She was fine yesterday,went to coop this morning and she was holding her foot up,her foot is curling under and she is breathing hard.I brought her in the house and put electrolights in her water and gave her her a cooked yolk,she has not drank or ate.What could be wrong with her,sometimes she opens her mouth to breath to.
Her in the cage
I would be worried about Marek's. There are several forms. In the most common, called "range paralysis", they become very unsteady on their feet and eventually are paralyzed. Lots of stumbling around, wings drooping and one leg stuck out in front and one in back. The paralysis usually shows up on only one side of the body. There is also a "feather form" where the feather stick out strangely.
But there are other forms...one in which you see some paralysis, but they are far sicker and die within a few hours of symptoms appearing. Some birds develop one form, others, the other.
With her foot being involved, and being a Silkie, I would guess it might be the second form. You can't do anything for them, but try to keep them comfortable. Some do recover.
I hope it is something else...but Silkies (and Cochins) are very prone to Marek's, so I always think of it first with them. Even vaccination isn't 100% effective...
Is it contagious?
Extremely. It floats in the air on the dust from their feathers. But the odd thing is that, in any group of birds, some will become ill and others won't. They can all become carriers however, as does any bird that has been vaccinated. The best thing you can do is try to keep younger birds away from older birds and keep down the dust as much as possible.
Older birds, over 5 months or so, are assumed to have developed some resistance to it naturally. But if they were infected when they were younger, it can become active when the are older and under stress.
How old is your pullet.?
She is 6 months old. There are 6 other silkies in the small coop with her,one of the hens died a few months ago and I never did find out what was wrong with her,but she had no symptoms of anything fine one day and gone the next.My worry now is that I go back and forth between coops feeding and watering.None of my flock has been vaccinated.The silkies are in one coop and the bigger ones are in another coop.
This message was edited Mar 12, 2010 12:31 PM
This message was edited Mar 12, 2010 12:32 PM
It could be Marek's...but there are other disease with similar symptoms. This link suggests some:
http://www.ehow.com/how-does_4842865_diagnosing-chicken-diseases.html
I would just go to the younger birds first, take care of them, then do the older. It is about all you can do.
Once again Catsy is right on, one thing I might add is so many things that birds catch is sorta wind born and the dust they create is quite extensive, therefore one thing I do is I vaccum my coop and clean the cobwebs they create on a weekly basis. I sure hope she pulls through Green. I must confess that these sort of things just go along with raising poultry but it is still very difficult emotionally so our hearts go out to you...Hay.
Yup... I didn't want to say it... but that was my first thought.. I believe Marek's is around way more than we care to think.
Green, I don't believe you are contributing to spreading it.. it's in the air, so no matter what you do, you cannot stop the possibility of spreading it. (short of purifying their air and not letting any get out) Like the link says "If you have chickens, you have Marek's" It is a good idea to do what Catsy says and feed the young ones first though. Just in case. AND keep the dust down..
http://www.apa-abayouthprogramsite.org/Edu_Material/Poultry%20Diseases/What_is_Mereks_Disease.pdf
Often times when a pullet lays her first egg, or just starts, they will flop over dead with no apparent symptoms. I've lost a couple to Mareck's that way.
Even when I did loose a pullet, no one else showed any symptoms at all. It can wipe out several in a flock, but it can also just be "random" and that's it..
I agree with Hay.. the dust is an extreme problem and hazard..
She seems a little better today,her foot is not curled under anymore and she did eat a lttle egg yolk.I been giving her poly-vi-sol.She is not eating very much and I havn`t seen her drink.She seems more alert,I hope she is going to be ok.
Can ducks get Marek's? In all the reading I've done I don't recall it.
That can be a good sign, green. I have had several who did that and did recover....but it is not a sure thing.
I don't think ducks get Marek's, LoreenH. At least not the same strain that infects chickens and sometimes turkeys. There are several species specific types of avian Marek's.
She ate some raw oatmeal and is preening herself.Its looking good!!!!!
Good deal. I'm happy for you Green.. I felt so bad the other day with all the negative news you had to face. Hope she completely recovers soon!!
She ate some black oil sunflower seeds a few minutes ago,I left my door open today so she could here the rooster crowing and she would turn her head and listen.If she is eating and drinking good how long before I can put her back with the others?
That's great news green! It's so worrisome when you don't know what to do for them.
Is she walking okay?
Glad she's feeling better.
She ate peas and is drinking now,but she is not walking very much,I put her on the floor while I cleaned her cage and she just stood there.I guess she has to stay inside untill she can walk alright.
Sounds like a good idea.
See how much better her foot is compared to the other picture?I cleaned her cage again and put her on the rug and she walked around and talked a lot so I know she is much better,but she does favor that foot some,so I`ll keep her in another day and night and see how it goes form there.I`m wondering if it was vitiamin deficiency,I`m giving her polyvisol vitimins 2 drops a day.She had no other symptoms only the curled up toes.
If it was Marek's I think she would have been stumbling around more, not just favouring her foot.
Silkies do have specific nutritional needs. Or maybe she just hurt her foot somehow.
Wow.. that is a great improvement! I'm so glad she is doing so much better!
I want to thank everyone for there help,it makes it easier when you have someone to talk to and ask questions.Hopefully what ever is wrong with that leg and foot will heal.
She is out with her family again.She doing very well I watched her for awhile to make sure she would be ok,The roosters were bothering her to much so they went ot differant pen,nwo its her and three other girls and one rooster,but he is older and a real gentlmen.
