Please help! Anemic chick dying

[Sqhomestead]

I got the final report, and they are declaring a Mareks diagnosis. I have a 4 month old pullet right now with paralysis in both legs. We are going to try hypericum and colloidal silver remedy to see if she has any improvement. I had decided to cull once I got the final report but she then curled her toes around my finger while I was holding her to clean her up. She's eating really good and her stools are all totally normal. She was having muscle spasms in her neck and I was extremely worried she would get twisted neck, but the spasms have stopped and her neck is good. So, I'm giving it 3 to 5 more days before euthanize, because I don't have any of the resources to help a paralyzed chicken have any quality of life, however, my gut is telling me to give this a chance . Wish us luck, I'll post pictures and updates.

 

[rebrascora]

I'm so sorry to read that the Marek's diagnosis has been confirmed and that you are dealing with such a "hot" strain. I wish you luck with your little pullet. I have tried St John's Wort, but not colloidal silver. There is so much variation with Marek's it is hard to know what works and what doesn't. I found it stressed my birds trying to get them to take the St John's Wort which was counter productive, so I stopped.

I feel like I gave you false hope with this because, whilst I was pretty sure it was Marek's it is clearly a much more aggressive strain than I have experienced in my flock. Losing any individual to it is heart breaking but losing a high percentage of youngsters must be really devastating. For such a common disease, people know so little about it until it strikes their flock and even then, so few people actually seek to get a diagnosis.

Please keep this thread updated with how she does. I will be keeping my fingers crossed for her and you.

 

[Sqhomestead]

Thank you for all the support @rebrascora and I promise, you weren't giving me false hope. It's good to have hope, and I needed to educate myself more on the biology of all of this to understand how it works and what can help prevent the virus from "waking up" as much as possible, and what to do for supportive care when it does. I know there is no cure for it and even if the Hypericum works and she can walk again, she will still be susceptible to more episodes in the future. I am reading a paper from the federal ag agency on hypericum but man, for a min scientific person it's very slow reading lol
I absolutely will update here on my little pullet and any other things that could help someone searching for help with the same issues in the future. These sites and groups have been my saving grace.
Well, there was no PCR done but the pathologist noted the visceral tumors and that the only other two causes are never seen in a chicken under 4 months old, and she was 3 months old. Also, they do not do PCR at this lab, although they were a little misleading on that in the final email. I'm going to post the pics of it now, and hope this little chicken responds very soon to the homeopathic treatments. I am not well informed on natural and homeopathic remedies but I know a lot of it is science based. I think where it gets murky here is people claiming hypericum "cured" their chickens of Mareks and I know the best I can hope for is treating the symptoms which ultimately is what kills the birds. I was lucky and found the Hypericum 30c specific instead of having to use st John's wort. I just dissolved 2 of the Hypericum pills in 2 tbsp of distilled water, then gave her 10 drops from a dropper. She's actually gotten really good with drinking from the dropper. If she fought me on all of this I would not put her through the stress of it because like you said, very counterproductive . She's a great candidate for this trial for me. Also, I have been told to look into L Lysine to fight the virus. I've not seen anything on that to date. The silver has worked miracles for a sick hen I had in the past. Poor girl had more health issues than I could ever list. Anyway, thanks again! Will update soon.

 

[Sqhomestead]

Here's the final report.