Please tell me this isn’t mareks....

[Shezadandy]

You could try giving her a little aspirin and see if it helps. It gets really tricky if there's an injury higher up in the leg (thinking happy thoughts) - not much we can do in terms of splinting if it's not lower leg because try as I might, I haven't managed to train a chicken to use crutches yet.

But, you could consider creating a sling for her so she isn't getting up and down on what seems to be a painful leg. Do a search for "chick chair" and or "chicken sling" and there are lots of fun ideas on how to prop her up. I've even seen underwear used ...

Edited to add: A sling provides relief in 2 ways - keeps weight off the bad leg, and it gives the good leg and all the muscles she's straining to move herself from spot to spot a break by supporting her body mass.

 

[microchick]

So how long did it take for the first leg to go completely paralyzed?

3-4 days. I can still remember being stunned by how rapidly it progressed. The chick was 9-10 weeks old at the time. I had birds that were already infected two with ocular Marek's and several with other symptoms of neural and internal MD.

The baby went from limping to knuckle walking in 36 hours. By day 6 it was having problems with the other leg, huddling in a corner, being picked on by it's siblings, not eating. I ended it's suffering at that point. From normal to succumbing in a week.

Marek's is a horrible horrible disease that I have been dealing with for 5 years. I did everything right, still it hit my flock. It's heartbreaking and I pray that your little lady doesn't have it.

 

[EmmaRainboe]

3-4 days. I can still remember being stunned by how rapidly it progressed. The chick was 9-10 weeks old at the time. I had birds that were already infected two with ocular Marek's and several with other symptoms of neural and internal MD.

The baby went from limping to knuckle walking in 36 hours. By day 6 it was having problems with the other leg, huddling in a corner, being picked on by it's siblings, not eating. I ended it's suffering at that point. From normal to succumbing in a week.

Marek's is a horrible horrible disease that I have been dealing with for 5 years. I did everything right, still it hit my flock. It's heartbreaking and I pray that your little lady doesn't have it.

Thank you so much. I hope she doesn't too. I love my chickens with my whole heart, I don't know what I'd do if I lost one.

 

[EmmaRainboe]

You could try giving her a little aspirin and see if it helps. It gets really tricky if there's an injury higher up in the leg (thinking happy thoughts) - not much we can do in terms of splinting if it's not lower leg because try as I might, I haven't managed to train a chicken to use crutches yet.

But, you could consider creating a sling for her so she isn't getting up and down on what seems to be a painful leg. Do a search for "chick chair" and or "chicken sling" and there are lots of fun ideas on how to prop her up. I've even seen underwear used ...

Edited to add: A sling provides relief in 2 ways - keeps weight off the bad leg, and it gives the good leg and all the muscles she's straining to move herself from spot to spot a break by supporting her body mass.

I tried aspirin, it didn't seem to do much. I think it is in her upper leg if she is injured, like above her knee. I will look up some ideas for slings, thanks!

 

[microchick]

Thank you so much. I hope she doesn't too. I love my chickens with my whole heart, I don't know what I'd do if I lost one.

I cried. When I talked to the very nice doctor at the University of Missouri at Columbia and he told me it sure sounded like I was dealing with Marek's disease, which I suspected and he confirmed my suspicions, I got off the phone from him and cried.

I lost almost 2/3s of my flock to Marek's. I finally culled my original flock to stop the spread and introduced area resistant birds plus genetically resistant Egyptian Fayoumis to my flock. Right now I have almost 50 healthy birds. My birds are hatching third generation chicks that so far are not exhibiting symptoms of Marek's disease. Yes, I loose a couple every now and then, but I'm no longer losing one or two birds a week like I was three years ago.

I'm always open to talking about my experience with MD, educating people to Marek's and Marek's disease not being the end of the world to you or your flock.

 

[EmmaRainboe]

I cried. When I talked to the very nice doctor at the University of Missouri at Columbia and he told me it sure sounded like I was dealing with Marek's disease, which I suspected and he confirmed my suspicions, I got off the phone from him and cried.

I lost almost 2/3s of my flock to Marek's. I finally culled my original flock to stop the spread and introduced area resistant birds plus genetically resistant Egyptian Fayoumis to my flock. Right now I have almost 50 healthy birds. My birds are hatching third generation chicks that so far are not exhibiting symptoms of Marek's disease. Yes, I loose a couple every now and then, but I'm no longer losing one or two birds a week like I was three years ago.

I'm always open to talking about my experience with MD, educating people to Marek's and Marek's disease not being the end of the world to you or your flock.

Two birds a week! That is heartbreaking! I appreciate you sharing at least a little bit of your experience here.

 

[microchick]

No problem. I would like to say my pleasure but frankly, there isn't anything pleasant about discussing Marek's disease. It's touched more flocks on this forum than you could ever imagine and it's a group nobody ever wants to be a member of.

I only hate Lyme disease more than I do Marek's.

 

[EmmaRainboe]

No problem. I would like to say my pleasure but frankly, there isn't anything pleasant about discussing Marek's disease. It's touched more flocks on this forum than you could ever imagine and it's a group nobody ever wants to be a member of.

I only hate Lyme disease more than I do Marek's.

Marek's is a real tragedy . I am so sorry you had to go through that. Again I appreciate you sharing what you know. I can only hope my girl doesn't have it.

 

[Chickstarrs]

I cried. When I talked to the very nice doctor at the University of Missouri at Columbia and he told me it sure sounded like I was dealing with Marek's disease, which I suspected and he confirmed my suspicions, I got off the phone from him and cried.

I lost almost 2/3s of my flock to Marek's. I finally culled my original flock to stop the spread and introduced area resistant birds plus genetically resistant Egyptian Fayoumis to my flock. Right now I have almost 50 healthy birds. My birds are hatching third generation chicks that so far are not exhibiting symptoms of Marek's disease. Yes, I loose a couple every now and then, but I'm no longer losing one or two birds a week like I was three years ago.

I'm always open to talking about my experience with MD, educating people to Marek's and Marek's disease not being the end of the world to you or your flock.

What do you mean by "area resistant birds"? And do you vaccinate for Marek's?

 

[HomesteaderWife]

Poor baby - best wishes