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Update because someone re-posted my story in a local backyard chickens group: we've now lost 100% of the birds from BSR--all of them from Mareks. Since buying Mareks-vaxxed chicks elsewhere, we've finally stopped the constant death. I truly hope sharing our story saves others some heartache.

SO. MANY. RED. FLAGS. We were just absolute, naive noobies who took her to be a quirky, eccentric chicken lady and not a used car salesman chicken broker. Back when I first wrote this post I considered reporting to a state agency, then life got in the way and it fell off my to do list. Thanks...

Really? We've had great experience with Melinda's hens! Has your experience been poor?

Update: we've now lost: 13 of 15 chickens bought from Blue Star = 87% mortality rate 2 of 3 original hens from a friend (both died after introducing BSCR pullets) = 66% mortality 3 of 8 from Tractor Supply/Callahans = 38% mortality 1 of 10 from Sea Breeze Hens = 10% mortality *PLEASE DO NOT...

We clipped one wing on each of our three 5mo Silver Leghorns just a couple weeks back because they kept jumping/flying over the 6+' fence! Haven't had to clip anyone else's though.

Hey everyone! Happy new year and I hope everyone is covid-free. Our flock is doing really well but we're facing our least lethal hurdle to date Our Silver Leghorns can get clear of our 6' run fence. When we go to clip their feathers however, their primary feather stems still look very...

You bring up a good point that is another variable. We switched feed about two weeks ago. The new feed is H & H Feed ( soy/gmo free with Nutri-Balancer added ). I haven't paid enough attention to see whether she's been avoiding the food. When they free range, she's definitely active, scratches...

Posting a couple photos of an easter egger that is in some rough shape. She's lost 1/4 of her body weight in the past month. She's not very energetic these days, but we suspect that might be from lack of calories. The only thing that we've noted about her is an injury on her beak by her left...

Hello again! We're facing another head scratcher. I know it sounds weird, but I'm not sure how else to describe it. We have a 6 month old yellow sex-link that seems to have stopped maturing. The sex-link's sister has a full comb and waddles and has begun laying. She's about 2 weeks into almost...

Oh goodness, we've just dug a little more and found her new video page--where all educational videos are now behind a paywall. Many of them are part of a "training/mentor" program, including titles such as "Chickens As "Eggstra" Or Retirement Income!" and "Best Selling Techniques - Many Years In...

TL;DR: DON'T DO IT. Two recent necropsies show we have Mareks disease and respiratory illness in our flock, and investigation/tracing proves it came from Blue Star. If you are in the Central Texas/Austin area, get your chicks from Tractor Supply, Callahan's, or if you really want to buy from a...

Thank you both @lbgreenfield and @Eggcessive ! We've been digging deep into any and every scrap of info about Mareks for the last week or so, when we started to have deep suspicions. The truly unfortunate thing is we're also beginning to learn that the woman we got many of our birds from, a...

Necropsy & histopathology results are positive for Mareks. So at least now we know the culprit. We're investigating to see if we can determine how this came into our flock. Also doing all we can to boost immune systems of our remaining birds so hopefully they can remain asymptomatic and stick...

Circling back to update: after losing multiple chickens, we've finally identified the culprit as Mareks. Necropsy at the Texas A&M DVML lab in Gonzales has confirmed. So at least now we know. @azygous thank you for all your input! Reading back through this thread has been educational, yet again.

Coming back to this thread to update: since Peg died, we've lost another chicken (Tammy) who was approximately the same age, and now have one other displaying similar symptoms. We had her necropsied as well and I am both saddened and relieved to share that it was Mareks, not aspergillosis...

Thank you for the recommendation and thoughts. We're keeping a close eye; I'm going to clean it again now.

Yeah, I'm thinking that's most likely as well. What on earth would I be looking for in terms of something causing the infection? You mean like a splinter or something? They're on pine shavings, forgot to mention that earlier.

Good idea! I checked and I can't see anything, even when using my camping headlamp for some good lighting. It looks a little different today, more yellowish. I cleaned it with some warm soapy water, rubbed gently & put on diluted hydrogen peroxide with a q-tip, then smothered some neosporin. Is...

We have no idea what's happening with this BCM chick's toe. She is behaving normally from what we can tell, but her outside toe is swollen, red, and I think feels a bit warm (although difficult to really tell). She's walking fine. She's in a brooder box with two other BCM chicks, who are fine...

I'm sorry you lost your sweet hen 😢 We've been through this with our favorite recently as well, and it's not at all easy. Hugs to you.