What is causing my girls to die?! Marek's??

[seminolewind]

Quote: I'll be waiting for you to post it.
I had a 6 year old bird die, and I'm waiting for the results. She has Marek's exposure but I think she died from something else.

 

[Sammykins]

Born from a Marek mom is a good thing.  But vaccinate them when they're born.  And they won't bring Marek's.

Ok one more thing! Lol sorry! But adding them to my four chickens I have that have been exposed to mareks from my dead bird, the chicks won't be bringing mareks in, they will be exposed to mareks. So is that ok to do? Assuming that maybe some of the chicks will then become carriers?

 

[chickengeorgeto]

There are several to many strains of the Mareks virus. Vaccinations are never a sure thing with Mareks because every strain has a different DNA profile. The best most hatcheries can do is to vaccinate for the strain of Mareks most prevalent in their region. The strain vaccinated against therefor may or may not be the strain most dangerous to your birds. With Mareks vaccines you are gambling. But it is still better to put your money down and roll the dice than to do nothing. Because some chickens demonstrate limited natural resistance to Mareks I like to think that by culling symptomatic chickens that I am helping in my own small little way to further natural resistance to Mareks.

 

[seminolewind]

Quote: The chicks coming in should be vaccinated and quarantined no matter what. Sammy, i don't mind the questions, I think alot of us learn from this.

 

[seminolewind]

Actually, the hatcheries get better vaccine than we can, and they give a triple type vaccine and we can't buy it. I had called one of the hatcheries and asked about the vaccine. I get the cocci vaccine as well, but of course, one of my chicks got it anyway. But she;s fine now.

 

[seminolewind]

I've been knowingly battling this for 4 years or more and I think I've seen alot of it, and Marek's doesn't follow any rules. I still have 8 of my original chickens who were here before the Marek's. I have a few from when I had it but didn't know. The rest are vaccinated. I try things like the nutritional yeast but I would never call anything a cure. It's been around for over 100 years. The big chicken companies have gotten it under control about 30 years ago. Now it's kind of out of control in backyard chickens. If you have a flock that does not have Marek's, don't bring any chicks/chickens home. It's a risk.

I go around at night once a week and feel everyone for weight loss. I study their poo under the roost.
Everyone hears alot of different things. The link at the bottom of my posts for the Big Marek's FAQ by Nambroth is all of the most recent findings.

I'm really glad that Texas A&M now has a blood test for Marek's and it's really not expensive. And it's cheaper than sending a dead chicken.