Chicken virus affecting nerves

[Nambroth]

I'm so sorry she's gone. I am very surprised that your vet said that a necropsy would not matter... that is bad science, since it can give answers, even if it's not 100% for sure when it comes to some things.
The vaccine does come as a 1,000 dose, even here in the states. We use what we want and discard the rest. I vaccinated only 5 chicks this way last year. The vials of vaccine are very small, smaller than a medicine bottle.. you only use a tiny amount per chick, so it seems wasteful to buy it and not use most of it, but the volume that is discarded is actually very small.
Fortunately, Marek's disease is not known in Guinea Fowl, so you do not need to worry about them getting it.

 

[laurengeeves]

So assuming that she had mareks disease, what would be the next steps? I've only got 3 hens and 1 rooster left. Not including the guinea fowls (5), but luckily they aren't at risk. One of our hens incubated some guinea fowl eggs which hatched, am I'm assuming that she will do the same this year, would they not be at risk at all? Had our two battery hens euthanised, and a very sick chicken in 2 months..and I'm pretty sure that mareks could have killed my other battery hen aswell

 

[Nambroth]

If it is Marek's, the next step (besides helping any birds that seem to become ill, as best you can) is to keep a closed flock. Learn about the disease as much as you can so that you can make informed future decisions. Be careful not to spread the virus wantonly; you can do this by dedicating a pair of shoes just for chicken-keeping chores and such that you do not wear out and about. Also, of course, you can not give away or sell birds from your flock as they can spread it.
If you ever get more birds, the safest thing to do is to buy or hatch chicks and then vaccinate them before they are 24 hours old, and keep them in a strict quarantine for at least 3 weeks. Here in the states, hatcheries will sell vaccinated chicks, I don't know if they do over there?
You can always adopt older birds, of course, but you will run a greater risk of them succumbing to the disease. Not all will, it's just that the vaccination adds another layer of protection for the birds.
I also personally believe (I can not find research to back this up, so take this advice as you will) that anything you can do to reduce stress, increase overall healthy habits, and reducing the virus is helpful. You can do this by making sure your birds are not crowded and stressed (it sounds like this is not a problem for you), with a healthy diet, and you can do a deep clean of your coop at least once a year. This involves completely cleaning out all materials and dander within your ability, and then soaking all surfaces with a viruicidal product and letting it all air out very well (never keep birds in a coop that has not aired out from chemical cleaners well!). This can not eradicate the virus from your coop, but it will greatly reduce the amount of it that can be spread around and breathed in by your birds.

 

[laurengeeves]

Thank you so much for helping me through this, and educating me so much, I couldn't have done it without you. My neighbors always buy poultry from animal markets, but as soon as one gets sick they just kill it. I told them that I think mine have mareks and they just said they hadn't heard anything about it and shrugged it off, so I'm thinking that ours could have got it from theirs. Thank you again