collapsed young sablepoot

[chickenfan]

One of my 5 month old sablpoots has collapsed and when you lift her up her head falls backwards. She is very weak and I'm not sure what could be wrong with her. Every now and then she struggles to get up without success. I've given her some 'intensive care' liquid food but am not sure what could be wrong with her.

 

[chickenfan]

I am wondering whether it could be Marek's disease which booted bantams are prone to, although I've never had it in any of my birds. She objects very strongly to a syringe of critical care liquid food, although her legs are in a normal position.

 

[Hen-Gen]

Is she equally weak on both sides or is it more on one side eg one wing dropping?

 

[chickenfan]

Thanks unfortunately she has died. I think its probably impossible to know what from as she was so weak.

 

[Hen-Gen]

Sorry to hear that. For several years I kept Welsummers and they to are said to be highly susceptible to Mareks though I managed to steer clear of that problem.
As you say you’ll probably never know what the cause of her death was. The only thing I would say (as I would as a genetics nerd) is that many breeds come from such a narrow genetic base that there is a high degree of inbreeding which can often be a problem. For this reason crossbreeds can be a lot more vigorous and disease resistant.

 

[chickenfan]

Thanks Hen-Gen. I can't think how I missed her being poorly, but it has been awful weather and she was sheltering from the rain recently under her house. I breed all my birds myself to avoid the inbreeding problem, but the cockerel is about 7 years old so perhaps that's a bit old.