Rooster can no longer walk

[clayb226]

If it's botulism he would have died in a few days.
If you do a necropsy, just know that with the paralysis, you may not see tumors, just enlarged nerves.
Whether you start over or not isn't going to solve the problem should it be Marek's. The best you can do is vaccinate any day olds and quarantine them for 3-6 weeks to let the vaccine work. Vaccinated chicks/chickens can get and carry Marek's and give it to others. They just won't die from the symptoms (90%).

If you got chickens that were older, they could have carried it in. Then the chicks would have died weeks after being exposed to the older chickens.

So I gather from this that is can not be botulism, because it has been a week since the signs first arose? I am also curious, as I have read, that if I clean my land and get rid of all my birds, that the virus can live up to 65 weeks. If this is true, I would be able to start a new flock in as little as 1.25-1.5 years. I am not wanting to do the vax and just suppress the symptoms, I am wanting to get rid of the virus all together. I am wanting to be able to sale birds of all ages, with my kids, so the virus will not be able to be carried anywhere. I have not added any outside birds to my flock in 18 months or more. This is why I was surprised to hear it could be marek's, the bird in question is around 2 years old now, and has never showed any symptoms at all. Always been very healthy.

1 tablespoon of Epson Salts in a 1/2 cup of water. I used a soft piece of aquarium hose attached to a large syringe to easily get the solution down the birds throat and into the crop. Doing this 1-2 times a day usually gets the bird back on it's feet. When it isn't treated they eventually suffer from paralysis. Feeding table scraps that are allowed to spoil can cause this. The yard needs to be maintained to be free of rotten or toxic materials

I did throw some veggies and fruit in there, not long before this arose, and they did not all get ate and started to rot. This makes me wonder if it could be what I threw them that caused this? I will try to get this going tonight or tomorrow, how would I be able to tell for sure, if he comes back, without getting his blood drawn and sent to a lab?

 

[seminolewind]

Well, Marek's can live on your property for 4 years. The best you can do is vaccinate day olds and quarantine them for 3-6 weeks.
(The 4 year number is from "Diseases of Poultry" chief editor W.M. Saif. ) It's a reference book for a university poultry program. There are hundreds of poultry research doctors that contributed. You can find it at Amazon if you want to know more.

With Botulism, a chicken will most likely die within 3 days. If not death, you would most likely see pretty good improvement within a week. There is a university lab that can take the blood and test for Marek's. (Texas A&M) ? It's not that expensive. http://tvmdl.tamu.edu/tests_service...sease-(PCR)&unit_id=1349&unit_effdt=02-JUN-10

 

[clayb226]

Well, Marek's can live on your property for 4 years. The best you can do is vaccinate day olds and quarantine them for 3-6 weeks.
(The 4 year number is from "Diseases of Poultry" chief editor W.M. Saif. ) It's a reference book for a university poultry program. There are hundreds of poultry research doctors that contributed. You can find it at Amazon if you want to know more.

With Botulism, a chicken will most likely die within 3 days. If not death, you would most likely see pretty good improvement within a week. There is a university lab that can take the blood and test for Marek's. (Texas A&M) ? It's not that expensive. http://tvmdl.tamu.edu/tests_service...sease-(PCR)&unit_id=1349&unit_effdt=02-JUN-10

4 years is a looooooonnnnngggg time!!?? That would be a bummer, I just check on him, and he seems to be doing a lot better now, but still not using his right leg much. He has been in a cage for a week or so now, and seems better than I have seen him in the weeks or so he has had this issue. seminolewind, I would like to thanks you for all your input, it can be a little difficult watching something like this go on, and feel helpless, easy to not accept what may turn out to be his fate. I am just having a problem accepting that it is marek's at this point. I have contacted the state vet, he said there are some poultry vets around, but I can contact the extension center to find one. Thanks again to everyone on this deal.

 

[sarafrog]

I lost a hen in early December whose only symptoms were depression and emaciation and now I have a second hen who has been sick for nearly 2 weeks. Her symptoms are generally consistent with what you described in your rooster. She is slowly recovering but still doesn't have good use of her right leg. I thought my chicks were vaccinated but when I spoke with the staff at the feed store, they said the hatchery they order from only vaccinates the parents. Chicks get a few weeks worth of immunity from their mothers but vaccination is still a good idea. Also, note the following from the Merck website:

"Marek’s disease is one of the most ubiquitous avian infections; it is identified in chicken flocks worldwide. Every flock, except for those maintained under strict pathogen-free conditions, may be presumed to be infected. Although clinical disease is not always apparent in infected flocks, a subclinical decrease in growth rate and egg production may be economically important."

http://www.merckvetmanual.com/mvm/index.jsp?cfile=htm/bc/203602.htm

ALSO, wild song birds are often carriers of Marek's disease so the idea of eradicating it on your land is not feasible. Sorry.

 

[seminolewind]

Sara, many feed store employees know absolutely nothing about chicken health. I doubt them if they say their chicks are vaccinated because it is an expense they don't want. It doesn't matter if the hen is vaccinated. That will only save her from the tumors. Not the disease.

Vaccinate every day old chick.

I like those hatcheries that ship chicks, I buy them vaccinated and keep them separate. The thing about hatchery day olds is that they are hatched in an incubator, go thru some conveyer belt , and packed for shipment. Pretty clean from disease if you ask me.

 

[clayb226]

Talked to the poultry people and the college today, they acted like there is not much to worry about. I told him about all my plans to show and sale, and he said it should not spread, as it is the chicks that get infected and 90% or more flocks has the virus in them already, but maybe not the disease. He said to keep my chicks isolated, the longer the better, and not to worry too much. He did not even recommend killing the rest of my flock at this point, as they have no symptoms and are past the age to catch it?? I will go ahead and get my next order of chicks, after I kill, and dispose, of my rooster and will see how it goes. I will be sending the rooster to the university for testing to see what was up, but he said to look it over real good as he would be suprised if it was marek's this late in the game. He leaned more towards a slipped tendon or something, but said that would just be something to look for, and did not even try to rule mareks out, but gave possibilities. He said they would be more than happy to check the rooster out, post-mortum, for me for $35-$55. I am going to move on now, and work on these suggestions and see how it goes. What do you all think about this advise? From what I have researched, it makes since to me, but do not want to spread anything to any other flocks, as he indicated it would be OK, to sale birds and chicks. Thanks for all you guys have done for this issue, looking forward to getting this figured out, and straightened up.

 

[casportpony]

It sounds like what my first roo went thru with Marek's. Sorry to say it.

It sounds like some of mine, too.

 

[casportpony]

Oh, and one more thing, I do not know if it is significant or not, but not long before he started this I noticed a single black dot on his comb. I know it was not there before, and thought is may of been a little frostbite or something. I hope this can help point in a direction other than marek's.

I now know that Merek's can present in many ways, swellings, bruising, lameness, ocular are some that I have seen.

 

[PoultryPedia]

If he has a a slipped tendon, he will not be able to straighten the leg.

 

[casportpony]

Here is one at the onset of slipped tendon.



In this case, the most probable cause was too much protein. This peachick was getting 27% turkey starter and about 25-50 grams of mealworms a day.