Unwell chicken

[snusnu95]

My Plymouth Rock who is around 10-11 months old (it's always the Plymouth Rock) has been a bit under the weather. She is lethargic, she doesn't move around much, she doesn't eat a lot. She just lays down. I have wormed them, and given them some natural yoghurt. I am going to try some garlic in their water to boost their immune systems.

She doesn't lay eggs, so is it possible she has weak legs from eating layer mash when she was very little, or has she got some viral infection, or parasite? Our other girls are completely fine, but our Plymouth has been this way for about a month now.

 

[Eggcessive]

It could be a number of things. I would start with a good overall exam of her crop first thing in the morning. If full and squishy, it could be sour crop, if hard and full, it could be impacted. Check all over, especially around the vent for lice and mites. Check her bowel movements for color and diarrhea. She could have internal laying problems or egg yolk peritonitis. Cocidiosis can also affect older hens that normally would be immune, if a new strain is brought in by new chickens ors on your shoes. Corid liquid 2 tsp per gallon of water for 5 days would be the treatment.

 

[snusnu95]

I haven't seen her pass a stool in a while, I have checked her vent and that is clear. She is also walking with a slight limp and her tail is down. She will lay for hours at a time and not walk around. Also when I mean she doesn't lay, she really is nowhere near. Her comb and wattles haven't grown since she was about 5 months old. She looks exactly the same now as she did back in April.

Even thoughs he's vaccinated for it I'm worried she has Mareks. Thank you for for your advice though I've decided to take her to the place I got her from to get the woman to check her out, I am praying it's not Mareks.

 

[snusnu95]

Update: And it was suspected mareks and she was euthanised

 

[BantamLover21]

Update: And it was suspected mareks and she was euthanised

I'm sorry for your loss.

Was the Marek's disease confirmed? If so, the rest of your flock (if they're unvaccinated) could be at risk.

 

[snusnu95]

The funny thing was the entire flock (MJ included) IS vaccinated. They come vaccinated. The vet said that sometimes the vaccine won't work properly (once in a blue moon). The others are a year old and are showing no symptoms. Our Araucana was recently clucky and still hasn't come back on the lay but that's about it. And no the mareks wasn't actually confirmed. We couldn't afford the testing for what it was (it was definitely determined she had no parasites) so my mother had her euthanised.