Hi, I have completed a diploma in Animal Homeopathy (but am not practicing) and I am the 'mother' of a Marek's survivor. At least, I think its Marek's. She limped on one leg, and kept tripping over herself as if she couldn't feel her feet, and she didn't want to eat or drink and was very thin (I could feel her keel). Then the other leg stopped working.
I tried Hypericum but I don't think it worked for her. In fact, I am fortunate to have 200+ remedies at my disposal. The difficulty with homeopathy is that you are treating symptoms, not a disease. So it didn't matter much to me whether she had Marek's disease because I was choosing my remedies based on the symptoms she was exhibiting. However, when your animal can't explain if there is pain, or what kind of pain or where, or concommitants (symptoms elsewhere in the body seemingly unrelated to the disease), or whether she feels better or worse by doing certain things (e.g. better for motion, worse for eating, better for warmth) - when your animal can't describe any of these, you are left with very few things to work with.
Hypericum is a leading homeopathic remedy for nerve problems (jam your fingers in the door, Hypericum would probably help) but it doesn't mean that it will 'cure' all birds that have paralysis of their extremities. There are in fact, many homeopathic remedies that can help with paralysis. Some for ascending paralysis, some for paralysis of one side of the body, etc. The difficulty is finding the right one.
Even with training, I tried probably 15-20 different Rxs over a period of several weeks and it was depressing. Especially when the second leg gave out. The only thing that stopped me from taking her to the vet to be put down (the vet had initially suggested Marek's when the limping began) was that I wanted to try a few more remedies before I admitted failure. Plus, after Tammy gave up on food and water in the beginning (I syringed stuff into her and gave her Rxs for depression), by the time she was 'legless', she was eating loads and preening herself. I've since decided preening might sometimes just be a way of appearing normal so you don't get picked off by a predator. I'm sure a chicken expert can confirm or deny this.
It is now 5 weeks since I first noticed her limping and she's walking slowly but is back to hanging out with my other 4 birds. After she showed signs of improving, I stopped giving the homeopathic Rxs but after a week without them, she stopped eating/drinking so I reinstated and she started eating again. I do not know whether she is over her limping problems but I am hopeful. Sometimes when you get a remedy close to the correct one, you have a initial improvement but the remedy can't 'hold' and the disease takes control again.
I would recommend to anyone with birds that have an 'incurable' disease as I understand Marek's to be, that they see an animal homoepath. I'm not suggesting you bypass your vet, but after they've told you its incurable and only have one answer (euthanasia).
Animal homeopaths probably don't have a lot of experience with poultry (I am only a Mother Hen of 6 months and know little about them myself) but if you observe your bird well before you see them, you might be able to give enough information for the AH to give the right rx. It might even turn out that there are 3-4 leading rxs for Marek's and Hypericum is one of them. This might explain why a number of you seem to have success with Hypericum despite not knowing much about homeopathy!
The remedy that I think helped my Rhode Islander, for what its worth, was Gelsemium. Keynotes of the Rx include trembling, weakness and drowsiness (eyes were heavy lidded) but that was about the only things I had to go on and it may not work for your bird. However, next time you have the flu and exhibit these symptoms, it might be the Rx for you
Homeopathic Rxs need to touch the mucous membranes but they are pretty robust. Some homeopaths report good results despite handling the pills, dropping them on the floor a couple of times and then putting them in a large trough of dirty water. For my hen, I put a pill in a small jar, banged the lidded jar on the table a couple of times (to make sure the rx energy is transferred to the water), then I aimed the syringe at my hens beak and she swallowed some of it down. I also poured it on her food to moisten the pellets.
I hope this helps some of you. There are plenty of people who think homeopathy is pure quackery (no pun) but the great thing about treating animals with it, is that you can't put it down to placebo effect. If there is no other reasonable explanation or serendipitous coincidence then maybe its those little sugar pills that you put in their water.
Good luck.
