St. John's Wort

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MoodyChicken

Songster
10 Years
Feb 15, 2009
1,869
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Northern California
This isn't an emergency, just a helpful tidbit of information to help. Despite what you may have heard, there IS a cure for Marek's Disease. It is a homeopathic remedy called "Hypericum." Hypericum is a small creeping herb that, when used hollistically, numbs nerves and dulls pain. When given to a bird suffering from the symptoms of Marek's Disease, it will cure the bird by working on the theory that "like cures like," in other words, by giving the bird the symptoms it will take the symptoms away. I've used this herb with great success to fully cure birds of Marek's Disease. You can fnd Hypericum at health food stores, $8 for 100 tablets. Hypericum must be diluted before it can be used:

- 1 tablespoon of DISTILLED water per tablet Hypericum (must be distilled water, tap water is ionized and will deactivate the Hypericum)
- MUST be mixed in a GLASS or PLASTIC bowl (metal with react with the water and herb)
- drip 5-10 drops (bantam) or 10-15 drops (large fowl) on the afflicted bird's tongue. Be sure the bird rubs its beak together because the Hypericum MUST touch the sinuses (located on the roof of the mouth) in order to work
- treat every 12 hours (morning and night) with a fresh batch
- recovery may be as quick as 1 day or as slow as several months

The treatment works best if you begin treating early. If you delay treatment, the Hypericum may not work or it may be a very slow recovery. IF YOU OVERDOSE YOUR BIRDS ON HYPERICUM, don't worry. The bird will exhibit extreme symptoms, and make a drastic improvment within a 24 hours. Hypericum is also helpful for pain. Only treat birds that are showing symptoms.

HOW CAN I TELL IF MY BIRD HAS MAREK'S DISEASE?

Check your flock history. Marek's Disease affects birds as early as 6 months of age. Symtoms occur most commonly between 6-8 months of age; however, any age bird can become sick, it just becomes less common with age. The incubation period is 2 weeks.

SYMPTOMS INCLUDE: sudden death (fairly common), depression (common), gradual weight loss (fairly common), neck paralysis (not common), paleness (in conjunction with other symtoms), wing paralysis (common), leg paralysis (most common), star-gazing (fairly common), extreme sudden emaciation (rare), mishapen pupil (not common), gray iris (not common), crazy behavior (rare), unresponsive (common), internal tumor growth (not common), tumors on feather follicles (not common), fearful (not common)

Hope this helps someone!!!
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is this something found in human health food stores or in animal ones?

Do you use only if you see symptoms in that particular bird or do you treat the whole flock?

Thank you so much.
 
ok dumb question but do I let the pill disolve in the water whole? or crush it into a powder I am thinking crushed but just wanted to be sure.

BTW to all: the pills come in a tiny tube not a bottle like i had assumed at least at my health food store it does.
 
Has there been any studies done on this? Does it "cure" or just alleviate symptoms. Marek's is a disease that is normally considered in remission, rather than cured, when a bird seems to recover.
 
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It actually cures. I had a bird who had classic symptoms. I treated her with the Hypericum and she made a full recovery. A year later she died from old age and we had her body necropsied. All the lesions caused by Marek's had completely healed. Our vet looked it over and confirmed that it actually cured the bird.

I do agree with you though. I think it depends on the individual bird. Another bird I treated later recovered, but he still limps. In his case I think the virus has simply gone into remission.
 

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