St. John's Wort

[Fyremare]

I am seeing a little tiny bit of improvement today after 5 doses of hypericum in my little Mille Fleur cockerel. Have the 30 strength tiny pills in a little blue tube. Dissolved one in a small vial that didn't quite hold a Tablespoon of distilled water. Took forever for it to dissolve! I have been doing the sharp snapping 10 times, forgot to the first time. I am happy and I am sad. Either the nerve medicine is taking away some of his pain, or he is getting better or both. He does have one foot in front and one behind. Eating and drinking better.
It will still be sad for me if he kicks it, because I will be assuming he had/has Merek's and that it is in the soil. I hadn't had chickens ever, and the only thing that I know of that was on this land before the chickens was a dog for 5 months, feral cats sometimes and wild birds and animals.
The whole situation makes me not want to sell any or get anymore in, or.... make anymore babies. I think that will be the hardest, because my goals were to get some good breeders. Pretty sure I have a nice trio and now don't know if I will let anyone set. That may be difficult, since the newest chicks are Speckled Sussex and there are 8 left out of the original 13. Have had 5 of those die, and one other pullet that was probably an EE.
Have others of you closed your flocks? Some of the breeds I have never have been sick ever. I'm wondering if the hardiness of cross breeding is helping.

I am heartbroken in Vermont.

When he was healthy.

Well.... there's good news and sad news. The sad news is my little Mille Roolette has crossed the rainbow bridge (I put him down tonight). May he RIP.
The good news is, his leg was broken and his poops have been brown all along. I think I am relieved.
I will miss the handsome little boy

But I will be watching my birds like a hawk...

 

[seminolewind]

Well, I just lost another chicken to Marek's I believe. I will be sending her to UC Davis on Monday to get an autopsy and confirm it. She was a silkie. I lost another one about a month ago. a silkie as well. Had no clinical signs one day just died. UC Davis confirmed it was Marek's she had lesions on her organs according to what the autopsy said. With this little one she started to show signs of being depressed a few days ago. I treated her w/ the Homeopathic Hypericum for about 3 days and just went out to check on everyone and she managed to get herself in a tight corner behind a crate. It was in the hot sun and she was dead. Now that I have had 2 that have had it I am concerned that the rest of the birds that were in w/ these 2 have it but not showing signs yet. And all have the visceral type. I know there are like 4 or 5 different types of Marek's. None of my birds are vaccinated for it. I have read that Marek's lives in the soil so my question is how effective is the vaccine actually? And is it actually worth vaccinating for or don't bother? I would rather the birds developed a natural immunity/antibodies to it rather than vaccinating for it. Is there anything homeopathic wise that can be given like nosodes to help prevent it. I hate to see the rest of my flock die off one by one.

Thanks
Kim

Kim, I have tons of info at the bottom of my posts. The vaccine is 90% effective if given right and quarantined. If you want natural resistance, I've gotten it thru hatching chicks from my exposed hens.
Marek's is spread by chicken dander. If dander is on the ground so be it. It can live for up to 4 years. But it's not in the ground unless a chicken put it there.

 

[kidsandchooks]

Hi there, Thank you for all that have replied to my post.
Just a quick update.... All my hens are still going... even the one that started the 'worrying' i hand feed her till she would eat for herself used a 'sick chicken' recipe. And she still lays every couple of days. I have never put her back into the chicken yard with the other girls since she has never been the same and alot smaller then the others. Also we have a rather nasty hen that tends to pick on new 'girls'
the other hen that we were worried had contracted what ever the problem was is quite well although maybe past her paying age. But in saying that i am happy to report that there has been no sign of the others getting sick and the two that were are good if not great. ;-)
Thanks once again... it will always hold a mystery of what struck them down. But fingers crossed we wont go through that again

 

[lesleelay]

Glad to hear they are doing better. I haven't lost anymore at this time. I also ordered and planted some hypericum seeds. Maybe adding this live plant now and then to their diet will also help.

 

[hlorap]

Hi guys,

1 of my chickens have been diagnosed with Merricks disease. I am starting him on the Hypericum now and I am hoping this will cure him. The signs of Merrick's disease have now been visable for 10days.... I started out with vet tests and Vit B injections.

I will try and post his progress and if I am able to save him.

Just to give an idea of the dosage in the tablet and the brand I am using:

Nature's Own
per tablet - 2.7g Hypericum perforatum.

Regards,
Hlora

 

[seminolewind]

Hi Hlora.
What are the symptoms of your bird? Do others have it?

How was the chicken diagnosed with Marek's. As far as I know, symptoms can be a good guess, but a necropsy after they die- by a state run animal disease lab , is the only way to be sure.

I've heard of people trying SJW, also B vitamins.

 

[hlorap]

Hi Seminolewind,

Buckie was completely tested for the disease and was confirmed with merricks only yesterday. He had saliva and poop taken away for testing (international test - don't know where).

None of the other chickens have it as far as I can see. They are all very lively and running around and eating a lot.

He isn't as bad as what I have read up on, his symptoms are:
Shaky on legs, can't stand unassisted, very skinny, in pain when legs are being handled for examination and just in general.
He has not gone as far as star gazing and is a very strong willed chicken (even though he was scared about what was happening to him and didn't know what to do or how to help himself).
I have applied the SJW to him for the last 1.5 days and he appears to be getting better... Able to stand with a little more strength in his legs, has taken a few better assisted steps today and is in general looking more alert and positive and has also started to preen himself again. He also eats a little more.

Cheers hlorap

 

[seminolewind]

I haven't heard of a test for Marek's done with poop and saliva. Can you get more information, or a copy of the test results? You've got me drooling with curiousity now, LOL.

 

[hlorap]

Hi Seminolewind,

Lol, I'll see if I can get more information. The vet wants to know if I am going to euthanise Buckie or not. I told her that I want to do everything I can first.

Do you know if its normal for Buckie to want to sleep so much? He's also been running quite hot, so I've placed an ice pack 3 sheets beneath him to cool him a little bit.

He doesn't seem to be in pain and he's sleeping quite a bit but yet it's like he is looking up to the ceiling with his eyes closed.

Hmmmm :-/

 

[hlorap]

Hi Seminolewind,

The vet advised that the test is a PCR (pelimenaraise chain reaction) test that looks for the DNA chain that holds the herpies virus and that its 99% accurate. The vet advised that the company that performs the test is called Molecular Diagnostic Services in South Australia (web site: http://www.mdsafrica.net/site/default.asp).

While talking to the vet he stated that when a chicken has Marik's Disease that's it for the chicken. He also stated that diagnosis with out tests like PCR may come out incorrect (speculations of MD but may be something else) and the chicken is medicated anyways with hypericum and they come out ok afterwards.

I guess what I'm looking for is if someone tested their chicken and it came back conclusive for MD and they then medicated the bird with Hypericum and the bird pulled through.

- Hlorap