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- #21
I purchased all my birds from feed stores and they were supposed to be vaccinated. Those are the ones that got hit the hardest.The timing is possible, from what I've read it can really show up right about POL for pullets. No matter what it is, it will be almost impossible to pinpoint exactly how it entered your flock but if those are the only birds you've added, then it's probably as close to a smoking gun as you will find.
Did those chicks get sick first? Do you know if any of your flock was vaccinated for Mareks? Were they under any kind of additional stress when the symptoms first showed up?
For transparency, I lost two pullets at 4 1/2 and then another at 5 1/2 months old, sent the second one in for a necropsy and Mareks was confirmed. I had 1 group of chicks I hatched last summer, all the others were from the feed stores over the last 4 years, my own chicks of course weren't vaccinated and Mareks is really hitting them hard. This started in November last year for me.
The six I got from the farmer were not vaccinated. Actually, the rooster that I've been discussing here is one of them. There are only two others from the six that, as far as I know, are doing OK. The others died.