Ag Dept. testing of chick - I was right - Mareks.

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BayCityBabe

BayCityBabe

Songster
11 Years
May 1, 2008
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I am pretty upset. We have lost two hens this summer. Now a pullet is very sick. I think maybe Mareks. We have tried two weeks of baby vitamins, a trip to a local vet, antibiotics, the works... She is uncoordinated & weak. I am ready to put her down & open to identifying our real issue(s).

Two problems here:
#1 ) My teenager is being willfully ignorant about the need to do this. Not sad or anything, rather openly defiant, telling me I am making the wrong call here. I think the only wrong thing I have done has been to let this drag on.
#2 ) Very important. I am worried about alerting the state to any possible problem. If there are certain illnesses, do they come to your place & cull your birds?

Should I just cull this pullet myself & leave the state out of it?????
 
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Well, culling is basically always a judgment call, so you and your teen have a difference of opinion. I might decline more money for vets, etc., but I don't think I'd cull against her wishes. Good life lesson for her.

Yes, the government can cull a flock, or order you to, however they do it.
 
Some chicks/pullets fail to thrive. She's been to the vet and has a course of antibiotics and still is not doing well. If she is sick and suffering I would put her down.

How many chickens do you have? Are you sure it is Mereks? I can't say what the state would do because I am not familiar with their procedures regarding sick livestock.
 
Find out what diseases are reportable in your state (it differs). If it is not reportable, they would not cull or order it done. For reportable diseases, they may or may not--I think it depends on the disease and specific conditions.

I doubt Mareks is reportable--it is pretty much everywhere.

What symptoms have your birds had and how were they treated? Is your vet an avian vet or livestock vet or mostly cat/dog vet?
 
The vet is a livestock and avian vet. The vet would do the necropsy, but insists that it would cost far less through the state ag extension. Heck, they probably send all THEIR samples to the state ag!
 
Any vet can do a necropsy, but their instruments and equipment are generally insufficient for detailed analysis. Some states cover a large portion of the cost of necropsies, others do not provide any discounts. Most state labs do not do their own complete analysis, but send their samples to a handful of veterinary diagnostic labs.
 
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Did you contact your state ag school? They can often do these for a low price, are qualified, and often control the state testing anyway.

Incidentally, I'd have them test a bird... or sacrifice a bird to test - before culling.

As for alerting the state - think about it this way. Many of the state-cullable diseases stay on your grounds anyway. If you have one, cull, and then replace birds - you could possibly end up with it anyway. So better to know than to not know and keep dragging it on.

Personally, I would contact your local ag college about sacrificing a bird for the test and/or doing a necropsy on a freshly dead bird. Necropsy is the method of determining Marek's as there are tumors around the organs at death if that was the cause. "Histopathologies" are the tests that they do afterwards - sending in tissue samples to diagnostic labs for analysis. They do cost additionally to the necropsy. If you have one done, ask for double samples to be taken. It costs no more, and that way you have a back-up if your sample is lost or tainted in transit.

Please do bite the bullet and have a proper authority test before ever culling.
 
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No, I did not mean that I would cull my flock. Oh, heavens, no! I am willing to have one, very fragile bird euthanized and tested. I am very, very afraid that this testing & cooperation with a state lab might come back to "git" me. What if my birds have something "reportable"? Frankly, the State of MI does not offer much in the way of clear information. They do not state that if Disease X is found, they will do A, B, and C. There is some very nebulous language about the evaluation of threat to people and other animals.

I am very afraid that if this one bird has something bad, I will not be given the opportunity to close my flock & continue to enjoy my sweet pets. I am afraid that I will regret finding out this diagnosis.
 
I would isolate the sick bird(s) and just see what happens. I live not far north of you and from what I have heard from other MI hatcheries that THERE HAVE BEEN NO REPORTED CASES OF AVIAN FLU IN MI.

MSU, remember, has an excellent veterinary program and they could probably shed some insight into this.

A friend of mine just took her horse down there for surgery on an inguinal hernia (I hope I spelled that right) and after examination, the vet at MSU said it was not a hernia, just a bizarre soft tissue injury. No galloping or jumping EVER for her, but she no longer has to have a $3500 surgery done. They have cutting edge technology and may even be able to supply or go through one of those "medical flow charts"

Is chicken breathing normally? No--> Is chicken running a fever

You get the idea.
 
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No, I did not mean that I would cull my flock. Oh, heavens, no! I am willing to have one, very fragile bird euthanized and tested. I am very, very afraid that this testing & cooperation with a state lab might come back to "git" me. What if my birds have something "reportable"? Frankly, the State of MI does not offer much in the way of clear information. They do not state that if Disease X is found, they will do A, B, and C. There is some very nebulous language about the evaluation of threat to people and other animals.

I am very afraid that if this one bird has something bad, I will not be given the opportunity to close my flock & continue to enjoy my sweet pets. I am afraid that I will regret finding out this diagnosis.

Oh I know, but people do - and have been jumping to that conclusion lately after hearing about someone else culling - but **forgetting** that he had everyone tested first. He chose to cull, and some do. I just wanted to throw that out there because honestly if they keep getting sick, it might cross your mind. And if it does, I want you to remember always to test.

Bacterial diseases are so very difficult to distinguish between one another, and then that's not even including fungal illnesses or toxins, and the virus diseases!

But as far as reportable (which does cross over into the diseases that literally will require culling - you have no choice) I wanted to offer that.

The way I understand it that with required-cull diseases, they will often quarantine and retest - at least they do with pullorum typhoid (P/T) positives. To test to make sure that there wasn't a false positive. IF it's positive a second time, then there's a cull. There are other diseases that are required culling including I believe ILT and END. They're not common (thanks to these eradication programs) but they do exist and, as poultry owners, we have to be aware of course. I'm glad you've done your studies on it. It's not a comfortable subject at all - frankly pretty terrifying to people who love their birds. But the more we know - well "forewarned is forearmed", isn't it?

Still my prayers are with your flock in any case.

And by the way, MSU does have an exceptional poultry program! They're very very high in education.
 

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