Tail injury with swelling.

[azygous]

Did you know that, if you can get a doctor to prescribe it, vaciclovir can treat most symptoms of Marek's? It's not a cure, but it can buy extra time for the affected chickens. Vaciclovir treats herpes lip sores and shingles in humans.

 

[Exopoulterer]

Update:

We just put poor Big Red down today after she seemed to improve and actually ate for a few days.

I should have done it sooner but this was my first time and she seemed to get better and gave me some false hope.

She started out with being last to come out of the coop and first to go in. Stopped accepting mating attempts by Cleatus and he pretty much left her alone until she became weaker, then started trying occasionally . Her comb got a bit purple at the back and she stopped laying. I discovered that her crop was like a walnut on a couple mornings. Coconut oil and massage addressed the crop but she still had next to no appetite and poop that was small, infrequent, and mostly like liquid urates with the tiniest little green pellet type solids. Urate material started to become yellow. Abdominal swelling would be up and down and then was not bad/maybe normal?, for a little while. We tried torpedo feeding for a few days but decided that I would stop all force feeding as she was probably not going to make it for long. We brought her in to be alone when she would fly to the top roost in the run to sleep instead of with Cleatus and Nuz in the coop.

She began to have abdominal swelling getting worse with the return of her appetite and thirst. Her comb also became red again without a hint of purple during the time we nursed her inside. She was alert more often and poops returned to almost normal. She was still weak.

I suspect reproductive issues like sudden internal laying but possibly brought on by Mareks. She never laid an egg that wasn't perfect but just stopped after 2 days in a row trying and failing to lay. Her comb never got pale even with her suspected stress molt.

We will perform a necropsy on her tomorrow because it was just too much for my daughter and I to do it right after ending her life.

I miss her voice that I haven't heard for a week. I miss my greedy bird that refused to give another chicken a chance to get a treat. She wasn't cuddly and didn't even like to be petted but she was still bold and friendly. She was my best layer and Miss Perfect. The strongest one and not a feather out of place until this just hit her.

I am down to 2 chickens from my original 5 and one is a rooster.

This is hard and I just had to get it out.

 

[azygous]

It never gets easier losing a chicken. And having to be the one to end it, is even harder. It's the bravest, most loving act we can do for our chickens when the time comes. You're a hero.

 

[Exopoulterer]

It never gets easier losing a chicken. And having to be the one to end it, is even harder. It's the bravest, most loving act we can do for our chickens when the time comes. You're a hero.

Thank you for that.

We performed part of a home necropsy on Big Red yesterday morning. We discovered that we absolutely ended her suffering.

Once we drained her and then opened her abdominal cavity it was overwhelmingly evident that her suffering was caused by cancer due to Mareks.

We thought perhaps it was reproductive system related because of her symptoms but her intestines and much of her abdominal cavity had many firm tumors. Too many to count that had adhered some other organs and made it difficult to see what was what.

I decided that it was all I needed to see after moving aside her intestines and gizzard. It was so bad that I never even made it to her reproductive system or kidneys because they were all obscured by presumably cancerous lesions that were pale and up to 1cm each. So, so many.

It will be easier to decide when to give up on a bird in the future after seeing what was inside her. However, all 3 of my losses were unique in symptom development and Dove had some tumors but not even close to Big Red's numerous masses.

With this form of Mareks, it is like a silent killer. I can't help but imagine those tumors inside my 2 remaining chickens that seem fine apart from a few stress barred feathers on Cleatus' bowtie.

 

[Exopoulterer]

Update again:
The Nuzzler got diarrhea around March 2nd and that was her last egg. I dewormed with albendazole on March 4th and started corid on the 6th when she didn't improve.
I discontinued the corid yesterday evening when she became even worse and more lethargic with unsteady gait and droopy wings, panting often.

This morning she wouldn't even take water and seemed to do a movement with her neck and even attempted to push one drop out with her tongue when offered with a spoon to the tip of her beak. Unable to swallow.

We put her to rest at 7PM.

Now we just have Cleatus.

I brought him in to hang out near her for most of the day. I was hoping he could encourage her to eat or drink. He tidbitted and stayed near the open crate but crowed a bit. No attempts to mate thank goodness. He didn't even get nasty like he tends to do but he was in my territory.

What am I going to do with one ornery rooster?

I was thinking to just let him be with us more often even if he didn't seem to like us.

When I went to let Cleatus outside he stayed by the door and made noises. He obviously doesn't want to be alone and came right inside the scary house when I opened the door.

He is sleeping in the coop alone now but I don't know what the plan is depending on how he adapts. We might just end his suffering if he becomes ornery even without having hens.

This sucks!

 

[azygous]

This is all so sad. I'm sorry you lost this hen, too.

I will make a prediction. Without any hens to be concerned about, Cleatus will start to behave more like a pet and he may start to bond with the humans. If you have a dog, he may turn to the dog for friendship. You will likely be surprised to see his belligerence disappear.

Roosters are different animals without hens to keep them excited.

 

[aliris]

Expopoulterer - all your experiences and stories and heartache are giving a lot if information to at least this stranger out here. I am so deeply sorry for so much pain in so many directions. And I am deeply heartened to learn of so much loving care being exerted toward these birds. You are a wonderful exemplar of a human to care so well and lovingly for this flock. Their memory aids my own efforts, and we all of us thank you.

 

[Exopoulterer]

This is all so sad. I'm sorry you lost this hen, too.

I will make a prediction. Without any hens to be concerned about, Cleatus will start to behave more like a pet and he may start to bond with the humans. If you have a dog, he may turn to the dog for friendship. You will likely be surprised to see his belligerence disappear.

Roosters are different animals without hens to keep them excited.

Thank you for that.

I have my hopes that he will gentle a bit. I have always loved him even if he has not loved us back.

It is also concerning to see a change in his demeanor as of course he is probably very sick too. He has the stress bars on some of his newer feathers like at least 3 of my girls did. I didn't look too closely at Dove's feathers to my regret because she is splash and it wasn't obvious. Early molting in a too young bird and stress bars will get my hackles up from now on. It is the only consistent thing I have found is a warning that something is seriously going wrong in their bodies.

Cleatus hasn't seemed to actually molt but loses and grows feathers here and there from being a jerk mostly. Falling on his tail when attacking breaks feathers and all that flapping has him replacing wing feathers a bit too. Poor guy is his own worst enemy. I still give him all the good treats and let him know how he couldn't have it any better in that regard.

 

[Exopoulterer]

Expopoulterer - all your experiences and stories and heartache are giving a lot if information to at least this stranger out here. I am so deeply sorry for so much pain in so many directions. And I am deeply heartened to learn of so much loving care being exerted toward these birds. You are a wonderful exemplar of a human to care so well and lovingly for this flock. Their memory aids my own efforts, and we all of us thank you.

Thank you so much.

I am glad if this information and short experience helps anyone else. I was thinking about eventually making a post about everything I noticed and experienced. I just feel like I suck at it and it will take time to put together with photos. I photographed the necropsies so far but am not ready to go through them. Still too sore.

However, I did contact the site moderators to see if I could have (Mareks DX) added to this post's title so it can be searched by people who might want to know about a Mareks experience.

 

[User690263]

I'm so, so sorry that you're having to go through the losses of so many birds in such a short time.
I hope that Cleatus is ok, give him lots of love and treats from all of us here on BYC!