Paralyzed hens

[ThePigeonKid]

 

[seminolewind]

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.

Yes. I keep them in the house for a few weeks, then they go in a coop on the patio until about 8 weeks old, then alone in their own pen and coop till they're 12 weeks.

However, my first vaccinated chick -I may have screwed up giving the vaccine. He died. The 2nd one, was killed by a hawk. But now I have 3 laying age doing well, and 3 that are 12 weeks old doing well. And 4 on my dining room table.

 

[seminolewind]

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 know. Sorry.

 

[tracilee014]

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.

 

[leadwolf1]

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!

 

[seminolewind]

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.

I keep my vaccinated chicks in the house as long as I can. Then they go to a small coop on my patio. When they outgrow that (10weeks), they go to a coop near the other chickens for a few weeks more. Then out. I try to make a slow introduction. And try not to cross contaminate during this time. You can sterilize all you want, but the virus is so minute, it make a spec of dust look like a spaceship. You can't sterilize everything. And if you do, your flock will just produce more dander in the wind. Vaccinate. It's really the only thing you can do now, until some research finds a way to control the virus.

Owl in pen??? Wow.

 

[seminolewind]

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!

I had a baby like that, and an adult-got all better-and he was really bad, then started to waste away.

 

[dixiebeast]

I have been reading through this...I am eager to know the necropsy outcome. I have a 13 week old cochin that was normal last night...this morn he is all staggering and cannot keep his legs under him.All others in his pen seem fine. He has gotten worse through the day and I have him separated.I have been cleaning coops for over a week and they were at the end of the list.We got our first birds last april and we had a horrible storm 2 weeks ago and all my coops flooded...some just had to dry out and some have had to be shoveled out due to a horrid smell that developed,then I sprayed bleach water all over and on ground,then put sand in.This has been time consuming and I am sick on top of it all...a couple of the pens smelled fermented and this was one of them.Because of that I am treating for possible butolism with polyvisol and a molasses treatment I read about plus put Duramycin in the waterers today as a possible preventative???.I am really concerned with it being Maerks...My mom has a silkie that was the same Sat morn...she is out of town and I am going to check on her tomorrow.I am scared I brought this home to mine but I was there satuday to help clean and move thier coop as it had flooded also and with all the plastic she put on for winter it was smelling mouldy.I am hoping this is a coincidence and not transmission as we both had major water to deal with..I had a hard lesson on how water flows!!

 

[seminolewind]

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.

 

[dixiebeast]

No new chickens except an Ameraucana roo over a month ago...never been with in 50 yards...he was hatched by me and only been in with chicks from his hatch and the ones from a week after...I have never vaccinated and have never bought vaccinated birds. My moms silkie at the time seemed to have impacted crop...she was staggering but also holding her head back over her back(but looking forward) because her crop was huge and hard...She gave her olive oil and had to fly out for work.Her SO is feeding/watering but he tends to not do it so I am going tues and thurs to make sure they are all fed.I will see how she is tomorrow.My boy was running up and diving in like normal yesterday but cant walk today and wings are now dropped also. No runny eyes or nose,breathing good,good weight,no mites. I did worm them yesterday with wazine.I use ivermectin paste on my layers but the wazine in water for them since they are not laying and it was first worming.I did the worming because of the horrid wet mud they were in all week as I tried to pick worst wet coops and work down the list! I have 5 larger coops( 12x12 or bigger each not moveable) and 3 chick tractors with heat lights that I work in from above all 4x6 and 4x8 and 2ft tall.My three big coops are attached and I had to dig trenches to drain them of almost a foot of water...there is a small dip in front of them that has always collected water but it backed up in coops this time.My pool was drained back over a foot and it overflowed after the heavy 2 days of rain.I have a guy coming the end of the week to do some tractor work to fix that problem for good!! My chick trators just would not dry out and although I can move them I had just filled them with sand and it just turned to muck...I ended up moving them all with the last one moved and re sanded and new roof/lid system on!! It was taking them out this morn for the move that I found him sick.He is in quarantine now but outside and with no light...it will be 40 tonight and he is heavily feathered but I will be surprised if he makes it. I dont want him in house because the room I can put him in has a brooder full of week olds!! I believe I may start with the vaccinations.

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.