St. John's Wort

[chicklandia]

Are you using homeopathic hypericum? If so, what potency? How long do you treat for? How many chickens have you treated? What percentage recovered?

thanks.

 

[lesleelay]

I am using St. John's Wort which is hypericum. Purchased it at Walmart. Doing every thing that we were told to do in the first post of this thread. 2 tbls of distilled water, 1 caplet, mixed it in a glass bowl with a plastic spoon. put in chickens mouth with a plastic suringe and made sure the chicken rubbed it's beak together to get it into their sinus. They need to breath it into their lungs, If regular water or metal touchs the hypericum it nutrualizes it. I have treated 3. One I wasn't for sure it was Marek's. Didn't act the same as the others. 2 are back in the run doing great. My problem is that several have died before I found them. Looked fine one day and the next morning they were dead. I am making sure that I keep the rooster that recovered from Marek's so he can breed his immunity into his chicks.

Your welcome.

 

[bluedawg]

Would you all mind to please take a look at the video I posted of my Roo and tell me if it looks like Mareks to you? ...

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/708123/help-diagnosing-my-roo#post_9636522

 

[lesleelay]

I looks like it to me. Mine walked like that and they drooped their wings like that. But they had good appetites and would drink their water. Oh, their poop was a runny bright green. I would try the St. John's Wort.

 

[bluedawg]

OK, Thank you. Starting him on what you outlined above now!

 

[lesleelay]

This is the original post from MoodyChicken. Do what she says because that's what I did.



This isn't an emergency, just a helpful tidbit of information to help. Despite what you may have heard, there IS a cure for Marek's Disease. It is a homeopathic remedy called "Hypericum." Hypericum is a small creeping herb that, when used hollistically, numbs nerves and dulls pain. When given to a bird suffering from the symptoms of Marek's Disease, it will cure the bird by working on the theory that "like cures like," in other words, by giving the bird the symptoms it will take the symptoms away. I've used this herb with great success to fully cure birds of Marek's Disease. You can fnd Hypericum at health food stores, $8 for 100 tablets. Hypericum must be diluted before it can be used:

- 1 tablespoon of DISTILLED water per tablet Hypericum (must be distilled water, tap water is ionized and will deactivate the Hypericum)
- MUST be mixed in a GLASS or PLASTIC bowl (metal with react with the water and herb)
- drip 5-10 drops (bantam) or 10-15 drops (large fowl) on the afflicted bird's tongue. Be sure the bird rubs its beak together because the Hypericum MUST touch the sinuses (located on the roof of the mouth) in order to work
- treat every 12 hours (morning and night) with a fresh batch
- recovery may be as quick as 1 day or as slow as several months

The treatment works best if you begin treating early. If you delay treatment, the Hypericum may not work or it may be a very slow recovery. IF YOU OVERDOSE YOUR BIRDS ON HYPERICUM, don't worry. The bird will exhibit extreme symptoms, and make a drastic improvment within a 24 hours. Hypericum is also helpful for pain. Only treat birds that are showing symptoms.

HOW CAN I TELL IF MY BIRD HAS MAREK'S DISEASE?

Check your flock history. Marek's Disease affects birds as early as 6 months of age. Symtoms occur most commonly between 6-8 months of age; however, any age bird can become sick, it just becomes less common with age. The incubation period is 2 weeks.

SYMPTOMS INCLUDE: sudden death (fairly common), depression (common), gradual weight loss (fairly common), neck paralysis (not common), paleness (in conjunction with other symtoms), wing paralysis (common), leg paralysis (most common), star-gazing (fairly common), extreme sudden emaciation (rare), mishapen pupil (not common), gray iris (not common), crazy behavior (rare), unresponsive (common), internal tumor growth (not common), tumors on feather follicles (not common), fearful (not common)

Hope this helps someone!!!

Edited by MoodyChicken - 2/19/09 at 11:21pm

 

[wagoncab]

I wish I had known about this stuff a couple of years ago.
I had a young Brahama roo that had Marecks. He survived.
I brought him in the house and took care of him for about 6 weeks.
Made sure he ate and drank. I put stuff in his water, I don't remember
just what now, I think something that was for ALL birds. I took him out
in the grass and sunshine. Very slowly he got better and could walk again.
He finally got well enough to go outside and be with the other chickens
and then one night something broke into the coop and he was gone along
with a few others. I was totally heartbroken.
Cindy

 

[mustangsaguaro]

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

 

[GAIL328]

I had a 10 week old chick unable to pick her head up yesterday. She was eating and drinking only if I spoon fed her and held up her head. I read about the St. John's Wort and gave her a dose last night. Didn't think she would make it till the morning. Put her to bed next to me in the cat bed wrapped in a towel and to my surprise she was still alive at 3am. I fed her a little and by morning she was doing great. Gave her one more dose this morning and she spent the day on the counter in the cat bed. Tonight she has returned to the flock. I am new to having chickens. Thanks so much for all the advise on this site. It has helped me imensely.

 

[GAIL328]

Thanks this post saved my chick last night.