people with house chickens

[silkiemother]

poor baby.....

 

[SarahGfa]

I hope it's not Marek's that your girl has/had. Marek's paralyzes and when the chicken walks she can't keep balance and falls over, sometimes standing is difficult and falls over just standing. When my Marek's chicken got really bad she sat around a lot with one leg outstretched/paralyzed. Eventually there must've been a lot of pain and the chicken loses her appetite and slowly dies. Marek's is a cancer type that attacks the spinal cord which causes the leg paralysis. It is progressively debilitating if it's Marek's. Have you had a vet diagnose it for sure and not an injury-related paralysis? When our sweet Taffy (my Avatar picture) got Marek's the vet said sometimes chickens can recover but it eventually returns when the cancer has progressed and attackes the spinal cord. He sent us home with our Taffy and said to watch if she got better but she didn't -- she stopped eating or drinking and we all made the sad but necessary decision to put her down:

RIP Taffy...such a pretty bird! Sorry to hear she never got better. How old was she when Marek's hit?

I didn't take my hen to a vet because there aren't any avian vets around here. No idea if it is really Marek's, but she is much better now than when it started. Her strength is coming back verrrrrrry slowly. No symptoms in any of the other birds in the flock, but injury is unlikely because her paralysis happened gradually over several days.

 

[CCUK]

 

[Sylvester017]

poor baby.....

Yes, I know -- It's so sad to lose ANY pet - it hurts so much.

RIP Taffy...such a pretty bird! Sorry to hear she never got better. How old was she when Marek's hit?

I didn't take my hen to a vet because there aren't any avian vets around here. No idea if it is really Marek's, but she is much better now than when it started. Her strength is coming back verrrrrrry slowly. No symptoms in any of the other birds in the flock, but injury is unlikely because her paralysis happened gradually over several days.

I have no idea if Taffy had Marek's when she was younger and survived it or if it was a return symptom when we lost her at 3 yrs old. We got her at 2 months old along with another 2-mo-old Blue Wheaten Ameraucana but the other pullet didn't live past a month after she was shipped to us and don't know why she didn't live -- I was new to chickeneering at the time. I don't have much face-to-face knowledge of the breeder since I ordered both birds online.

But to answer your question, our Taffy must've carried the Marek's virus and then symptoms developed where we noticed it when she was 3 yrs old. She deteriorated rapidly -- from just lying around and then later losing her balance and not walking very well. The vet wanted us to take her home and see if she could recover as it can happen. But honestly, once a chicken gets full Marek's symptoms, even if they recover, it relapses because it's a viral cancerous condition causing lesions/tumors(?) in the spinal cord. And with Taffy she deteriorated to the point of no longer eating or drinking and just sat waiting to die. We took her to the vet to euthanize as we knew it was the end and humanely ended it for her. Why would we want her to suffer? It's not an easy decision because we want our pets to live forever.

From what I understand, there are 5 different strains of the Marek's virus and vaccination is no guarantee it works to protect from all 5 strains. The poultry industry is not motivated to develop good vaccines to prevent chicken deaths because if a poultry business is wiped out by Marek's, or leukosis, or AI, or MS/MG, etc etc it's no biggie for them. Because in 21 days they can have 100's of newly hatched chicks to replace dead poultry to start up their new business right away again. At least that's my cynical opinion after reading so many chicken health articles.

It's unfortunate that many vets only treat dogs/cats and if you ask them many vets downright refuse to see birds or other animals. I happened to get lucky to find a vet that not only treats dogs/cats but also exotics and birds. I can go into his waiting room and see people bringing him their tortoises, hamsters, rabbits, etc. The mountain Rangers bring him injured wildlife like deer, fox, owls, even snakes! I am also lucky that my vet happened to have worked in the poultry industry so he knows chickens. He's a natural at checking over my hens when I bring them to him. He doesn't waste my money with lab tests, blood tests, X-rays, etc etc unless REALLY necessary or if I ask for it (like fecal tests for worms). Regular avian vets in my area are outrageously expensive so I consider myself lucky to have found my cat/dog/exotics/bird veterinarian.

I researched and found another dog/cat veterinarian in my area as emergency backup in case my vet is on vacation because my vet only has dog/cat vets fill in for him so I searched for a backup on my own. I found a regular dog/cat vet who will see my hens but he's not a natural like my own vet with chickens. The backup vet wanted to charge upwards of $1000 for blood tests, lab tests, x-rays, medications, office visit, etc etc where my vet wouldn't prescribe all that unless absolutely necessary. My vet has a natural gift with chickens/birds and his diagnoses have been spot on without charging me an arm and a leg for tests not necessary to stress an already sick hen. He will prescribe meds and gives my girls thorough exams and he always calls me back when I have questions about giving a bird human type supplements like MSM, Glucosamine/ Chondroitin, Hyaluronic Acid, Type II Collagen (for arthritic animal conditions) and he tells me when and how to administer them and how often if at all. There are much better anti-inflammatory meds for chickens -- baby aspirin is of no use. Apparently in our human attempt at helping our chickens we can actually hurt them by giving them human supplements because the wrong application or dosages can actually stress chickens' internal organs like their liver, kidneys, etc.

Currently I have a Dominique breed chicken "Dana" in-house recovering from a case of Bumblefoot. I was able to treat one foot without surgery but ultimately had to return to the vet to scoop out the other foot plug and the vet prescribed Clindomycin antibiotic (Bumblefoot is a staph infection and surgery alone seldom works without an internal antibiotic). It was scary to me that Bumblefoot untreated can get bad enough to kill a bird! TG for antibiotics nowadays!

Here's my sweet patient -- Dana:

She has the prettiest U-back stance this Dominique breed is known for -- I believe Langshans are another breed known for this beautiful body shape.

Her right foot had to have surgery to remove a last little bit of Bumblefoot plug that was too stubborn for me to remove and I didn't want to dig around in her foot where delicate tendons and tissues are. She's on Clindomycin for a week for the infection. I let the vet do his magic touch on her. He will see her tomorrow for a follow-up check. My vet is a strong advocate for giving chickens their vitamins. Every time I leave his office he stresses that I make sure to give my girls their vitamins. A fortified chicken is better off to fight against all the chicken viruses that a bird might succumb to if too weak to resist disease. Of course some chicken genetics are stronger than others but we owners do the best for our girls that we can with good diet, clean housing, good medical care, and the rest is up to Mother Nature.

 

[silkiemother]

there needs to be a national house chicken day.

 

[Sylvester017]

National House Chicken Day has MY VOTE!!!

Years ago my 2nd Silkie was a house chicken for 3 months before she was big enough to be outdoors with the other Silkie. We lost the sweetie 6 yrs later to ovarian cancer . That's the sad part about precious pets -- losing them.

MINI LOVED TO FEEL THE FAN BLOW THROUGH HER FLUFF - SHE ASKED US TO TURN IT ON WHEN SHE TAPPED ON THE TOP OF IT! SHE HAS A DIAPER ON BUT IT ISN'T VISIBLE BECAUSE OF SO MUCH SILKIE FLUFF!

MY HOMEMADE DIAPER FOR MINI -- SHE WAS SO FLUFFY SOMETIMES WE COULDN'T TELL HER FRONT FROM HER BACK EXCEPT WHEN WE SAW THE RED DIAPER

EVEN WITH A DIAPER MINI WAS CONFINED TO TILE FLOORS IN CASE THE DIAPER "LEAKED"

MINI LIKED THE COOL TILE FLOOR

BUT MINI ESCAPED THE HOUSE A COUPLE TIMES TO TAKE A DUST-BATH IN HER DIAPER! I MANAGED TO GET THIS PIC OF HER RUNNING TO GET HER DUST-BATH!

R.I.P. my sweet girl!



MINI IN HAPPIER DAYS TOODLING AROUND WITH VIOLET

 

[silkiemother]

I want your stove

 

[Sylvester017]

I want your stove

Teehee! it's not a stove, it's my dishwasher magnetic mural. I got it on Collections, Etc online about 6 years ago.

My cover is no longer available on Collections but the following mural is available -- they also can fit on refrigerator doors if it's the kind of refrigerator door with the freezer on top. Some surfaces are alloy surfaces so test that your doors accept magnets before buying a magnetic mural for a dishwasher or refrigerator door:


The Collections Etc website has had so many chicken items for the kitchen and I bought just about all my chicken decor from them -- chicken timers, chicken chair seat pads, chicken salt & pepper holders, chicken dishware, chicken napkin holders, chicken paper towel holders, chicken breadboxes (which I use to store/hide spice shakers on the counter), chicken magnetic dishwasher mural, chicken wall clock, chicken wall art, chicken area rugs, chicken statuary, and so much more I can't remember all the chicken stuff I got over the years from Collections Etc -- really CHEAP too compared to other websites that sell chicken decor at ridiculously outrageous prices! Collections Etc sells out of their chicken stuff fast but they always restock with different new designs that come along. I browse their website every couple months to see what new items they bring in. They're always bringing in new items. I got a cute statue of a white baby Easter Lamb with 4 Yellow Baby Chicks on top of the Lamb for my outdoor decor and it sold out quickly. Most in-store or online outdoor statuary starts at $30 and upwards in prices but Collections Etc prices for statuary are much lower like in the $9 to $20 range and if you wait for free shipping days or $2.99 shipping days on Collections Etc you really save a lot of money after signing up with them. Collections Etc isn't ridiculously annoying at sending emails like eBay or other online stores. I might get one Collections Etc email once a week and sometimes a couple weeks before another one. Even if not buying anything, Collections Etc is just a fun place to window shop!

https://www.collectionsetc.com/product/sunflower-and-rooster-country-dishwasher-magnet.aspx#

 

[silkiemother]

I might end up buying them all

 

[silkiemother]

how are all the house chooks doing?