St. John's Wort

[MoodyChicken]

Oh, well if your goats are eating it and not getting sick then the chickens would be fine too. I believe the the flower is the part that carries the drug.

 

[hinkjc]

For the person claiming this is a cure..how do you know your bird actually had marek's to begin with. Marek's is a cancer..not likely there is a cure out there and if there was, it would have been shared with the poultry industry via scientific testing and results. Nothing of that sort exists today.

 

[MoodyChicken]

Quote:
A vet told me this. I've used it, it works most of the time. The industry doesn't use it because it's more economical to replace the bird, not fix the problem.

 

[wyliefarms]

Mareks disease is not a cancer. It is a viral infection that has a high mortiality rate.

 

[MoodyChicken]

Well, it causes mutations in the cell which is essentially cancer. The disease itself is a virus, that causes cancer.

 

[horsejody]

Quote:
correct. But it would still be nice to see a study for this "cure."

 

[MoodyChicken]

Well, I don't know if cure is the best word... but it actually healed the lesions on the nerves caused by Marek's Disease. So whatever it is... it works. It's relatively new... so I don't think anyone has tested the science behind it. It's a homeopathic remedy.

 

[horsejody]

Quote:
The true test would be if the bird was no longer a carrier.

 

[MoodyChicken]

My one bird that recovered and later died for other reasons was necropsied. The results came back with no evidence of Marek's Disese on the nerve tissue. I'm not sure if they checked for the virus in other areas (spleen, liver, etc) but that's all that came back. If I had the equipment, this would be fun to test.

 

[Shrader]

Thanks for all the great info.
One of my chickens died suddenly last week.
Now another is limping.
I'm afraid it's Marek's.
I'm off to the health food store now, to get the hypericum.
SHould we not eat any of the eggs while I'm figuring this out?
Is there any chance of human contamination?