Rooster walking backwards Please Help!

[2ndTink]

I only have him and now 2 chickens that are 2 years old 1 is a Barred Rock and the other RIR he is the only frizzle I have ever owned, Should I check them for Marecks? I have never had any issues with my chickens my oldest died last month at 9 years old from Cancer this has been all new to me. Thank you so much for all your help.

Testing the others is up to you, since you only have 3 I'd be inclined to test them all, but, also if you test him and he has Mareks, the others are considered exposed and will likely also have Mareks whether they ever present symptoms or not.

 

[Bronx girls]

Testing the others is up to you, since you only have 3 I'd be inclined to test them all, but, also if you test him and he has Mareks, the others are considered exposed and will likely also have Mareks whether they ever present symptoms or not.

Oh wow! This is freighting to me I don’t want to lose any more chickens they are my therapy.

 

[2ndTink]

Oh wow! This is freighting to me I don’t want to lose any more chickens they are my therapy.

Do you know if the others were vaccinated?

 

[Bronx girls]

Do you know if the others were vaccinated?

They each came from a different place not together, but no they weren’t vaccinated.

 

[2ndTink]

They each came from a different place not together, but no they weren’t vaccinated.

Not all chickens exposed to Mareks will end up with issues.

 

[Bronx girls]

Not all chickens exposed to Mareks will end up with issues.

Thank you so much for all your help!!!!

 

[Bronx girls]

UPDATE: Well he finally finished his last dose of the meds and no improvement. I just spoke with the vet at length because she wanted to know how he was doing after he finished his final dose of the anti-inflamatory and her recommendations left me Heartbroken.

Since he has not improved she gave me 2 options:
1-Him living his life in the crate because he can not be put back with my hens because they will kill him, she feels he is alive because I have been feeding him and giving him water and that eventually he will die.
2- Is to put him down. I asked her about Mareks testing and she said she never heard of it and that I would be wasting my money again she suspects Mareks but no way to find out, and even if we did find out there is nothing to do for it, Aside from him walking backwards he eats, drinks and crows poor my poor lil fella.

Another thing she said was that since she does "suspect" Mareks that means my 2 remaining hens have been exposed and have it and since it is enviromental that I should not add ANY chicks to my flock until these 2 die, she said some chickens never develope symptoms and do well my 2 girls are doing great no symptoms of anything but that I can not add chicks, this one is hard.

I was planning on adding chicks this Spring but this changes everything. I have never experienced this in all the years I have had chickens my original flock died after 7 years and my last remaining original one died at 9yrs old from Cancer. I am at a loss for words

 

[LaFleche]

This is tough. Have a hug.

 

[Seaslug]

I want to preface this by saying that I am certainly no expert on anything chicken. But if I was you, I would check into the testing that was mentioned before, to see if it is able to verify Mareks. Because your decision on what to do with both your rooster and moving forward with chickens seems to really depend on getting a definitive diagnosis. I am sorry to hear about your rooster. If you do not want to give up on your rooster, it did seem to do well with the vitamins. Nothing says that you must give up now.

 

[2ndTink]

I want to preface this by saying that I am certainly no expert on anything chicken. But if I was you, I would check into the testing that was mentioned before, to see if it is able to verify Mareks. Because your decision on what to do with both your rooster and moving forward with chickens seems to really depend on getting a definitive diagnosis. I am sorry to hear about your rooster. If you do not want to give up on your rooster, it did seem to do well with the vitamins. Nothing says that you must give up now.

Agreed.