Moving Forward- Breeding for Resistance to Marek's Disease

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So you have heard it too! I think the only people that panic over that idea are those that are aware of what the Marek's vaccine is doing. Chickens are kept in small fairly isolated flocks which slows/limits the damage the Marek's vaccine can do, humans are in flocks of MILLIONS and constantly travel to other flocks to spread our diseases!

The "experts" surely have to realize that is a global monolithic disaster in the making. :(
yeah I don't know what to doooo
 
yeah I don't know what to doooo
I was all over this Covid thing last Jan/Feb and did lots of research (and horded some drugs when they were still available). I am not even considering the vaccine. Heck no. This is going off-topic but with all the lies and eff-ups in the last year I will never trust ANY of those "experts" ever again!

The vaccine already isn't very effective against the new African strain and it has only been out 2-3 months! Some of the alleged severe long lasting (or permanent) neurological side effects are terrifying. Too much risk for virtually no benefit so I am a hard no. Things may change in a few years (if real evidence shows deadly hot strains are killing 30%+ of the unvaccinated, and that may very well happen) and if so I will revisit the issue then.
 
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I was all over this Covid thing last Jan/Feb and did lots of research (and horded some drugs when they were still available). I am not even considering the vaccine. Heck no. This is going off-topic but with all the lies and eff-ups in the last year I will never trust ANY of those "experts" ever again!

The vaccine already isn't very effective against the new African strain and it has only been out 2-3 months! Some of the alleged severe long lasting (or permanent) neurological side effects are terrifying. Too much risk for virtually no benefit so I am a hard no. Things may change in a few years (if real evidence shows deadly hot strains are killing 30%+ of the unvaccinated, and that may very well happen) and if so I will revisit the issue then.



I totally agree.

as for shingles I crush garlic and put it over blisters for 2-3 days and it is gone. for any type of flue or any virus caused disease I put garlic, thyme and cayenne peppers when I prepare meals. I even drink thyme tea. that is what I give to my chickens as well. better than any vaccine.
 
We just suffered the first severe predator attack ever in 7 years of chicken keeping. I let the flock out to free range in the yard for a couple of hours and apparently a fox killed half my flock (4 out of 8 birds) silently in a few minutes.

The survivors saw it all, 3 of the oeg bantams slept in the trees all night. Amazingly my slow 8 year old buff orp hen survived but this has to be a great shock to her especially since it killed the other 3 full sized layers.

Next day I crushed up 1/4th of a Valtrex tablet and sprinkled it over some scrambled egg and rice then fed them all some (including the boys in the rooster pen) as this is just the sort of thing that could trigger Marek's in some sensitive birds. They seem okay, the young bantam hen is still laying so I hope to have her raise some feed store chicks, but I may give the buff orp another dose today just to be extra sure.

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First and foremost- I started this thread for people to share their experience with dealing with Marek's Disease- particularily those who are breeding for resistance. I encourage everyone to share their knowledge, experience, and perhaps support others who are also struggling with how to move forward.

Whew. Okay. I will spare y'all a blow by blow account, but after being a HUGE biosecurity advocate, I recently had a bird diagnosed with Marek's. I had went all out...disinfecting after going to the feed store, never going to other peoples farms who had chickens, only buying hatching eggs to reduce any possible diseases, etc. etc. etc. Yet MD STILL made its way into my flock. It's been about a month...I have had to cull about 10 birds so far. Most of them pullets. Go figure:( I can only chalk it up to bad luck...after all, I do live in GA, and there are about 10 chicken houses within a two mile radius of my house...literally disease INCUBATORS. It could have came from ANYWHERE. I have gone through feeling shocked, angry, depressed, and now I'm just resolved to move on. I REFUSE to think that a MD diagnosis is a death knell for my entire flock, or to my chicken keeping.

Me being the biology major that I am, I immediately set out to find as much information as I could...only to be bitterly disappointed. There seems to be three different camps on how to deal with MD- depopulate (old timers said to burn the chicken house to the ground with the chickens in it. Not happening.) and wait AT LEAST one year (studies have found the virus to survive for 65 weeks), keep a closed flock & vaccinate any incoming birds, and lastly, breed for resistance. This last group seems to be woefully small....

The depopulation route is not an option for me. Not that I have a problem culling birds, but because the thought of my birds catching MD again, after all the work and wait, is just unimaginable. Vaccination seems like a good route initially, until I found out that the vaccine does NOT prevent infection, only lessens the symptoms if infected, and in turn potentially perpetuating the problem by extending the life of a bird that is infected, and therefore shedding the virus....the be blown by the wind or carried by a wild bird or inadvertently by me. These virus containing particles can be microscopic, y'all. I would NEVER intentially infect anyone else's flock, but what am I supposed to do? Wear a hazmat suit? I would never judge or put down anyone who has chosen a different route, but the only thing that has made sense to me is to breed for resistance. I know it can be done. I know it will be heartbreaking to cull all affected birds...but I feel that it is the best way to deal with this insidious disease. So I would love for y'all to share your experiences on breeding for resistance! Thanks for reading my rant! :p

Special thanks to seminolewind who heard me out :D
Hello, Laboratory scientist here. My 14 week old pullet started showing symptoms of Marek's. I checked her record to make sure I had ordered the vaccine and sure enough, it was not on the receipt. I isolated her immediately. I drew her blood myself and took it to the Veterinarian diagnostic laboratory. I was only able to get about 100ml in an EDTA microtainer. It cost $27 to test for Marek's PCR. The test came back negative. I kept her for about a week longer and gave her nutridrench vitimans daily in her water. I observed her closely for any dislocations or some kind of physical injury. She was eating really well and the vitamins did not help her leg paralysis. There were no obvious reasons for her sudden leg paralysis. I took her in for a necropsy. They performed it for free because she was a backyard chicken. Her pooled organs came back positive for Marek's. No other chicken is showing signs. I have culled 7 of her sibling roos. I had planned on culling the entire flock. Including my original chickens that are vaccinated for Marek's. I am just now figuring out how prevalent this is and that culling may be a useless endeavor. Im still tring to decide what to do. How are things working out for you?
 

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