Chickens Very Sick. Not Responding to Medicine. Best Way to Cull?

[ReikiStar]

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Marek's has a 4 week incubation period (which is why very young chicks are not a concern of either getting it or spreading it). If those new chickens were carriers, usually a very stressful event will leave birds weak enough (immune system drops due to stress) for the herpes virus to attack them. Do you know if your birds are vaccinated against Marek's? What about your friends? Mareks can also be spread by wild birds. Praying it's not that since it's just a horrible thing to go through, but I agree with BlazeJester, to find a state university that will administer such tests/necropsy or an avian vet if no university is available.

 

[BlazeJester]

I guess that means my sick bird definitely does not have Marek's and almost definitely does have avian encephalitis. Poor kid.

 

[TinyBirds]

To cull, you need a very sharp butcher-type knife. I can't remember what it's called, but it's expensive. Regular knives don't work. Even an ax is hard to use because you have to hit it several times to get the head to come off. With the butcher-type knife (shaped like rectangle and heavy blade), it is just one strong hit and the head comes right off. If you're doing more than one bird, I would invest in the special tool. It was awful before we had one, causing unnecessary problems. We also used a cone for a little while, but the bird takes a minute or so to die and seems like too much suffering for me.

 

[ranchhand]

The one thing that stands out to me is no mention of inspection for lice or mites?

 

[NYC feather fam]

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do you mean a cleaver?