Wobbly Hen-Injury or Mareks (or ?)

[Closing Time]

We lost George yesterday. She had honestly maintained her strength, appetite and general bright attitude this whole time but started to not eat as much last week. She slowed down quite a bit, we gave her a chance to rally as she has in the past but this time it didn’t happen. Her sister Esther passed away on Saturday for a completely unrelated issue, laying next to her outside of the hospital coop, puddled between our other hen and our roo. Then within 24 hours, we lost George too.

Both the girls went off to UC Davis today so hopefully will have some insight into what originally caused her neurological issue.

She was a true fighter. There were days my husband or I would go check on her, thinking it may be her time. But there she’d be, sitting in her towel donut, bright eyed and super stoked for her blueberries or cucumber. If you didn’t move your hand away fast enough, you might lose a finger . It started to be our running joke that she’d outlive us, she seemed that resilient. She tolerated her baths and blow outs well and she taught me a lot of husbandry skills during our time together. George was a very good girl and even made my husband a fan. She will be missed.

Thanks everyone for your help and support.

 

[amarsano]

We lost George yesterday. She had honestly maintained her strength, appetite and general bright attitude this whole time but started to not eat as much last week. She slowed down quite a bit, we gave her a chance to rally as she has in the past but this time it didn’t happen. Her sister Esther passed away on Saturday for a completely unrelated issue, laying next to her outside of the hospital coop, puddled between our other hen and our roo. Then within 24 hours, we lost George too.

Both the girls went off to UC Davis today so hopefully will have some insight into what originally caused her neurological issue.

She was a true fighter. There were days my husband or I would go check on her, thinking it may be her time. But there she’d be, sitting in her towel donut, bright eyed and super stoked for her blueberries or cucumber. If you didn’t move your hand away fast enough, you might lose a finger . It started to be our running joke that she’d outlive us, she seemed that resilient. She tolerated her baths and blow outs well and she taught me a lot of husbandry skills during our time together. George was a very good girl and even made my husband a fan. She will be missed.

Thanks everyone for your help and support.

I’m so sorry! It’s immensely difficult losing your birds when you’ve tried so hard to keep them going. We’ve had a lot of that lately, too. There is an independent lab, RAL, where you can send samples, while the bird is alive, to test for various diseases. We’ve used them and found we have both MD and Leukosis. I highly recommend them as it’s not super expensive. (About $25/test.). The plus side is it allows us to treat them, if possible, before they die. The hardest part is the blood sample which you get by clipping a nail short. I don’t like causing them pain, but if I can help them in the long run it’s worth it.

 

[Closing Time]

I’m so sorry! It’s immensely difficult losing your birds when you’ve tried so hard to keep them going. We’ve had a lot of that lately, too. There is an independent lab, RAL, where you can send samples, while the bird is alive, to test for various diseases. We’ve used them and found we have both MD and Leukosis. I highly recommend them as it’s not super expensive. (About $25/test.). The plus side is it allows us to treat them, if possible, before they die. The hardest part is the blood sample which you get by clipping a nail short. I don’t like causing them pain, but if I can help them in the long run it’s worth it.

Thank you for the testing info. Good to have in my back pocket for the future. We did send both girls off to UC Davis on Monday for necropsy so hoping the report gives us insight into to what happened and if there is something in our flock we need to be aware of.

 

[Closing Time]

Nexcropsy update:

Both hens had Mareks disease. George had neoplasia in her brain and sciatic nerve, which I think would explain the weird way her symptoms presented.

I have my remaining BA and my polish roo, plus 4 11-week old chicks I’ve been growing out to add to the flock. I also had just ordered 3 more to make up for the loss of the 2 hens.

I’m at a loss as to whether I should cancel the 3 new chicks and I feel like I’m sacrificing the 4 juveniles now. All are vaccinated, but so were the 2 hens I lost. Ugh, this really sucks…

 

[Sylver Queen]

Nexcropsy update:

Both hens had Mareks disease. George had neoplasia in her brain and sciatic nerve, which I think would explain the weird way her symptoms presented.

I have my remaining BA and my polish roo, plus 4 11-week old chicks I’ve been growing out to add to the flock. I also had just ordered 3 more to make up for the loss of the 2 hens.

I’m at a loss as to whether I should cancel the 3 new chicks and I feel like I’m sacrificing the 4 juveniles now. All are vaccinated, but so were the 2 hens I lost. Ugh, this really sucks…

Thank you so much for sharing, and I'm so hoping the best for the your remaining birds!