Can any Old Timers out there help me out please?
Illness? - Marek's Disease?
At the beginning of February, I was given approx. 25 chickens (for free) from someone who said that they "wanted out of the chicken-keeping busines". My FIL and I split them; I took some and he took some. My first mistake I suppose was not asking if they were vaccinated. The only thing I noticed even slightly wrong with any of them is a big black one (Australorp?) that was constantly sneezing. I chalked it up to stress from being moved and the absolute AWFUL amonia stench in their previous owners' coop. As time progressed, it never stopped but none of the others ever sneezed once so I let it go. Mistake number two. And, to my knowledge she's never laid a single egg.
In March, I got my 15 chicks from Meyer Hatchery, WITH the Marek's Vaccination. They have been completely healthy; I lost one to being trampled but other than that, no problems until recently. Since most of the adult chickens are bantams, I was able to introduce the chicks to them in May.
Two weeks ago, I came home and the RIR rooster-chick was pretty much dead; barely had any life left in him. He had been fine the day before. There was also a BR chick that was stumbling around like she was injured, though I found no external/obvious problem. I disposed of the RIR and seperated the BR in a small pen, with a BO to keep her company. She progressively got worse; day one, she wasn't walking. By day two or three she was dead. (I'm just a beginner at this, so even though I looked for an injury and didn't notice anything, it's very possible that I could have missed it.
)
NOW, the big black Australorp is stumbling around like the BR was. If she goes the same was as the other, she'll be dead by Monday. I'm really ready to
! I knew when I took the free chickens that I was taking a risk and I'm hating myself for it now. I've read that it's rare for a vaccinated chick to get Marek's; is that true? I may be jumping the gun, assuming that they have Marek's when I haven't had them tested, but the symptoms seem to be dead on and nothing else fits. They've been wormed, they have oyster shell, grit and DE available daily. Plenty of food available. I let them out of the coop/pen every afternoon when I get home.
I do have a bird who has found a way to get into the coop and made a nest, and I know that wild birds can transmit diseases.
We're also in the process of eradicating some o'possums who are getting into the coop and eating the feed. We finally killed one last night.
I'm going to do some extra work on the coop this weekend and bolt up the hole they managed to find and squeeze through.
Does anyone have any suggestions or thoughts? IF it's Marek's, there's nothing to do to get rid of it, but does anyone think that it may NOT be Marek's? Could it just be something that I'm not doing right or something that they could have eaten that poisoned them maybe? I'm grasping at straws here, looking for an answer...
Illness? - Marek's Disease?
At the beginning of February, I was given approx. 25 chickens (for free) from someone who said that they "wanted out of the chicken-keeping busines". My FIL and I split them; I took some and he took some. My first mistake I suppose was not asking if they were vaccinated. The only thing I noticed even slightly wrong with any of them is a big black one (Australorp?) that was constantly sneezing. I chalked it up to stress from being moved and the absolute AWFUL amonia stench in their previous owners' coop. As time progressed, it never stopped but none of the others ever sneezed once so I let it go. Mistake number two. And, to my knowledge she's never laid a single egg.
In March, I got my 15 chicks from Meyer Hatchery, WITH the Marek's Vaccination. They have been completely healthy; I lost one to being trampled but other than that, no problems until recently. Since most of the adult chickens are bantams, I was able to introduce the chicks to them in May.
Two weeks ago, I came home and the RIR rooster-chick was pretty much dead; barely had any life left in him. He had been fine the day before. There was also a BR chick that was stumbling around like she was injured, though I found no external/obvious problem. I disposed of the RIR and seperated the BR in a small pen, with a BO to keep her company. She progressively got worse; day one, she wasn't walking. By day two or three she was dead. (I'm just a beginner at this, so even though I looked for an injury and didn't notice anything, it's very possible that I could have missed it.
NOW, the big black Australorp is stumbling around like the BR was. If she goes the same was as the other, she'll be dead by Monday. I'm really ready to
I do have a bird who has found a way to get into the coop and made a nest, and I know that wild birds can transmit diseases.
Does anyone have any suggestions or thoughts? IF it's Marek's, there's nothing to do to get rid of it, but does anyone think that it may NOT be Marek's? Could it just be something that I'm not doing right or something that they could have eaten that poisoned them maybe? I'm grasping at straws here, looking for an answer...
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