Single chicken. What to do?

[Agathachristiehens]

I have lost two of my little flock of three to Marek’s. The third girl is currently healthy but has now been left alone.

She seems to be ok but I’m concerned she’s going to become stressed.

I obviously can’t acquire more birds as she is likely a carrier of Marek’s, even if she doesn’t succumb herself.

What can I do to help her cope?

 

[Eggcessive]

See how it goes. I have a surviving 9 year old chicken who is the last of my flock. She is doing fine by herself in her familiar chicken barn. Her mates died earlier of old age, and she recently had 2 other birds from another small flock who she lived with for the last year. They recently passed on. I don’t want to add new baby chicks until all of my old flock is gone, so as not to pass on anything that may be in the flock. You can add a mirror and have plenty of things for her to explore. I visit her a couple of times a day and throw out some treats. I hear her vocalizing during the day and she doesn’t seem stressed.

 

[Agathachristiehens]

Thank you, that’s really helpful.

She has lots of things to do and I’ll get her some food-related toys. She’s a greedy guts. I visit her a lot throughout the day and she appears to be on red alert and slightly more highly strung than usual.

They’re only just four so I feel quite bereft that I lost them so young. I was hoping to have them for as long as possible. I wanted them to be record breakers! So there’s a chance I’m projecting my own sadness onto her.

A mirror will be good. I wish I could let her roam and have fun scratching but the DEFRA restrictions are endlessly in place.

 

[JustAChickenLoverOverHere]

See how it goes. I have a surviving 9 year old chicken who is the last of my flock. She is doing fine by herself in her familiar chicken barn. Her mates died earlier of old age, and she recently had 2 other birds from another small flock who she lived with for the last year. They recently passed on. I don’t want to add new baby chicks until all of my old flock is gone, so as not to pass on anything that may be in the flock. You can add a mirror and have plenty of things for her to explore. I visit her a couple of times a day and throw out some treats. I hear her vocalizing during the day and she doesn’t seem stressed.

Advice from the best!

 

[Agathachristiehens]

Thank you.

I’ve been reading up on Marek’s. I’m not sure how it got introduced into my little flock of three. I’m so very sad that I lost them at just four. I absolutely adored my chickens and hoped to have them for long and happy lives. I hate how they’ve suffered at the hands of this disease. And I’m fearful my final hen will suffer too. She’s currently bright as a button but so was my last girl until suddenly she wasn’t. I read it will sit there for a year and when they appear ill, it’s much too late.

The vet said my options were to make her comfortable or euthanise her myself without drugs. I’m afraid, perhaps selfishly, I couldn’t do that. I couldn’t bear the idea of her final moments being terrifying and painful at my hands.

Anyway, I’ve read it’s entirely preventable. Presumably through vaccination. But how did it get into my girls at all? Especially as for the last couple of years, due to bird flu, their lives have been limited?

 

[Eggcessive]

Did you ever get Mareks confirmed with a necropsy or a test? Those are sometimes available, but not sure about where you are located. Are you in the UK? Is there a poultry lab or college that you can contact?

There can be some diseases that may resemble Mareks. It usually affects young birds under a year old. If exposed at a later age by a nonsymptomatic carrier, it can show up in birds older. Here is a good article that might be helpful:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/the-great-big-giant-mareks-disease-faq.66077/

 

[Fluffets324]

I have lost two of my little flock of three to Marek’s. The third girl is currently healthy but has now been left alone.

She seems to be ok but I’m concerned she’s going to become stressed.

I obviously can’t acquire more birds as she is likely a carrier of Marek’s, even if she doesn’t succumb herself.

What can I do to help her cope?

Hey during the first lockdown we lost 2 of our 3 remaining chickens and had our old girl, Pinga, on her own for about 5 weeks before we could get new flock members. She was happy to come in the house and spend time sat with us (though not possible for all chicken owners!) and we spent lots of time outside with her. She seemed happy enough with our company, and I chatted to her at night before she settled to sleep so she wasn't too lonely. Hope yours is doing ok

 

[Agathachristiehens]

Did you ever get Mareks confirmed with a necropsy or a test? Those are sometimes available, but not sure about where you are located. Are you in the UK? Is there a poultry lab or college that you can contact?

There can be some diseases that may resemble Mareks. It usually affects young birds under a year old. If exposed at a later age by a nonsymptomatic carrier, it can show up in birds older. Here is a good article that might be helpful:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/the-great-big-giant-mareks-disease-faq.66077/

I didn’t. My vet was convinced it was Marek’s. Due to the bird flu restrictions on us at the moment he seemed to think we may have issues with testing.

It presented slightly different in both birds. My first girl showed a limp first then sort of wasted away over weeks. I thought she improved but then she massively declined. Awful. My second girl just slowed and stopped eating or drinking. Then her eye went grey and her pupil irregular. Both girls showed dehydrated and purpling of their combs early on. It took a couple of weeks for my second girl to succumb. There was a few weeks between my first girl dying and my second getting sick.

I read somewhere that it can live in the soil? Obviously they’ve lived entirely closed lives to wild birds (I wrapped their outside run in fruit netting so they could still be outside) so I can’t imagine how it’s been passed. Unless rodents can transport it?

I’ve been reading and reading and am struggling to find anywhere that says how it is introduced into a closed flock.

I read one thing that said it’s rare in a closed backward flock and now I’m worried I’ve done something wrong.

 

[Agathachristiehens]

Hey during the first lockdown we lost 2 of our 3 remaining chickens and had our old girl, Pinga, on her own for about 5 weeks before we could get new flock members. She was happy to come in the house and spend time sat with us (though not possible for all chicken owners!) and we spent lots of time outside with her. She seemed happy enough with our company, and I chatted to her at night before she settled to sleep so she wasn't too lonely. Hope yours is doing ok

Thank you. I’m going to bring her in to keep me company. My dogs are a bit frightened of her so hopefully they’ll behave themselves.

 

[Fluffets324]

Thank you. I’m going to bring her in to keep me company. My dogs are a bit frightened of her so hopefully they’ll behave themselves.

My chickens and dog are frightened of each other ha hopefully that'll help her yeah