Questions about mareks

[Tanner123]

I have a 8-9 month old polish who was limping 2 days ago. I didnt notice her limping in the morning (although its possible she was in her nesting box), come home from work and she barely put weight on her leg. We first soaked in Epsom salt thinking maybe bumble foot but couldn't find any other signs on her foot. Kept her in a crate at night and let her out to peep around with her flock for short times. She has improved but not 100%. She eats well, laid a egg, other than wanting to be held more she acts normal (was dustbathing today, preening, tries to run at times) Hoping and praying its just a injury but I've read a lot of different things about mareks. Curious how fast symptoms like lame foot will set it? Will they run around one day and then barely use their foot the next? Is it possible if they do have mareks for symptoms to improve or do they only get worse? What kind of personality changes will they have? Will they still lay eggs?

 

[Eggcessive]

First thing is I would calm down. Chickens can injure themselves jumping off roosts, getting jumped on or mated, having an egg pressing on the sciatic nerve. Does she have curled under toes or does she try to put weight on her foot and it seem “asleep?” Does she have any swelling or green/blue bruising of her joint or leg? Check for any scabs on her foot pad.

 

[Tanner123]

First thing is I would calm down. Chickens can injure themselves jumping off roosts, getting jumped on or mated, having an egg pressing on the sciatic nerve. Does she have curled under toes or does she try to put weight on her foot and it seem “asleep?” Does she have any swelling or green/blue bruising of her joint or leg? Check for any scabs on her foot pad.

After we soaked her foot in Epsom salt we didnt see any scabs so we kind of ruled out bumblefoot. Haven't seen any bruising either. At first she didn't seem to want to put any weight on it and kind of used her wing for balance. She now stands on it and walks better but will lift her leg up. Her toes don't curl when she lifts her leg up, but if I put my finger under her foot she will curl her toes around my finger slightly.

 

[Eggcessive]

Lifting her leg could mean that it hurts, which is more likely from a sprain.

 

[Tanner123]

Lifting her leg could mean that it hurts, which is more likely from a sprain.

That's what we are hoping and praying for. We have been giving her vitamin water and trying to keep her isolated so she can heal, although she hates it. We have 2 older hens (not exactly sure how old, they came with the house when we bought it but guessing 4ish yrs old.) And 11 other hens all 8-9 months. They have been in the same coop together but divided by chicken wire for 6 months. I would think if it was mareks that was already present in the coop it would have showed sooner. Is mareks widely spread among wild birds like mg?

 

[Eggcessive]

I don’t think she has Mareks, and I would tend to put her back with her friends if she hasn’t been gone too long feom them. But don’t let her get pecked or bullied if they have done that.At least let her have a friend visit with her. Mareks spreads through feather dust and dander, and you wouldn’t be able to contain it just by separating her.

 

[Tanner123]

I don’t think she has Mareks, and I would tend to put her back with her friends if she hasn’t been gone too long feom them. But don’t let her get pecked or bullied if they have done that.At least let her have a friend visit with her. Mareks spreads through feather dust and dander, and you wouldn’t be able to contain it just by separating her.

We have been letting her out periodically through the day to peep around with the rest of her flock but pull her out periodically through the day and at night to get her to rest and not be jumping up and down from the roost. Luckily nobody has tried to bully her. I believe it's a sprain also but think I will still soak her feet in Epsom salt just to be safe in case it somehow is bumblefoot even if I don't see any scabs (I figure it can't hurt). Since all the other birds are happy and healthy I'm guessing it's not meraks. If it was meraks it should show up in more birds correct? Is there any other causes I should be looking into just to be safe?

 

[Eggcessive]

I would five it some time for her to recover from a sprain, since it can take weeks.