, everything is fine. (I have to remind myself about it too at times, believe me, it can get so tough and scary.)

 

[seminolewind]

Hi. My Polish pullet (8weeks) is still standing around with her eyes closed. My other one is up here on the patio.

I've had one cockerel floundering on the ground for 3 days, paralysis, and then got better and acted like nothing happened. He stayed normal for about 3 weeks. Then he wasted away.

Flock History:

I've traced all but one death to one silkie pullet I bought 2 years ago. The rest of my flock were all hatched here. The first one to get sick was a 1+ year old silkie roo who was in the same coop. Classic by the book symptoms. Vet office necropsy showed no tumors, so vet said it was equine encephalitis. But now I know it was not. The other 3 in that coop survived and there own chick hatches produced resistant chicks, (antibodies passed on)

A few months later, after the roo died, the purchased pullet died. Wasted away. Last year, a blue Orp died 8 months old, wasted away. Then a JG blue roo, 8 months old, died a few months later, wasted away. ** From June 2011 on>>> A blue laced red wyandotte, a year old, wasted away. Then a Polish mix, 2 years old, was found floundering and paralyzed, I thought she broke her leg. She was wasting and I put her down. Right after that, My silkies had hatched 8 Polish chicks for me. One gets a broken leg, 8 weeks old. I splint the leg. A week later, another gets a broken leg, now I know they're not broken legs. Every week, one gets paralysis or wastes away, or both, some eating, some not. Now I've lost all the chicks. Then a silkie, one year old, wastes away, then can't walk. She was put down. That's 15 over 2 years. All hatched at home cept "Typhoid Mary". They all varied in age from 8 weeks old to 2 years old, the most being under 8 months old.

The other 8 silkies did well. They were all hatched here. I think any silkie chick hatched under my silkies were resistant because they were all from one of my resistant hens. Maybe alot of my hatches from purchase eggs did well because their mom was resistant and passed that on. I had one die from each hatch in the last 2 years.

There is not much known about Marek's because different strains develop. I think that some strains do not respond to the vaccine. The genetics, and concentration of the present virus makes a big difference. Researchers also suggest that it's been bad because they are always finding new strains of Marek's that the vaccines have not been manufactured yet. I think these strains are the cause of the vaccine not working, and chickens getting a strain later in life, but most under a year. It's referred to as "Latent Marek's"

Still, most of those are 6-25 weeks. Most of the written stuff about Marek's has not caught up yet about chickens dying older , and lesser known symptoms , such as no symptoms at all, wasting (most common). It depends on the nerves that are attacked. All most people know is symptoms of paralysis, one leg forward one leg back, dying early in life, and cloudy eye. Most people don't realize that the symptoms can be other than those. Paralysis being the easiest to see and know, but wasting is the most common.

As the large chicken companies got their situations under control by vaccinating, and all-in-all-out, sanitizing, they now have very little problem. But backyarders have not been practicing those important methods, and the problem is now running rampant thru our backyard flocks with very little people educated passed the paralysis symptom or tumors, or classic one leg back on leg forward sign-all easy signs to diagnose. But very few are educated to the fact that it's more common to waste away. And they can look perfectly normal until one realizes how skinny they are whether eating or not., or just die.

Vaccinated chicks can get and spread Marek's (not from the vaccine). The vaccine only prevents the paralysis and tumors, it does not prevent carrying Marek's. Marek's is spread by dander and dust. The dander is produced in larger amounts when a bird is symptomatic

We need to practice with vaccination, keeping younger chicks away from the flock for as long as possible, and not adding random chickens to a healthy flock. Disinfecting and cleaning lessen the available virus and may help develop resistant chickens. Professional necropsy is the only way to know for sure. Symptoms and a good flock history is the only other thing , but just an educated guess.

This info is from "Diseases of Poultry" Editor in chief (of hundreds of research scientists) W.M. Saif. Appears to be a 1,000 page reference book from a University. Or scientific research online. Other info was found on the web, but most of that was missing important points or not including recent research. But a good place to start, but realize that this information is not including everything known. And there is no cure. If a chicken is treated and survives, it's probably not Marek's.

 

[seminolewind]

Quote:
Gypsy, very very depressing. It would be great to create a data thread. As long as the posters had confirmed Marek's by a professional lab necropsy. Then posted their experiences leading up to the necropsy. Anything other than that would be an unconfirmed guess.

 

[leadwolf1]

It is very depressing

No, I haven't received a definitive diagnosis yet. I am awaiting the pathology report...just all signs/symptoms point to Mareks. Since Marek's can take weeks for the chicken to show symptoms, a 25 week old bird can be infected 6 - 8 weeks before and not show signs until after 25 weeks. I am still praying that it isn't Marek's but with other birds going down, I don't have too much hope.

However, this morning my silkie pullet is showing signs of improvement. She is able to push up onto her legs and grasp my finger with her left toes

These are things she hasn't done for over a week, almost two. I am hoping this is a positive sign and she will beat this thing

As for the Polish cockeral, he is so thin that I'm not sure there is any hope but I keep trying with protein, vitamins and probiotics...my mom always said, 'where there is life, there's hope!'...I'm taking this to heart and trying my best.

On a happier note, my little serama pullet layed her first egg yesterday...it is just so darn cute

 

[rhodered10]

strange thing happening, my girl honey who had one leg paralized and was displaying the same smptoms as my other more sick girl is suddenly all better! i dont understand it didnt even do any treatment with her yet and just yesterday i noticed she was wlking completly normaly and yet my other girl is getting even moe sick.

i think its something intestinal, my sick girl is on antibiotics and vitamin E as of right now, she cant stand up anymore put she seems as perky as if she wasnt sick at all and she is still eating and drinking a good deal. but her poop is no longer runny but just kind of like mushy loaves its still green and smelly and it has fleshy stuff in it and little tiny white specks, shes not pooping a whole lot either with amount of food that she is putting in her body.

well i hope all of our chickens make a safe recovery, having a very sick pet is such an awfull thing to go through, i hope and pray all goes well!!!!!

nthose are the emotions i feel when i think about my poor chicken and everybodys chickens......

and that one is for how long i have been researching everything that could be wrong with my girls ( seriously for the past 3 days i think i have spent about 15 hours researching!)

 

[seminolewind]

Yea!!!!! I hope your chickie gets better!!!!!

 

[mysweetgypsy]

Don't get too excited. (not to be a big downer) One of the studies I read noted that Mareks is obviously fatal, and can incubate for a long time, so when they have a "miraculous" recovery it's short lived. My BO hen seemed to recover, but my bet is in a week or two she'll die suddenly. Apparently that's also a sign of Mareks in a flock. My silkie hen seemed to be on the mend lately, but I went to check on her and just like that she's dead. This is the kind of thing that might make me give up chickens all together. When we kept chickens years ago we never had any illness, maybe an injury or two from the neighbors dogs, but never an illness.

Half the fun of owning chickens is watching them run and chase bugs in the yard. Watching them suffer and die is no fun! I may cull the whole flock if the results are Mareks. Please post your results, for those who have sent chickens out for necropsy. I'm interested in seeing who has it, and if not, what might have been going on.

 

[seminolewind]

I let myself get too attached to these 2 Polish chicks. The one is starving and blind. I guess that's suffering. I will have to put her down.

I have 3-- week old vaccinated chicks in the bathroom. What do I do? Keep them? I'd like to give them to a friend who has the other 9 chicks but, what if the quarantined chicks had an inadvertent exposure? They would expose hers. If I keep them they may die. I just don't know what to do. But no more chicks for a while.

 

[leadwolf1]

I am so sorry about your little polish chick

I'm attached to all of mine and I'm losing them too....

I think you will have to keep the chicks, you wouldn't want to pass this on to a friend...

 

[rhodered10]

i know that her recovery might be short lived but i have to say it is good to see at least one of the 2 get better, i will keep a very close eye on her but as of right now she is completly normal!
as for pumpkin the more sick hen she is not so great, i made her some mash to try and get her to eat some but she would just pick at and eat everything on the floor (wood shavings dirt and so on) and when i looked at her poop it just didnt look very digsted to i gave her a little grit, she perked right up started clucking like crazy and loved it. i didnt give her a whole lot because i didnt want all that grit to hurt her system but its like thats what she had been waiting for for the past couple of days! i dont know if that is a sign of something but as of right now she just has green poop and cant walk or get up, other than that she is clucking and eating almost like normal and seems to have perked up after i gave her that grit. she is on antibiotics in her water and gets vitamin E on a piece of bread, still have yet to see any results.

one more question tho, i recently ran out of crushed oyster shell and they arent on a layer feed, could it just be a strong calcium deficiancy? she laid an egg 2 days ago and it had a very thin shell, she hasnt laid since.