Marek's : Lessons Learned the Hard Way

KristyAz, 

so sorry that you lost your rooster and your chick to Marek's.  I hadn't realized that 5-week olds can get it...somehow I thought it struck when they were a little older.  I'm so sorry too that you need to be the one to cull your chick.  It is a hard part of taking care of animals, but in the end it releases them from suffering.  

I'm taking the opposite approach with my chickens.  I had Mareks, and I have survivors here that were in the same coop and run with the one that had Mareks.... I did have the University do a Necropsey---and despite what some folks believe it isn't free or low cost...it is expensive, but the only way to 100% confirm Mareks.  Never-the-less, I think that the chicken owners can be 99% certain from symptoms like the ones that your chick is showing. 

My approach is the opposite of yours.  I am not vaccinating my chicks...but rather working on raising chickens that have their own built-in resistance to Mareks.  I guess that could start a whole discussion which isn't my point with this post.  

My point is just to say how sorry I am for your losses, and to try to give you support to carry out the difficult choice that you have made, and last to agree with you that Marek's is everywhere.  

It brings tears to my eyes.  

My first one was euthanized where I had her necropsey done, and my second death was on her own.  

Hope that you don't have to face it again any time in the near future. Hugs

I'm sorry for your loss . My approach is similar to ChicKat, not just with my chickens, but with my cows too....

I am surprised that you say that the necropsy was expensive.  Maybe you couldn't find a state lab?  Mine was $35 and covered everything.  I've had two done...unfortunately, both came back as Marek's. 

Good luck on breeding out Marek's.  The only way I've kept a chicken alive in the past year was to vaccinate.  I've lost 30+ chickens.  Even if you do build a flock of resistant birds, they will still be carriers and will continue to expose any new birds that you bring in.  I will leave it at that.  We all have to do what we feel is the right thing.

OP...I would try and find a lab and make sure that you are dealing with Marek's.  You can call your local extension office and find out.  I found mine in my old phone book.  They will even euthanize the bird for you, if you wish.  I'm so sorry that you have experienced Marek's.  It is a horrible disease.  Good luck with what you decide is best for your flock. 

5 weeks is normally too young to find Marek's symptoms.  It takes 6 - 8 weeks from time of exposure until symptoms appear.  Usually, a necropsy needs to be done to find Marek's in one this young.

Hi leadwolf1 -

Necropsy cost for me was 45.00 for the initial cost and then 85.00 for the tissue cultures - so $130 and that was from Texas A&M Poultry diagnostic laboratory...so it is a State U. 

I'm going to start a thread on Mareks.  It would be like a wiki and everyone interested can post their facts and anecdotes etc.  There is a lot of Marek's info here on BYC  but it is dissapated and some kind of old.   I will come back and edit.  I hope that when I put the link in---You will be among the people who would visit it and put information in.  I'm so very sorry that you lost so many to the disease. 

For KristyAZ, the cost of necropsy is quite expensive IMO and if you have the symptoms that you had, then you can be pretty sure that is what it was.  Only if there was a scientific reason would I go to the extent of necropsy.  According to Merck Vet manual the incubation period for Marek's is 12-weeks.    

I sweated it out for the 12 weeks and kept the new chickens who had been penned with the one who died isolated from my others for the full 12-weeks.  One was a hybrid from White Leghorn which breed has been shown to have some resistance, the other was an Easter Egger.  Both of them are fine now.  The EE's chicks are the ones I'm currently raising.  The most concern, from some research I saw was birds with Rhode Island Red heritage.

Also of interest is Peter Brown-- AKA "the Chicken Doctor" has an article about vaccinations for grown chickens, and not just day olds.  I will put a link up on the page that I will build so when I come back with a link it should be readily available.    

When you feel like it, if you want to -- (after I start the page on Mareks...come back edit a link etc.) Maybe you too would put your views there and your approach to vaccinations.  Thanks.