Thoughts on what this could be?? Need help please

[PankakeZillA]

Hi there, long time follower of the forum and first time posting. I have been searching and searching for similar situations to what's going on with our chicks but seem to be getting all kinds of results. Some background, we have 2 older hens that are around 5 years old and aren't displaying any signs of illness. We then got a first round of 6 chicks from a local breeder in March. We lost 4 out of the 6 to a bear attack unfortunately, but the 2 that are left have not showed any signs of illness. We then got another batch of 10 chicks 4 weeks later from another local hatchery that seem to be having all of the issues. None of them have been vaccinated unfortunately, and I now realize the mistake of getting from 2 different sources for chicks, as well as them not being vaccinated.

I currently have two 12-week old chicks (the younger ones) that are not looking good. We have already lost 3 others due to similar symptoms. It usually starts with lethargy and eyes squinting. The others that already passed fluffed up really big and bloody stool was spotted, so I started everyone on an outbreak treatment dosage (2 tsp/gal) of liquid corrid for 7 days suspecting it might be coccidiosis. We still lost the 3 during the treatment and it was very sudden once symptoms started but for the others the bloody stool went away and things seemed fine. I gave them a round of poultry cell to help with vitamins and then another maintenance round of corrid (0.5tsp/gal) that they just finished yesterday. We had one start showing the same signs as before (eyes squinting and lethargic), but this chick also started having problems walking and is now completely unable to walk. I started looking into these other symptoms and questioned if maybe it's marek's instead. Then this morning I came across another of the younger chicks that was just standing still and didn't seem to want to come outside and stood wide-eyed next to the water without moving much, so I knew something was off with this one as well. I currently have the 2 sick chicks quarantined, but I realize if it is Marek's then it's already too late. I recently learned about necropsy and wish I had known about it sooner so that I could have had the others sent to the lab to know for sure what is going on. If the one passes, I will have a necropsy done but it can take up to 20 weeks to get results...so I'm trying to troubleshoot now if possible.

The only other suspicion I have is that they were exposed to mold when they first came outside and I worry it may be aspergillosis. None of the birds that have passed have shown signs of troubled breathing other than the one that can't walk currently. I'm at such a loss, I've never experienced this much of a mess with chickens and have raised many before without issues.

If any more info is needed, I'm happy to give it.

Thanks so much in advance.

 

[Saveria]

Well, I'll still give you a welcome to BYC,since it is your first official post.

First of all, I am so sorry you are going through this. Single deaths are hard, multiple deaths are just awful. It kind of painted my world while it was happening. I am sorry you are there, hopefully you'll be out of the woods soon.

Here is an article about mareks that also talks about other ailments that look like it. Maybe you can rule some of those out.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/the-great-big-giant-mareks-disease-faq.66077/

Also, vitamins supplements can effect how well the corid works, so it is better to just use corid alone, then do the vitamins on the alternating weeks. Not sure that is the issue, but just for future knowledge.

Hopefully some other folks will have other ideas as well, and you can get some more insight.

 

[PankakeZillA]

Well, I'll still give you a welcome to BYC,since it is your first official post.

First of all, I am so sorry you are going through this. Single deaths are hard, multiple deaths are just awful. It kind of painted my world while it was happening. I am sorry you are there, hopefully you'll be out of the woods soon.

Here is an article about mareks that also talks about other ailments that look like it. Maybe you can rule some of those out.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/the-great-big-giant-mareks-disease-faq.66077/

Also, vitamins supplements can effect how well the corid works, so it is better to just use corid alone, then do the vitamins on the alternating weeks. Not sure that is the issue, but just for future knowledge.

Hopefully some other folks will have other ideas as well, and you can get some more insight.

Thanks for the welcome! it's definitely been a rough month or so, I love our babies as they're pets and just want to give them the best life.

Thankfully I have been alternating the vitamins and corrid since I had read the vitamins can cause the corrid to not be effective since it tries to block thiamine uptake. I wondered if the first corrid treatment may have caused a deficiency in the one that's unable to walk right now, but I figured when alternating to the poultry cell it would make a difference and it didn't. The corrid doesn't seem to be having an effect on the ones that are sick, so I'm thinking it's not coccidiosis at this point.

 

[Saveria]

Thanks for the welcome! it's definitely been a rough month or so, I love our babies as they're pets and just want to give them the best life.

Thankfully I have been alternating the vitamins and corrid since I had read the vitamins can cause the corrid to not be effective since it tries to block thiamine uptake. I wondered if the first corrid treatment may have caused a deficiency in the one that's unable to walk right now, but I figured when alternating to the poultry cell it would make a difference and it didn't. The corrid doesn't seem to be having an effect on the ones that are sick, so I'm thinking it's not coccidiosis at this point.

Yes, you are probably right about the corid. That's great that you already knew about the thiamine. It sounds like you'll be in the answering questions role before we know it.

Did the article help at all? It definitely seemed like mareks was possible.

 

[PankakeZillA]

Yes, you are probably right about the corid. That's great that you already knew about the thiamine. It sounds like you'll be in the answering questions role before we know it.

Did the article help at all? It definitely seemed like mareks was possible.

The article was very informative. The other illnesses that sound similar don't really sound like what the chicks have been displaying, but it's hard to say since I can only go off the symptoms they are presenting which aren't very consistent other than it always starting with eyes squinting that leads to lethargic behavior. The one that can no longer walk was having bouts of bright green poo, which I saw is also a symptom of Marek's but she also hasn't been eating very much either so it's hard to say what it is. They are off corid now and I've given them more poultry cell to see if it helps the ones that are sick perk up at all. I'm not sure what else I can do, this has been such a stressful experience

 

[Saveria]

I'm not sure if anyone can tell you if is mareks for sure, but do you want to post a video of symptoms just in case someone can hook onto it? Maybe you can get a better idea at least.

If you are going to get a necrospsy done, I have heard that some state labs will let you bring a sick chicken to be euthanized there, so that way the results will be as accurate as possible. That might be a good option if you continue to suspect mareks.

 

[Saveria]

Yeah, I just can't feel normal when my birds are sick. I just lost one to internal laying. Even with just one, I keep going about my life and wondering why I feel so weird. Then I remember.

 

[PankakeZillA]

Well, the most recent chick that started acting strange was dead in the coop this morning my other one that isn’t able to walk is actually showing signs of improvement though, which befuddles me. I switched to some rooster booster with electrolytes and probiotics to see if it would help at all, and the one that couldn’t even sit up at one point is now sitting up, eating and drinking! It seems like she may have something different than all the others we have lost but I’m really not sure at this point. I found the other this morning with her head bent all the way back, like wry neck but I’ve read if it’s Mareks then that can also cause wry neck. I’m thinking i will take the one that passed to get a necropsy done tomorrow since I can’t take off work today. They still won’t have results for a while though so I don’t know if there’s anything else I can do in the mean time. All the others showed signs one day and dropped within a day or two which doesn’t sound like Mareks since from what I’ve read it usually is progressive and can take weeks. Any thoughts? I feel like I’m spinning in circles


I also have a video of the one that passed from yesterday but not sure how to upload it here if that’s possible?

 

[Saveria]

If you suspect wry neck the important vitamin to get in them is vitamin E. I'm not sure about dose, but you can probably look up "vitamin E dose for wry neck" and get it.

I know of another illness that can cause multiple deaths called avian leucosis. Typically you will see it in older birds, where marek you will see it affecting younger ones, but not always.

Are you able to get a necropsy done? They should be able to tell you at least if mareks or avian leucosis is at play.

I know there is a way to upload videos now, but I am not sure how to do it. You can post onto youtube or vimeo, etc. and then post a link here. Or you can put that link into the media button at the top of the text field here.

 

[Saveria]

Here is a thread about Avian Leucosis if you get a chance to look at it.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/what-is-wrong-with-my-chickens.1574790/#post-26752885