At a complete loss, odd illness!

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Lutman_Chick said:
Lovely flock! Do you ever add birds or are you on lock down?
Click to expand...
The protocol for my flock is to not add anything I don't hatch myself. This is actually more for the safety of my own birds. They are doing really well, and I have no desire to bring in anything that might upset this. Also, as we all have learned, the 30 day quarantine is just not long enough for so many diseases.
I made the decision to vaccinate 3/4 of all my chicks. I know that might seem odd, but I want to have "canaries in the mine" to know whether the virus is being managed. I also don't want to lose lots of birds if I do have an outbreak... So I'm playing the odds a bit. Once a bird goes out into my yard, they stay there (although I have sold cockerels to an Asian Market swap that are just going to process them and don't care what they may or may not "have").
 
Yes, if it does come back that it's Marek's, there is definitely "life with chickens after Marek's"! I actually suspect that many more people have it in their flocks than realize it, since not everyone is willing or able to get birds tested. It's a fairly common disease, and while heartbreaking and surely awful, one can manage it, depending on flock goals. I do not have any experience in the UK but if rebrascora says that it seems less virulent over there, that's great news for you. :) If you have questions or just need support, there is a community here for you.
There are a few different diseases that can cause nerve lesions, but Marek's is probably the most common. I hope you have good answers soon from the testing.
 
Wyorp Rock said:
:hugs You are not a terrible chicken keeper.

There are so many causes of illness, it can be hard to find the right answer. If you have a vet that can perform a fecal float, that may prove very helpful.

If she will stress out from being separated, then leave her with the others if she isn't picked on. Stress can make things worse.

Sour crop can be caused by numerous things, moldy feed is one of them. Worms, coccidiosis, reproductive problems can impact crop function. I would check her crop to make sure it's emptying overnight, just to make sure that part of her is working.

Hopefully @Eggcessive will chime in with her thoughts.
Click to expand...

Marek's is so common in California that the veterinary pathologist I first spoke with didn't even bat an eye lid when she gave me a preliminary diagnosis. It's the #1 disease they encounter in necropsy findings. It also manifests itself in all kinds of ways. (I will admit to a fair amount of frustration when people say things like "No leg paralysis, weird eye dialations, or feather follicle protrusions - so it's not Marek's .")
Almost any form of paralysis can be Marek's related... slow or impacted crops, wry neck, and even paralysis of the reproductive tract manifesting in egg binding. And, it's really impossible to know unless the bird is sent in for testing. Even then, no tumors may be detected initially, and there have to be "Petri dish" tests for conclusive results.
We rarely have any type of paralysis here. Our form usually is a "wasting" form... They just lose interest in food. And those darn feathers often disguise the loss of weight until it's too late...
 
orrpeople said:
Marek's is so common in California that the veterinary pathologist I first spoke with didn't even bat an eye lid when she gave me a preliminary diagnosis. It's the #1 disease they encounter in necropsy findings. It also manifests itself in all kinds of ways. (I will admit to a fair amount of frustration when people say things like "No leg paralysis, weird eye dialations, or feather follicle protrusions - so it's not Marek's .")
Almost any form of paralysis can be Marek's related... slow or impacted crops, wry neck, and even paralysis of the reproductive tract manifesting in egg binding. And, it's really impossible to know unless the bird is sent in for testing. Even then, no tumors may be detected initially, and there have to be "Petri dish" tests for conclusive results.
We rarely have any type of paralysis here. Our form usually is a "wasting" form... They just lose interest in food. And those darn feathers often disguise the loss of weight until it's too late...
Click to expand...

I have done more research than I ever have on this disease, I've had chickens for 20 years and never had a problem or new of it. Then I got fancy an bought birds from local papers etc.. and now i wished i hadn't, I seem to have problem after problem, if it's not worms, it's lice or something else bizar. I lost one recently to, can't remember the name, but he had nodes in his mouth preventing him from swallowing properly and poor thing was covered in lice, i just could not get them off him, he was white with power, then i thought id poisoned him with power. It's been an awful mess, then had a hen with suspected sour crop (showed all symptoms but not confirmed by vet) then my little sablepoot, now one of the hybrids has gone wapsy (and this hen would of been vaccinated so i know not impossible i'm surprised she's next to go down).. I don't know if the suspected Mareks spreading or whether she's anemic from the lice.. it's defiantly not worms as been treated twice and sampled.
Sorry for the rant, i'm feeling particularly emotional about it all, not so much that they are pets, i'm fairly practical in that way,but that i'm going round and round in circles trying to combat a problem that just won't seem to shift.
I'm just waiting on the lab reports from the petri tests, then i'll know for sure.. if i was a chook i'd of lost all my feathers by now from stressing!
 
Nambroth said:
Yes, if it does come back that it's Marek's, there is definitely "life with chickens after Marek's"! I actually suspect that many more people have it in their flocks than realize it, since not everyone is willing or able to get birds tested. It's a fairly common disease, and while heartbreaking and surely awful, one can manage it, depending on flock goals. I do not have any experience in the UK but if rebrascora says that it seems less virulent over there, that's great news for you. :) If you have questions or just need support, there is a community here for you.
There are a few different diseases that can cause nerve lesions, but Marek's is probably the most common. I hope you have good answers soon from the testing.
Click to expand...

Luckily i'm having the test done for free as i'm doing the lab a favour by handing my bird in. My vet found out about it.
 
Lutman_Chick said:
I have done more research than I ever have on this disease, I've had chickens for 20 years and never had a problem or new of it. Then I got fancy an bought birds from local papers etc.. and now i wished i hadn't, I seem to have problem after problem, if it's not worms, it's lice or something else bizar. I lost one recently to, can't remember the name, but he had nodes in his mouth preventing him from swallowing properly and poor thing was covered in lice, i just could not get them off him, he was white with power, then i thought id poisoned him with power. It's been an awful mess, then had a hen with suspected sour crop (showed all symptoms but not confirmed by vet) then my little sablepoot, now one of the hybrids has gone wapsy (and this hen would of been vaccinated so i know not impossible i'm surprised she's next to go down).. I don't know if the suspected Mareks spreading or whether she's anemic from the lice.. it's defiantly not worms as been treated twice and sampled.
Sorry for the rant, i'm feeling particularly emotional about it all, not so much that they are pets, i'm fairly practical in that way,but that i'm going round and round in circles trying to combat a problem that just won't seem to shift.
I'm just waiting on the lab reports from the petri tests, then i'll Heyknow for sure.. if i was a chook i'd of lost all my feathers by now from stressing!
Click to expand...
Hah!! (Not laughing at the problems, just the clever analogy at the end!)
Rant away! Any time! :)
So, the thing with vaccinating is that it's a bit like the flu... The virus mutates, and some forms are resistant. For example, from my experience, the vaccination protocol used by Greenfire Farms (a hatchery out of Florida) has little to no effect in our area. In fact, I have only lost vaccinated birds from the breeds that have some GFF stock in them. My non-vaccinated birds within those breeds have had no issues. Again, it's a strange virus.
The silver lining is that so far, it hasn't devastated my flock. In fact, I haven't seen it for a number of months and have gotten almost all my new pullets past the point of lay successfully. (Some little ones are to be determined yet.) I have changed the way I manage them - but I probably should have been managing them this way from the beginning!
It may be a bit ugly for a while, but keep up the good work and feel free to rant any time! :hugs
 

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