Urgent please help

[RichmondHens]

Rather than keep worrying about what it MIGHT be, get an appointment with your vet asap and let them make a diagnosis. All of us on here can only guess, based on on your description of things, so I do advise taking the hen to be diagnosed properly.

[Munch]

To be honest I think we may have to put her out of her misery as I have just checked on her and she now cant move at all, her legs and wings are both motionless.

I think what makes it harder is the fact that 2 days ago she really looked like she was going to make a good recovery.

Putting any illness to one side for a moment. I have another problem! I know I am a pain in the backside!

I am worried about my sebright cock, if and when she goes. He will be on his own. I obviously dont want to put him down with the rest of the flock at the risk of spreading anything. But I am concerned he is going to get stressed out being on his own.

Any suggestions?

[RichmondHens]

Right, if you think she is that ill then you need to act. You do need to get a diagnosis on what it is. If it is Marek's, and Sebrights are prone to it (like Silkies) then only the vet can make this diagnosis. He can do a PM if the hen has died. This is a disease you do need to know if you have or not as it will affect how you manage the rest of your birds.

Secondly, the little cock will need company but I would hold off giving him anyone until you have a diagnosis from the vet. If he gets really upset at being on his own, choose an expendable bird ie one you can afford to lose if he is infectious - an old non laying hen or young cock he won't fight with.

[Munch]

Thanks RichmondHens you are a star.

I do have an old layer, that doesnt lay anymore, however she is about 10 times the size of him!

He is about the size of a thrush! even my 6 weeks old Wyandotte Banties are almost the same size as him! I will see how he goes. Poor little thing he has lost all of his siblings in a week!

[petal]

Munch, something has occurred to me. Have your sebrights come into contact with your vaccinated stock? Or have you seen to them after touching the vaccinated stock? If so- there is a chance they have mareks- it maybe has taken hold because they were stressed or in shock due to fox, perhaps?
Get a pm done asap by vet!

[baldrick]

if it is mareks there will be someone out there with a flock who has mareks carriers that are too healthy to kill. ask one of them to pm you with a view to letting you have one?

[petal]

also, you can breed to make your stock resilient to mareks, our silkies came from a breeder who had culled out hte tendency for hers to catch this- there is proven documentation that certain strains of breeds are immune to it- like the village in derbyshire that never caught the bubonic plague and are immune to aids- bet yer didn't know that!!!