Mareks disease?

[smvettechmom]

My 4 month old chicken presented with knuckling on her left leg a week ago. I took her to work and we crated. Nothing broken and we came up with a plan. A week later she is not improving and it seems to have spread to her other leg. She is still bright and eating and drinking. No diarrhea. I separated her as soon as I saw the supposed injury. None of my other birds are showing any signs of illness… what are my chances of my other birds getting it if it is Mareks disease? What are the disease progression signs of Mareks diisease? She doesn’t appear to have any other symptoms other than her legs. My chickens have always been healthy so I’m in a little bit of a panic. Thank you so much.

 

[TillyPeeps]

Where did you get your chickens? If you got them as day old chicks from a hatchery or feed store, the chance of Marek's is low. Usually, if a bird is paralyzed from Marek's, you will find she's also weak and lack of appetite due to cancer development. Since your pullet doesn't have any other symptoms, she might have injury or vitamin deficiency. You can give her some vitamin B and E pills to see if that's the problem. Even with my pullets with Marek's, sometimes the vitamins still helped their capability to walk.

 

[Egg Snatcher]

My 4 month old chicken presented with knuckling on her left leg a week ago. I took her to work and we crated. Nothing broken and we came up with a plan. A week later she is not improving and it seems to have spread to her other leg. She is still bright and eating and drinking. No diarrhea. I separated her as soon as I saw the supposed injury. None of my other birds are showing any signs of illness… what are my chances of my other birds getting it if it is Mareks disease? What are the disease progression signs of Mareks diisease? She doesn’t appear to have any other symptoms other than her legs. My chickens have always been healthy so I’m in a little bit of a panic. Thank you so much.

You can get a live bird test from vetdna or if your hen dies you can send her body in to your state for testing.

If your hen has Mereks all your birds will most likely have it and you won’t be able to sell offspring or birds from your property.

 

[Debbie292d]

I'd get the bird tested. If this is Marek's, it spreads via dander of infected chickens so all of your chickens most likely have it, but if it's not, you'd maybe find out what is wrong.

I'd put Poultry Cell in its water though to give it vitamin support in case it's a deficiency.

 

[smvettechmom]

Where did you get your chickens? If you got them as day old chicks from a hatchery or feed store, the chance of Marek's is low. Usually, if a bird is paralyzed from Marek's, you will find she's also weak and lack of appetite due to cancer development. Since your pullet doesn't have any other symptoms, she might have injury or vitamin deficiency. You can give her some vitamin B and E pills to see if that's the problem. Even with my pullets with Marek's, sometimes the vitamins still helped their capability to walk.

I got her from a breeder than doesn’t vaccinate for Marek’s. She is a serama. I have been giving her an anti inflammatory, gabapentin in case it was nerve, vitamin b-12 and poultry cell for a week. (I’m a vet tech, so have access) it’s been about 10 days, no other chickens are showing signs but she is getting progressively worse.

 

[smvettechmom]

Here is her legs today. She is still eating well when she is put next to the food and water.

 

[TillyPeeps]

It's hard to say if it's Marek's or not. You already did all you can do right now. If it's Marek's, she should stop eating soon and eventually wastes away. If you want to try some herbs, I saved one of my hens by feeding her 250mg Baikal Skullcap and 250mg St John’s Wort everyday for a couple months as antivirus medicines. This method only worked once for me to save a vaccinated 2y old hen and didn't save any of my pullets. I'm still not sure if my hen recovered herself or the herbs helped her.

Marek's mostly happens to pullets 16w~30w. If your other chickens don't have problem during this time period, it's unlikely Marek's.

 

[smvettechmom]

I'd get the bird tested. If this is Marek's, it spreads via dander of infected chickens so all of your chickens most likely have it, but if it's not, you'd maybe find out what is wrong.

I'd put Poultry Cell in its water though to give it vitamin support in case it's a deficiency.

I have been doing poultry cell for the last 5 days. What are the chances my other chickens get sick? Everyone is fine now. We are 10 days since they have had any contact with her.

 

[smvettechmom]

It's hard to say if it's Marek's or not. You already did all you can do right now. If it's Marek's, she should stop eating soon and eventually wastes away. If you want to try some herbs, I saved one of my hens by feeding her 250mg Baikal Skullcap and 250mg St John’s Wort everyday for a couple months as antivirus medicines. This method only worked once for me to save a vaccinated 2y old hen and didn't save any of my pullets. I'm still not sure if my hen recovered herself or the herbs helped her.

Marek's mostly happens to pullets 16w~30w. If your other chickens don't have problem during this time period, it's unlikely Marek's.

All these babies are 12-20 weeks

 

[HunterRanch19]

I've been giving my little one beef liver cooked and mashed. It has helped a little. She has a similar profile after I found red mites on her.