Stretches neck to breath

[hersheyhappyhens]

Six and half month hen has been breathing this way. No other hens 29 are showing symptoms. When I discovered her she had an empty crop. She did eat and drink several times that evening. This morning she won’t eat on her own. So I drop bites of soaked organic bread into her open beak as she takes breaths. Her poop was normal last night. Today smaller with some more liquid yellow with green form. We do have a Mereks positive flock. She was vaccinated with our 19 younger addictions. We could be dealing with Merks. We are feeding bacilin in their feed. file:///var/mobile/Library/SMS/Attachments/bd/13/D32B5099-8D69-4121-9021-F198AD5AD46C/IMG_5492.MOV

 

[hersheyhappyhens]

I don’t know if the video posted. There is no wheezing, discharge from eyes, or mouth. No abnormal breathing sounds

 

[TimonHens]

What ever happened? Same problem

 

[hersheyhappyhens]

After day three, we found her dead. It appeared that her body shut down. Her crop was filled with fluid and she had not pooped that night. Each day of hand feeding was more difficult for her to swallow. We suspect is was a form of Mareks, since we have a positive flock.

One of her flock mates also had a crop issue the same week that we were trying to resolve. We got most of the grain to pass out of the crop. However, by day 3 she still had some corn kernels and some other grains. So for three days, we would vomit her once a day. A few grains would come out during the vomit. Then we would feel a few more grains later in the day that must have come from her proventriculus. She was not eating any grain. My conclusion was that there must have been a tumor blocking the grains from going to the gizzard. On day 7 she was very weak, and hand feeding was not helping. Her poop that had the solid portion of green was now to a thread diameter. The green part of the poop was getting narrower each day.
We tried all the advice we could do on our research. We even tried the inserting a feeding tube down to where it would stop, believing perhaps we could locate a blockage.

We do have our flock on preventative Baicalin mixed in their feed.

We finally made the hard decision to let her rest in peace and did the cervical dislocation. It was a draining week for us emotionally as we tried our best to resolve and knew it was time to say good bye to our Sunny hen. We have done 5 necropsies over the years, and did not believe there would have been any thing that we did not already suspect.

Thank you for your follow up. It really appreciate your concern. Love and blessing so you and your family and flock.

 

[TimonHens]

Thanks. I didn't realize there was something we could do with known Marecks.
My original vaccinated birds have been fine, but every subsequent addition has taken heavy losses, even when vaccinated.
This is definitely a newer presentation and perhaps after standing around in the snow too much. Doesn't quite look like the other Marecks yet.

Looks like I'll be ordering some Baicalin to time with the next wave of chicks.

 

[hersheyhappyhens]

I found it on the FB Mareks group. There is so much info it can be overwhelming. But it is a good group. The 2 chickens that passed were vaccinated for Mareks. Our "first ladies" that are still in our closed flock, were not vaccinated. That is a whole issue that has pros and cons. Thanks again for reaching out. Blessings
here is the name of the group: Positive About Marek's and Avian Leukosis Virus