whats wrong with my hen? *video* unbalanced...NEW VIDEO~post#385

[spoggy]

Hi!

I've read through the 15 pages of this thread with some interest. I'm glad everyone's birds seem to be stable or getting better.

I'm pretty new here, but I have a question. We all know how remarkably resilient these birds can be. We've all seen or heard of some birds that shouldn't be alive today, but are. Is it possible that the ones that are being talked about in this thread have suffered some sort of head trauma, or a stroke that leaves no mark? And then, because we separate them and nurse them through these really bad times, they recover. If they were in the wild, or in the coop for that matter, nature would "take its course". We're just giving these birds' remarkable capacity for healing a chance. I know circulatory illness or stroke symptoms can be seen as a purpling or blackening of their combs, is it as noticable in the girls as well?

 

[Pip&Squeek2]

Quote:
Hi Spoggy,

I suppose anything is possible. If that's the case I then wonder if they are able to recover from either of those scenarios? It's hard to say but only time will tell if the B therapy works or not. I sure hope it does though. As for my little one, it's hard to see. The comb is still really tiny on mine. It's just so weird because everything else looks great. No other signs of illness.

~Sara

 

[8hipchicks]

Quote:
Some of us have wondered about and posted concerns about possible head trauma that may have happened in the coop without our knowing. In our case, nope, no bluing of the comb. Perfectly fine in all other respects except for imbalance.

 

[Lobzi]

Quote:
I will say that I thought Baby had hurt his leg in a fall from the tree he and Little Friend enjoyed sitting in. I treated it as a fall injury in the beginning as the problem first showed itself in the one leg. During a two week period he progressed to totally leg and wing paralysis. It wasnt until I starting the vitamin B therapy that he started to use his legs and wings again. I decided the fall from the tree was do to the problems with the leg and not the cause of his paralysis.
I cant be confident of other birds but my aim in sharing my experience is to prevent culling of vitamin deficient birds in a Marek's scare. I was told, due to the "one leg forward and one leg back" positioning that he most likely had Mareks. I really felt that this positioning was for balance due to the problems he was having with his legs and not that he had Marek's. Vitamin B therapy is only going to solve problems in birds that have paralysis and resulting balance problems DUE to a vitamin B deficiency. I believe that because it is fairly difficult for birds to get vitamin B in their normal diet that the deficiency and resulting problems are more wide-spread than anyone realized and that many birds have been culled due to this deficiency and an incorrect Marek's diagnosis. I advise giving the vitamin B therapy a chance, that is all Im saying.

 

[Pip&Squeek2]

I agree Lobzi. Seeing as there are no other signs of an illness or injury I see no harm in trying the vitamin B therapy. I'm thankful to have found this thread because I would have had no idea what to even TRY doing for my little one.

Just a question though...can a chicken still get merak's disease if it doesn't live outside? Mine has been in the house most it's life. I took him/her a day after it was born. And other than being the runt of the group there was no evidence of anything being wrong with him/her. I have brought him/her out to play for 5 minutes or so each day but mostly right on the cement. None of my other chicks that live out with the mom in a pen type thing so any signs of what my baby has.

On a better note...I finally found a position for runt to eat where s/he can do it all by him/her self. And it seems to make him/her super happy and excited to be able to do that. S/he just started doing it last night and hasn't been able to eat alone like that since s/he was walking normal. To me that was a big shinning of hope. I was almost jumping up and down to see that! So here is to yet another day with my little one on the B therapy! Wish us luck!

~Sara

 

[Lobzi]

Pip&Squeek2 :

I agree Lobzi. Seeing as there are no other signs of an illness or injury I see no harm in trying the vitamin B therapy. I'm thankful to have found this thread because I would have had no idea what to even TRY doing for my little one.

Just a question though...can a chicken still get merak's disease if it doesn't live outside? Mine has been in the house most it's life. I took him/her a day after it was born. And other than being the runt of the group there was no evidence of anything being wrong with him/her. I have brought him/her out to play for 5 minutes or so each day but mostly right on the cement. None of my other chicks that live out with the mom in a pen type thing so any signs of what my baby has.

On a better note...I finally found a position for runt to eat where s/he can do it all by him/her self. And it seems to make him/her super happy and excited to be able to do that. S/he just started doing it last night and hasn't been able to eat alone like that since s/he was walking normal. To me that was a big shinning of hope. I was almost jumping up and down to see that! So here is to yet another day with my little one on the B therapy! Wish us luck!

~Sara

I have a closed flock and was initially told that by keeping it closed I could guard again Mareks. Again, that is yet another reason that I doubted Mareks in Baby. Then I learned that supposedly the Mareks virus is EVERYWHERE, soil for example. So then I theorized that if this is so, Mareks virus is sort of like human "chicken pox" or measles. All children are exposed to these viruses. We experience the results of the exposure then live the rest of our lives with the virus dormant in our systems, that is, unless we experience an outbreak of shingles as an adult.

Anyway, to answer your question I guess theoretically we cannot protect our flocks completely of exposure to Mareks, that is, if it is indeed EVERYWHERE. Im guessing the vaccine is the only absolute way to protect and even the vaccine is NOT absolute.​

 

[Pip&Squeek2]

I see what you're saying. More than likely the others or at least another one would have the signs as well. Judging by the symptoms of mareks I really don't feel that is what my little one is dealing with. I am just going to keep on with the vitamin B and pray for the best. My luck this little runt will turn out to be a boy and mean to my others. Lol.

 

[chickfan]

I'm almost afraid to say that my chicken seems better after the Vit. B. She is back to sitting on her legs instead of more on her side, and is getting around just a bit better.
Is there some information posted somewhere, to explain why this mignt be a deficiency of Vitamin B? Looks like if one is deficient, they all would be. I'm wondering if we really are dealing with an injury of some sort, and the B just helps with the healing?

 

[Lobzi]

The information I got was from a response to my post regarding Baby on SVchickens forum. The only response I received on BYC was the advice to cull as he most likely had Mareks. The information I am providing was due to my own research and speculation based on what I learn from it and my experience with treating Baby.

 

[Lobzi]

Thiamine or thiamin or vitamin B1 (pronounced /ˈθaɪ̯əmɨn/, THYE-ə-min), and named as the "thio-vitamine" ("sulfur-containing vitamin") is a water-soluble vitamin of the B complex. First named aneurin for the detrimental neurological effects of its lack in the diet, it was eventually assigned the generic descriptor name vitamin B1. Its phosphate derivatives are involved in many cellular processes. The best-characterized form is thiamine pyrophosphate (TPP), a coenzyme in the catabolism of sugars and amino acids. In yeast, ThDP is also required in the first step of alcoholic fermentation.

All living organisms use thiamine in their biochemistry, but it is synthesized in bacteria, fungi, and plants. Animals must obtain it from their diet, and, thus, for them it is a vitamin. Insufficient intake in birds produces a characteristic polyneuritis, and in mammals results in a disease called beriberi affecting the peripheral nervous system (polyneuritis) and/or the cardiovascular system, with fatal outcome if not cured by thiamine administration.[1] In less severe deficiency, nonspecific signs include malaise, weight loss, irritability and confusion.[2]