whats wrong with my 10 wk old pullet game hen

[vikingchickens]

she is one of 3 female chicks and mother that I saved from opossum that did get 2 of the original 5 chicks. mother was setting on the just off a path in our upper backyard. I posted about them for a while after this happened this past first of September. we were able to move them outside to a cage and run about 3 weeks ago and they have done well. suddenly yesterday I went out to feed them and this little girl was in corner of lower cage run unable to walk or hold her head up. she can flap her wings, push herself in a circle trying to get up but cannot. she still has energy, but don't know if she can eat if she cannot hold her neck upright. feet are strong but curled. she doesn't make any vocal sounds. she is looking at us and blinking her eyes. all of them have eaten the medicated starter scratch supplemented with mealworms, raw corn and then canned corn, sunflower seeds (unsalted), fresh grass, and what they find in short chaperoned foraging periods in yard near pen.
I am currently getting ready to try and force some water into her mouth, as she has tried to drink unsuccessfully. OK, frank was able to get her to drink water with a needleless syringe. will try set cat food in dropper next...and will add to posts when we try in a minute. meanwhile, it didn't start like crooked neck. is there a way to know if it could be a spinal injury (though she can flap her wings)?

 

[vikingchickens]

so far, not opening beak for cat food via syringe (beef and gravy).

 

[vikingchickens]

is there anyway her neck is broken and not cry out in pain when we move her neck?

 

[Squishychicken]

Coccidose can cause leg paralysis and sometimes curled toes.

Do you have any corid on hand?

 

[rebrascora]

At 10 weeks, with the sudden paralysis/lack of coordination you are seeing, the most likely cause is Marek's disease. The best you can do is make her a sling/hammock to keep her in a more upright position

and feed her a good vitamin supplement including vitamin B complex, vitamin E and vitamin C. Some of these come in a liquid form that you add to water but you could give her a couple of drops direct into her mouth for the first few days to give her a boost. You may want to look at tube feeding her if she is unable to eat. This is safer than trying to syringe food and water into her mouth, as that runs a risk or her aspirating it into her lungs. You will need to purchase a small diameter catheter and large syringe to achieve this. I recently got one from my local farm supplies shop but you can buy them online.
You can make a mush of her regular food soaked in lots of water and perhaps add some scrambled egg and blend it to an even consistency and tube it directly into her crop via the catheter tube and syringe. I'm pretty sure there will be You Tube videos, which instruct on how to tube feed a chicken. She is going to need some quite intensive care to give her a chance of survival and the odds are not good I'm afraid, so you might want to decide to cull if she is not a pet or give her a few days to see if she picks up. I've had some Marek's birds make as dramatic a recovery as they did a decline, but they are always susceptible to further and usually more serious attacks if they recover and will be carriers of the virus.

 

[vikingchickens]

what is corid ? also she can move her feet and legs she can kick and thrash. Her neck is twisted and her head keeps going side ways to the left and her left eye is no longer open.

 

[vikingchickens]

At 10 weeks, with the sudden paralysis/lack of coordination you are seeing, the most likely cause is Marek's disease. The best you can do is make her a sling/hammock to keep her in a more upright position
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and feed her a good vitamin supplement including vitamin B complex, vitamin E and vitamin C. Some of these come in a liquid form that you add to water but you could give her a couple of drops direct into her mouth for the first few days to give her a boost. You may want to look at tube feeding her if she is unable to eat. This is safer than trying to syringe food and water into her mouth, as that runs a risk or her aspirating it into her lungs. You will need to purchase a small diameter catheter and large syringe to achieve this. I recently got one from my local farm supplies shop but you can buy them online.
You can make a mush of her regular food soaked in lots of water and perhaps add some scrambled egg and blend it to an even consistency and tube it directly into her crop via the catheter tube and syringe. I'm pretty sure there will be You Tube videos, which instruct on how to tube feed a chicken. She is going to need some quite intensive care to give her a chance of survival and the odds are not good I'm afraid, so you might want to decide to cull if she is not a pet or give her a few days to see if she picks up. I've had some Marek's birds make as dramatic a recovery as they did a decline, but they are always susceptible to further and usually more serious attacks if they recover and will be carriers of the virus.

Would it not show up in the the other chicks her sisters.

 

[rebrascora]

It may. The virus can lie dormant for weeks/months even a year and then suddenly an outbreak will be triggered, usually by stress. Stress can be caused by a change of environment (like integration into a new flock or just being put outside after being in the brooder, surge of hormones at adolescence, moulting.... what triggers one bird may not trigger another and some take longer to exhibit symptoms or don't get the same symptoms..... there are a whole host of symptoms that Marek's Disease can cause both directly or via secondary infections due to a compromised immune system which is part of its action on the bird. And of course, some birds will be resistant to the disease.
My first victim to it showed the classic lameness and as my roost bars were nearly 6ft off the ground I assumed it was an injury but 2 or 3 days later I had 2 more young birds hobbling around the yard and then I found one of them floundering on the ground unable to get up in the classic Marek's "splits" posture. Interestingly that bird was fully recovered a few days later but I had others start going lame or dropping a wing over the coming weeks and months. The bird that miraculously recovered had a second attack a couple of months later and I nursed her for 3-4mths and she made a limited second recovery and even reached the point of laying eggs and eventually free ranging with the flock, but sadly fell victim to a fox.

Anyway, it is not like a normal virus that shows up and goes through the flock and runs it's course. It lays dormant and then strikes at times of stress and weakness.

I hope I am wrong and this is an isolated case of acute vitamin deficiency.

 

[Eggcessive]

I agree that is looking like possible Mareks disease, but I would give her poultry vitamins in her water or use 2 ml daily of Poultry Cell, since it contains riboflavin as NutriDrench does not.

Her symptoms sound neurological, but vitamin deficiency can sometimes be a cause as well as a virus like Mareks. Dip her beak for a second into water and let her swallow to get fluids into her. Tube or crop feeding can also be learned from Casportpony's thread, "Go TeamTubeFeeding."

Try a little homemade chicken sling--Google for pictures- to get her upright and in front of food and water when she is able to hold her head up. I really hope it is not Mareks, but if you lose her, I would send her body to the state vet or poultry lab on ice packs for a diagnosis.