Sick Chicken Acting Drunk

[HollyKMS]

Last week we lost our Wyandotte mysteriously. Now our 6MO RIR bantie is sick. For the past couple of days, she won't leave the henhouse. I found an egg under her today but all three hens lay in the same spot so I don't know if it's hers or not (it wasn't warm or anything). Her crop feels big and hard, like it's stopped up, and she won't/can't eat, not even a live meal worm. She can barely stand up, keeps tottering over. This morning she crapped all over me when I went to medicate her infected eye (yeah, $32 for antibiotic eye ointment, just last week) and it was really icky & watery.

Any ideas?!?!

I've called the vet, we're going at 3:30--I have to drag all 3 kids with me, god help us all--but I'm at the end of my rope, emotionally and financially. This appt is another $63 (just to see the doctor- This doesn't include treatment for whatever's wrong). This morning I was at the same clinic having one of our bearded dragons put to sleep due to a broken back caused by metastatic bone disease (she was paralyzed).

*sigh* Not sure how much more I can take.

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated...

 

[Up-the-Creek]

So sorry you are having such a hard time!

I hope all goes well for you at the appt.,...please let us know how it went. Good luck!

 

[HollyKMS]

Vet suspects it might be Marek's Disease which means I could lose them all, and there's nothing I can do. I just have to wait it out and see.

 

[BLaBauve]

What were your Wyandotte's symptoms before he/she passed?

 

[HollyKMS]

That made the vet suspicious too, that Wyandotte just died, but Wyandotte had zero neurological symptoms. She just seemed to get sick, like from infection or internal injuries, then stopped eating and starved to death. It took two weeks to go from first symptoms to dead but she never walked strange or wobbled or acted 'weird' -and her eyes never changed. She just looked and acted like she was generally ailing.

The way RIR is looking and acting is thus far nothing like Wyandotte's demise. My original 3 (Wyand, Wels, Austra) came from a big place with hundreds of birds, people that showed, and RIR was one I picked up elsewhere a week later. I would assume that people with hundreds of chickens probably vaccinate or they'd risk losing everything, so maybe the others won't get it if RIR has it (?)

I really hope she doesn't have it. She's our super all-time favorite best chicken. She lets us PET her. Eats from our hands. Runs up and says hello when we go out. So gentle and clucky.

Luckily, Australorp & Welsummer are showing no signs of slowing down (yet). They were plucking and darting all over the yard today like the off-freezing weather gave them a new lease on life lol

It's just a waiting game now.

The vet gave her antibiotics to take for a few days and juiced her by filling her crop with food & hydrating her, just in case it was something else. RIR seemed a little better after that and even ate a little when we got back, but based on my luck this winter, I'm honestly not allowing myself to hold out much hope.

Have you had any experience with Marek's?....

 

[crtrlovr]

Quote:
I've had the unfortunate experience of having lost some of mine to Marek's, but just because it's there doesn't automatically mean a death sentence for all your chickens, even if they haven't been vaccinated. Your mortality rate will probably be higher, but those who survive may develop resistance and live healthy lives for quite some time to come. Ideally, once Marek's is found to be in a flock, it should remain "closed", i. e. no new chicks / adults in, none out to live anywhere else. When the base flock has lived out their lives (in my case; others may kill them, but that's not how we do things here...

), the vet suggested giving everything, and I mean EVERYTHING a cleaning that rivals no other on Earth, then letting everything sit empty for months, even up to a year, then recleaning everything, sterilizing everything, and starting over with a vaccinated, entirely new flock.

sigh.... I have decided to just not let any leave here, but am still considering getting some vaccinated chicks in the spring, and while they're growing out their feathers, they'll be building immunity to the virus, provided I don't foul up and forget to change clothes or shoes after coming in from the outside guys.

 

[BLaBauve]

I have no experience with Marek's (but I know lots of people on here do). I did have a 6 month old roo die after acting drunk for 2 weeks. He wobbled all the time and fell over when he tried to scratch at the ground. I was very new to chickens then and think it was lice or mites that took him down.

I asked a lot of people about the wobbliness and no one seemed to know what it was. . . I put him on antibiotics and probiotics and it obviously didn't help. All of my other hens survived. . . he was the only one to get sick and die.

Good luck, I will keep my fingers crossed it's not Mareks!

 

[Woods_Woman]

What a bummer, I am sorry to hear of your chicken troubles. Good luck I hope she feels better, and pray the rest of the flock does well.

 

[crtrlovr]

Quote:
This was what happened with some of the birds I lost, also, and it was confirmed that I did have Marek's in the flock, but the necropsy wasn't done on one of the birds that died with the slow decline type symptoms. I am guessing they did have the Marek's but that it manifested in a different way from normal, as did the ones who DID show neuro. symptoms. Mine didn't have the ocular change (no gray pupils), they didn't do the "splits" w/ one leg forward, one leg back, etc. What mine did was start losing weight, stumbling and losing their balance, then they gradually started leaning back on their hocks instead of standing on their feet, and as the disease progressed, they would be all the way back on their rumps with both feet stuck straight out in front of them. They would flop and try to keep themselves upright, but unless they were propped up, they couldn't remain upright. (I know, if you think it is heartbreaking reading about it, you wouldn't have wanted to be here to see them...

) I cried more than I thought I could ever cry. Between the Marek's, a vicious bout of coccidiosis, (lost 2), freak accidents, and that danged coyote I've lost about 20 birds since this spring. Here's looking forward to 2010 being a MUCH better year....

 

[HollyKMS]

Quote:
OMG! TELL ME NOOOO! That's TERRIBLE!!! How can your heart take it? Having to euthanize one pet then find another dying in one day was almost more than I could bear. I have no idea how you managed. That's so sad. I'm sorry.

(It'd be kinda hard for 2010 NOT to be better than that, huh?)

I guess I should be fortunate that I only have 8 birds that can die, not double-digits. (Wow, that's still a really depressing thought anyway) THANK YOU for telling me that they all might not die. The vet was all doom-and-gloom today--NO HOPE! THEY'RE ALL LOST!

I think she just didn't want me to get my hopes up, but GEEZ. Very nice lady, though. Super sympathetic.

Now I'm thinking: What're the odds that I managed to get 8 birds from 3 different locations and none of them were vaccinated? Isn't that the crux right now? Surely SOME of them were, right? Don't most people mass-producing chicks vaccinate? I hope so...

The vet said that I can have vaccinated birds, no problem, but the last thing on my mind is adding any birds. I'd already decided I was done adding to the flock anyway, and it's the dead of winter. 'Got three 5-wk-old leghorn pullets living in my garage, two 14-wk-old Ameraucana pullets in a side house/run, and the 3 bantams in the large main house/run. I have no other space for more birds, even if I had the heart for it. Plus, right now, if I may say so, my babies are bringing as much despair and sadness (and financial strain!) as they are joy. There's just nothing like waking up and your first thought being "OMG.. I wonder how she'll be this morning. Will she be dead? Suffering?..."

BTW- I note that you have 45 inside birds? Do you breed finches or keets? ..Just wondering how you have 45 birds living with 8 cats and no bloodshed! (ha)

Thanks for the info, everyone. Very helpful...

Holly