Chickens for 10-20 years or more? Pull up a rockin' chair and lay some wisdom on us!

[chicken curious]

The Marek's virus is in the environment & there's no way to keep birds from being exposed. Some have a natural immunity, some don't. As to your current birds there would be no reason you couldn't eat them if they weren't symptomatic.
Actually, I'm not sure there's any objective reason to not eat them after they are symptomatic but I probably wouldn't just because of the yuk factor. here's no reason you couldn't eat their eggs.
There's no reason you couldn't add new birds to your existing non-symptomatic birds. Like the birds you have now they will either have immunity or they won't. Assuming you ever plan to breed from your biirds starting with birds with natural immunity will ultimately result in a flock with natural immunity.
I agree that the symptomatic bird should be killed immediately if for no other reason than to end it's suffering. IMO soaking it in gas & burning it is a bit of an overreaction. I haven't had a Marek's loss in some time but when I did have an occasional case I took the carcasses up in the woods & left them for the Coyotes.

Thank you for the response. It's good to know we can eat the future eggs and any chickens that survive whatever is going on! So are birds with natural immunity 'carriers' of the disease once they've been exposed? All other chicks look very healthy. hmmm So much to learn!

Thank you, everyone, for allowing me to glean a little knowledge from the OTs!! I apologize for hijacking the thread for a little while.

 

[chicken curious]

I missed the post of how you know it's Mareks???

Kassaundra, I don't know for sure and that's what gives me pause.

I was thinking maybe this one chick ate some botulism spores or something b/c: a)paralysis came out of nowhere, b) it's been warm and wet, c) they eat all sorts of invertebrates, and d) it's the only chick out of 15 showing any symptoms.

Then an OT (not on this thread) told me that it's much more likely to be Mareks.

Symptoms yesterday: dragging one wing and then both, not skittish as per norm, neck all rubber-y so head on ground. Legs were still working OK (jerky, but working) yesterday.

Symptoms today: head is held much closer to normal, still dragging wings (R wing a bit worse so it gets stepped on a bit), jerky walking. Chick can get water and has been eating, drinking, and pooping in a crate. Breathing with beak open some, but it could be that it's hot in the garage...so I increased ventilation.

I am completely open to other ideas!! I'd really rather it NOT be Mareks.

 

[therapydoglady]

We always penned our calves up before we butchered them. Hogs too. And my grandparents even put catfish in a tub and fed them cornmeal for a time before we butchered them. To "clarify the meat," they said. But never chickens...the nastiest, most omniverous animals on the place! Hmmmmmm. Will have to try that when I butcher chickens next.

 

[HappyHenMama]

Okay OT's...I'm counting on you guys to help me with something that has me quite worried. My little broody OEGB has been caring for her 1 chick who is 5 weeks old now. They are in a seperate coop from the rest of the flock but free range with everyone during the day. Goldie was missing one tail feather yesterday when I let her out of her coop. Feather was in the coop. I wasn't too worried until I let her out today and she is missing all but 2 tail feathers, those tail feathers were also found in the coop. No sign of molting at this point other than the tail feathers! She is given chick starter and fresh water every day.

What could be happening??? Is there something I should be giving her. Oyster shell?? Or could it be mites?? I just don't know what could suddenly be causing this loss of tail feathers. Her youngster is growing fine. He looks healthy and is in fine condition. Please help me.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Chicken Curious,

There are a lot of things that could be. Look up wry neck. It doesn't sound exactly like wry neck that I've seen, but there are probably different versions of it.

I had a hen that did something like that but she had injured her neck. I fed her water and some hummingbird liquid with a medicine dropper and she recovered. She was eating and drinking on her own the next day. She soon acted normal and did great until I ate her a month or so later. I was not going to hatch eggs from a chicken that was clumsy enough to get hurt.

It could be from something she ate, mold or maybe a poisonous plant. I'm sure there are other possibilities.

At that age, maybe 9 to 10 weeks, Marek's rates high on the possible list, but it is only one possibility. You can maybe talk to your county extension agent about a necropsy before you dispatch her to see what it would take for a necropsy. In some states it is pretty cheap. The reason to talk to the extension agent before you kill her is so you know how to handle her so she is fresh enough for a necropsy.

 

[Achickenwrangler#1]

Henmama, can you pick her up and look at her skin, see if there's a skin problem? It's not too unusual for a broody hen to loose some long feathers..she should be weaning that chick off soon. Look for soreness, like maybe something pulled them out..like a rat? Check the coop for holes, even a one inch hole is too big. They can neglect themselves brooding and caring for the chick, so can start a molt. Just keep food for her at all times, a pics worth alot.a

 

[Kassaundra]

Kassaundra, I don't know for sure and that's what gives me pause.

I was thinking maybe this one chick ate some botulism spores or something b/c: a)paralysis came out of nowhere, b) it's been warm and wet, c) they eat all sorts of invertebrates, and d) it's the only chick out of 15 showing any symptoms.

Then an OT (not on this thread) told me that it's much more likely to be Mareks.

Symptoms yesterday: dragging one wing and then both, not skittish as per norm, neck all rubber-y so head on ground. Legs were still working OK (jerky, but working) yesterday.

Symptoms today: head is held much closer to normal, still dragging wings (R wing a bit worse so it gets stepped on a bit), jerky walking. Chick can get water and has been eating, drinking, and pooping in a crate. Breathing with beak open some, but it could be that it's hot in the garage...so I increased ventilation.

I am completely open to other ideas!! I'd really rather it NOT be Mareks.

I did some research not to long ago about Mareks and many sites said there should be skin "sores" at feather bases and "grey" coloring to the eyes in many but not all cases of mareks, and that it causes tumor type growths on internal organs. They also stated how many of the paralized birds w/ leg involvement get stuck in a "split" type position (one leg in front and the other in back), the mortality is near 100% for a bird that becomes symptomatic, but the "catching" of it (and showing symptoms) by other birds is 50-80%. Mareks is certainly a possibility, but so is injury, or as you already suspect botulism, or even vitamin/electrolite imbalance.

If it has been several days since your one bird started showing symptoms and no one else is at all, I would be leaning away from the mareks dx personally.

A disclaimer ...................................... I am not an old timer.

 

[Back2MyRoots]

I would love some more advice from yall about our chickens. Our ladies are in their forever coop as of two days ago. When they were in their small half-way house, they roosted like pros. But now that they are in the big open coop with nice tall roosts, they sleep on the floor. Is it just that they need to adjust? Is it bad if they don't roost? They've been roosting pretty much since they were just a few weeks old, so this is totally new behavior. I'd appreciate some in-put, please and thank you!

 

[Leahs Mom]

I would love some more advice from yall about our chickens. Our ladies are in their forever coop as of two days ago. When they were in their small half-way house, they roosted like pros. But now that they are in the big open coop with nice tall roosts, they sleep on the floor. Is it just that they need to adjust? Is it bad if they don't roost? They've been roosting pretty much since they were just a few weeks old, so this is totally new behavior. I'd appreciate some in-put, please and thank you!

I'm NOT an OT...first chicks this spring. Mine also had a little roost in their brood box. The first night I put mine in the hen house they all crowded into a corner on the floor, loudly protesting as it was getting darker, then fell asleep there.

I had left their little roost and part of the brooder box in for the first couple nights to give them something familiar in the new big place. I also had a large block of wood they could use to hop up to the taller roost. So...

First night: after they went to the corner I moved them to their little little roost (the one they used in the brood box) in their "sleep state".

Second night: They found it themselves.

Third night: totally removed the booder box but left their little roost. By this time they had gotten used to running around and exploring the big hen house and were practicing jumping up on the block of wood. That evening before dark I put one or two up on the big roost. They just jumped down and went back to the little roost.

Fourth night: They got on the big roost themselves.

Seems it just took some transition time to explore and get over initial fear. That was my experience.

 

[Mrs. K]

It is ok that you did that. I am not critical. However, if you had done nothing, they would have figured it out.