unsteady/off-balance hen - what to look for?

[BantamChickenLand]

I did - thanks for checking. I don't get on here very often, and it's been a lot to think about. I was also hoping I'd hear back from the pathologist about whether or not I could order a PCR to confirm. Everything else was ruled out - Newcastle's, AI, heavy metal poisoning, so the default diagnosis was Marek's .

I didn't get an answer as to why they don't do PCR's for Marek's even though they exist, but I didn't press too much - I was curious more than anything (is it not a reliable PCR test? is Marek's just so common that it's not worth it? is there some kind of licensing thing that makes it more expensive for them to use? is it relatively new and they just haven't revised their protocol?)

Anyway, I'm still finding my bearings in the post-Marek's diagnosis world - it changes a lot, unfortunately, though so far no one else has any symptoms (knock on wood - do I dare say that??), so here's to hoping that its impact on the rest of my flock is minimal...

It does mean that I will likely have to euthanize the cockerel I was just about to rehome (this time I thought I had a pretty good shot at someone wanting him - he's a pretty and calm guy so far - and had a back-up place for him, if no one wanted him), unless by some miracle someone else with a Marek's positive flock wants to take the risk of taking him and letting him live as long as he can. But that seems pretty slim, seeing as I've never found anyone (other than the feed store) who wanted my perfectly healthy cockerels in the past.

That’s unfortunate. It is common. The vaccine isn’t a good one as they can still carry and transmit. Best wishes.

 

[CountryHam]

At some point in the last few hours, she died. I'm looking into local necropsy options - it sounds like there's an affordable state lab within an hour drive in Davis, CA.

I’m sorry to hear that city, we lost a few birds to some undiscovered pokeberry plants