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Despite my pain in doing it, I culled Hallie the other day. I just couldn't stand to see her suffer like Hollie did now that my knowledge of this disease was first hand. I won't know results of necropsy until some time next week, but I know what it was.
The 3 older hens are doing well btw. Another thing I have learned out of all this is NEVER put young chickens in with the older ones until they are at least of laying age. It would have giving my little girls more of a chance to build up a better immune system. Unfortunately, I thought I had, but I had pushed it just too soon.
To live, to learn, to live and learn.
Despite my pain in doing it, I culled Hallie the other day. I just couldn't stand to see her suffer like Hollie did now that my knowledge of this disease was first hand. I won't know results of necropsy until some time next week, but I know what it was.
The 3 older hens are doing well btw. Another thing I have learned out of all this is NEVER put young chickens in with the older ones until they are at least of laying age. It would have giving my little girls more of a chance to build up a better immune system. Unfortunately, I thought I had, but I had pushed it just too soon.
To live, to learn, to live and learn.
I'm sorry to hear about your girls Wldrose. I've been away from the computer for the last few days and hadn't followed the thread again until this morning. After my original post I decided to let nature take it's course and see what comes of it. Though I had originally thought that my girls had Marek's and it sounded to me like your hens symptoms were the same, mine seem to be on the mend. The staggering, high leg lifting, falling over, etc. seems to have passed. As I was reading the threads, I thought perhaps I was in the clear and my hens were going to be ok afterall but then I came across one, sorry can't remember who exactly that said there was a period of remission and then it hit again. So, before I hold my breath for too long, can someone tell me about how long this remission if that's what it is should last?
Also, thanks to the ppl who posted the info about vaccinating and introducing younger chickens to the flock. I love the idea of a small coop on my back deck but wonder, if you can get Mareks because it's airborne on the dander, how this keeps the chicks safe. I don't have a large operation. I have about an acre of fenced off back yard and my chicken coop is down in the lower corner of the yard. I don't let my chickens roam the yard as I have 2 young boxers that would think of them as toys. In fact, my husband built a second fence about 50 foot out from the chicken coop to keep the dogs from getting so close to their pen. We intend to put a rabbit hutch and a few goats in this area as well. Not in the chicken pen itself mind, just in that part of the yard that my husband has sectioned off with the fence.
I gave some thought to the whole issue of steralizing the ground and what came to mind is that I could cut my chicken pen in half with a temp fence and treat the ground with lye. Wait til it's well into the ground then cut the other half off and treat that. We opted to give our chickens quite a bit of space when we layed out our plans for them. I'd say our chicken pen is about 30ft by 40ft in total and we put a net above it to keep predators out. Though I'll be darned if the first night we didn't get an owl who found his way into the pen but not the coop itself.
Any thoughts on any of what I've posted will be taken well as I know I've a lot to learn so please don't hesitate to "let me have it" if needed.
The period of remission can last for different amounts of time, this varies from bird to bird. If the bird is put under stress, the disease rears its ugly head This is what happened to my silkie pullet. She was back to normal, walking, running, eating, etc. I put her outside and she got a chill....the next day, the paralysis was back and from there, she spiralled downhill very quickly and passed. It was shocking how quickly! I had workded for months with vitamins, protein, physical therapy, etc....add a little stress and boom, all my work was for naught.
I hope that your chickens continue to improve and that it wasn't Marek's to begin with. If something happens and you lose one, have it necropsied so you know for sure what you are dealing with!
Dixie, don't get yourself all upset yet. It could be botulism, or poisoning, or mold or fungus. Have you introduced new chickens in the past few months? Did your Cochin come from someone elses flock?
Did you mean the Cochin and Silkie both loss the use of their legs? Have they ever been together? If both have the symptoms, and have been together at some point, Marek's is possible.
You should try and put a flock history together. Which chickens have you gotten that were with other chickens before you got them? Which ones were closest to 2-3 months ago?
Saying "Marek's " is hard. There can be varying symptoms, no test, no rules. Vaccinated birds that have been exposed to Marek's can carry it in, although the vaccinated ones won't probably die of the disease.
So we are left with the bird's symptoms, other birds, where they came from when. It's a sad thing.