Young Bantam' s tails are breaking over

[Diamondz]

I have been raising several breeds of Bantams for several years and have recently experienced some of my young two and three month old Seramas, Phoenix, and Belgium D Anvers with tails breaking over and it feels like they are detached from the body. They also become thin and eventually die. I have lost three so far. I feed 20 % starter free choice and have added probiotic and Medpet 4 in 1 to their water. I have raise birds for many years and this is the first time I have ever seen this. Does anyone have any idea what might be causing this? I have other birds in the same group that are perfectly healthy.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I have been raising several breeds of Bantams for several years and have recently experienced some of my young two and three month old Seramas, Phoenix, and Belgium D Anvers with tails breaking over and it feels like they are detached from the body. They also become thin and eventually die. I have lost three so far. I feed 20 % starter free choice and have added probiotic and Medpet 4 in 1 to their water. I have raise birds for many years and this is the first time I have ever seen this. Does anyone have any idea what might be causing this? I have other birds in the same group that are perfectly healthy.

Hi @Diamondz Welcome To BYC

Can you post some photos of the chicks, the tails, etc.?

I'm sorry that you are losing birds.
Knowing your location is helpful so we can give you more information (country/state).
With a significant loss, it's always best to get testing/necropsy to find out the cause.

 

[Diamondz]

S

QUOTE="Wyorp Rock, post: 20730056, member: 380647"]Hi @Diamondz Welcome To BYC
I'm new here so not sure if my pictures were posted. Anyway the pics are of a two month old Belgium D Anvers chick that so far seems pretty healthy and is maintaining normal weight. As you can see from the photos her tail is broken over to the side rather then standing straight up. This started a couple days ago. I've had a few others do this. They usually loose weight rapidly after this and die within a few days. Just wandering if anyone had ever seen this and might know what is the cause and how can I treat it.


Can you post some photos of the chicks, the tails, etc.?

I'm sorry that you are losing birds.
Knowing your location is helpful so we can give you more information (country/state).
With a significant loss, it's always best to get testing/necropsy to find out the cause.[/QUOTE]

 

[coach723]

It does look like wry tail. I'm not sure about it feeling 'detached' however. The wasting away is also concerning, perhaps you have more than one thing going on, maybe related, maybe coincidental. Wry tail is usually genetic, but can sometimes be caused by injury or illness. Since you've had three of them I'd suspect a genetic component. If you can trace which birds were hatched from which, then you may be able to narrow down who is passing the gene and not breed from that or those birds. I would agree that you would be best served by having one necropsied so you know for sure what is going on, I would be reluctant to draw a firm conclusion without further info that a necropsy could provide.
https://www.mypetchicken.com/backyard-chickens/chicken-help/What-is-wry-tail-H305.aspx

 

[rebrascora]

That is wry tail and can be a symptom of Marek's disease. Birds of that age are vulnerable to Marek's. I would recommend you give them a good quality poultry vitamin supplement and perhaps vitamin E and a little egg or tuna to provide dietary selenium to help with absorption to the affected bird(s). It may be a nutritional deficiency but with them dying quite soon after displaying this symptom and the muscle wastage, I would strongly suspect Marek's.
Getting a necropsy done on the next one that dies would be a good idea. State veterinary diagnostics labs are often subsidised for poultry so it can be reasonably priced and even free in some states, so worth making enquiries in advance. Carcasses need to be refrigerated but not frozen if they are to be sent in.

 

[Diamondz]

That is wry tail and can be a symptom of Marek's disease. Birds of that age are vulnerable to Marek's. I would recommend you give them a good quality poultry vitamin supplement and perhaps vitamin E and a little egg or tuna to provide dietary selenium to help with absorption to the affected bird(s). It may be a nutritional deficiency but with them dying quite soon after displaying this symptom and the muscle wastage, I would strongly suspect Marek's.
Getting a necropsy done on the next one that dies would be a good idea. State veterinary diagnostics labs are often subsidised for poultry so it can be reasonably priced and even free in some states, so worth making enquiries in advance. Carcasses need to be refrigerated but not frozen if they are to be sent in.

Thank you, I was thinking Marics myself. If I lose any more I will have a necropcy done. I have chicks ranging from one week up to several months, do you think going ahead and vaccinating them all for Marics would be a good idea?

 

[Diamondz]

Was just reading up on Merics and see that it can only be administered to one day chicks.

 

[rebrascora]

It can be administered to older chicks but you would need to know that they had not been exposed to the Marek's virus prior to vaccination and keep them in strict biosecurity for 3 weeks afterwards to allow the vaccine to gain a foothold in the body before the virus had a chance to outrun it. Unfortunately the likelihood is that they have already been exposed to it if this is Marek's but there is no way to know for sure. Infected material in the form of dander dust can be carried on your clothes, hair, skin and shoes and I would imaging that you have probably not been changing clothes and washing and covering your hair etc between tending the flock and the chicks, so may well have transferred infected material even if they are housed completely separately.
The vaccine comes in 1000 dose units and once the active ingredients are mixed they need to be used within an hour, so it becomes very expensive if you are regularly hatching small batches of chicks.
I breed from birds that show no symptoms of the disease. I was losing several youngsters to Marek's each year and the occasional older bird, but it is now settling down. This year's chicks are all 6 months plus and whilst I am not completely out of the woods, I would normally have had one or two showing symptoms by now.

 

[Diamondz]

It can be administered to older chicks but you would need to know that they had not been exposed to the Marek's virus prior to vaccination and keep them in strict biosecurity for 3 weeks afterwards to allow the vaccine to gain a foothold in the body before the virus had a chance to outrun it. Unfortunately the likelihood is that they have already been exposed to it if this is Marek's but there is no way to know for sure. Infected material in the form of dander dust can be carried on your clothes, hair, skin and shoes and I would imaging that you have probably not been changing clothes and washing and covering your hair etc between tending the flock and the chicks, so may well have transferred infected material even if they are housed completely separately.
The vaccine comes in 1000 dose units and once the active ingredients are mixed they need to be used within an hour, so it becomes very expensive if you are regularly hatching small batches of chicks.
I breed from birds that show no symptoms of the disease. I was losing several youngsters to Marek's each year and the occasional older bird, but it is now settling down. This year's chicks are all 6 months plus and whilst I am not completely out of the woods, I would normally have had one or two showing symptoms by now.

Thank you, I appreciate your response and the information is very helpful. Did you vaccinate your flock or did you just eliminate birds that showed symptoms and do you vaccinate your newly hatched chicks?

 

[rebrascora]

What I was trying to say is that it might be worth vaccinating older chicks if you had not had a suspected outbreak of Marek's but since you have it is probably not worth it.