Marek's disease and broody hen.

[chicksandchickens]

I have a great dilemma. I have just had to put down a 2 year old hen due to very poor health (paralysed wing, dropped tail, refusal to eat, preferring to just sit complaining silently of pain). I am new to chicken keeping (I have had them just for 2-3 years), but I have seen so many of my chickens perish with a strange disease. Out of 12 chicken I have lost 3 to predators and about 5-6 to a mysterious disease over the past 3 years. I have hatched the first lot myself, fed them organic, kept them clean. All went so well. A year later introduced a bad batch of 5 pullets from someone else and since then the sickness has been ravaging. Most chickens died in a very similar way, started to limp, then had troubles walking and keeping their wing folded nicely; stopped eating within a week or two until they went off food completely unable to stand up at all. We would cull them before 2 weeks were up. However, they perished over a longer time. There were months between different chickens getting sick. So with the one that has been just put down I have tried to do an autopsy suspecting Marek’s disease. However, I couldn’t find any cysts or tumours and I haven’t got sufficient experience to be able to recognise a difference in enlarged nerves. Despite of that, I still think suspect Marek’s being a culprit. I am now down to my last hen which is really special as she is broody. She is sitting on some eggs whilst I am incubating a new larger batch. Here is my dilemma. I feel I should cull the hen so that I can have sufficient time to clean (or even burn down) the coop and the run. I have 2 more weeks till the little ones hatch plus the first month of chick’s life I will keep them in utility room. I could build a new coop and start afresh. However, I must say that culling my broody hen feels particularly heartbreaking. She just so much wants to be a mom! At the moment she doesn’t show any signs of illness except of lesser food intake (but this can be due to broodiness) and she is so perfect in looking after her eggs. If I keep her and the sickness keeps on ravaging because of her, the losses of new flock will be just too great and I am not sure if I will have strength to go through it all again. I am sure many of you have been in a similar situation. What have you done?

PS: My hens are not vaccinated against Marek’s and I really would not like to vaccinate the new chicks either.

Thank you for time to read this.

 

[LaFleche]

I am sorry for your losses.

Did you ever send any of the deceased hens in for a professional necropsy?

Even supposing it is Marek's you are dealing with, there is no use in culling your broody as the virus is ubiquitous and will last for years in the ground, dust etc.


Just let her hatch the chicks and maybe you are lucky and at least some of them turn out resistant to the suspected virus.

 

[coach723]

If you lose another I would recommend that you have a professional necropsy done, so you can verify or rule out Marek's disease.
IF it's Marek's then the virus is on your property. It's spread mostly by feather dander and dust, it's everywhere. It can spread on the wind for miles. It can also be spread by bodily fluids. but inhalation of the feather dust is the biggest spreader. So even if you culled her, the virus is still on your property and likely will be for many years. It's impossible to remove it completely.
I have Marek's in my flock, I do not cull non symptomatic birds, I breed those ones. In the hope they will pass some resistance to their offspring. IF you are dealing with Marek's then it's most likely that all the chicks will be exposed. That doesn't mean that all will get sick or die, there is no way to predict that. You can move it around on shoes, clothing, equipment as well. And if you did vaccinate them they can't come into contact with the virus for 2 weeks or the vaccine won't be effective. Almost impossible to do at home.
It's really necessary to know for sure whether that is what you are dealing with in order to make good decisions on how to handle things going forward.

 

[chicksandchickens]

Thank you for your prompt responses. I think you have swung me to keep her. Well, who knows... maybe you are right and they will start developing some kind of resistance to the disease

 

[Cinnamon Roll]

If it is Mareks, vaccinating the chicks COULD provide some protection against symptoms in the future. I’d keep your hen, vaccinate the chicks and give them to her. It won’t turn out any worse than not vaccinating them and like others said, if it’s Mareks it’s there pretty much forever.

Since the vaccine comes in huge doses I’d vaccinate your hen too. It might help her not have as many symptoms and again it’s not going to hurt anything.

 

[coach723]

The vaccine has to be given at 24 hours old, it can't be given to adult birds or to birds that have already been exposed to the virus. If you vaccinate the chicks, they couldn't be given back to the hen for 2 weeks, to prevent exposure before the vaccine had a chance to take, and at that point it's unlikely that she would accept them. If they hatch under a broody, in a Marek's positive flock, they are exposed at hatch. The only way to TRY to not expose them would be to hatch them in an incubator and keep them completely isolated for 2 weeks post vaccination. That would mean absolute zero exposure, not on clothes, shoes, etc. Like I said, nearly impossible to to do at home.

 

[LaFleche]

If it is Mareks, vaccinating the chicks COULD provide some protection against symptoms in the future. I’d keep your hen, vaccinate the chicks and give them to her. It won’t turn out any worse than not vaccinating them and like others said, if it’s Mareks it’s there pretty much forever.

Since the vaccine comes in huge doses I’d vaccinate your hen too. It might help her not have as many symptoms and again it’s not going to hurt anything.

There is no use in vaccinating older birds and even the chicks need to be vaccinated right after hatch and kept separate/quarantined away from older birds and their dust for weeks, better months to develop some kind of immunity.

 

[Cinnamon Roll]

There is no use in vaccinating older birds and even the chicks need to be vaccinated right after hatch and kept separate/quarantined away from older birds and their dust for weeks, better months to develop some kind of immunity.

In the best of all worlds yes they should be vaccinated and quarantined. There have been studies that the vaccine is effective when given to older birds so that part of your comment doesn’t match what I’ve read and experienced. There are also studies that giving booster shots of the vaccine does provide greater protection and that’s what I’ve done in my flock.

From my reading the vaccine is given on day one to avoid any exposure. If the mama and the chicks are already exposed, the vaccine can provide some reduction in symptoms from what I’ve read. It’s certainly worth a try and to my mind it’s better than just aiming for keeping non-symptomatic birds.

All situations are different and since OP doesn’t know it’s Marek’s for sure, it is one more option that they can mull over while they decide what to do.