Chickens with Marek's---now what?

[oliviaandjosh4]

SO I am pretty positive my chickens have Marek's as I have lost quite a few chickens over the last few months.
It started with birds randomly dieing -- I saw a few having seizures before dieing.
Then I had 3 all in a matter of a few days have trouble walking & putting weight on their legs and then got to the point where they couldn't walk so we decided to end their suffering.
All in all we lost about 12 chickens or so.
These past few weeks everything has been fine, until today I noticed one bird starting to show symptoms of illness (walks slow, rooster tried to mate her and when he got off of her she just laid on the ground, not moving too much) and another looks to be losing weight.
A bunch of my older laying hens have really pale combs I have noticed within in the last week or so, could this just be because of the heat??

SO my question is, what can I do for the birds that are showing symptoms? Since the birds will always be a carrier is there a way to treat symptoms or keep them at bay to prevent them from dieing?
I bought a vitamin supplement I have been putting in their feed. I don't know what else to do. I really do not want to lose any more as I have already lost so many that I traveled far and paid quite a bit of money for. If there's any home remedy or something I can give them to help boost their immune systems & keep them healthy I'll do it!

Thank you in advance

 

[oliviaandjosh4]

Also I have silkies that are about 2 months old in an above ground cage that I would like to prevent them from getting it if possible!

I plan on moving them to their own coop & run when they get too big for the cage they are in now. I am going to do A LOT of cleaning on that coop to prevent any spread of disease as well as add sand for the bedding/litter in the run since we sometimes run into drainage problems.
Any other tips appreciated!

 

[GitaBooks]

I'm sorry to hear that. I hope these links help:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/741957/not-an-emergency-mareks-in-the-flock


https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/the-great-big-giant-mareks-disease-faq

 

[drumstick diva]

I don't know much about Marek's but believe I have read that survivors will be carriers all their life. Marek's will remain in the soil etc. Could you take on dying or nearly dead bird to a vet for positive conformation. If it is NOT Marek's there is a chance they can be treated.

 

[oliviaandjosh4]

Thanks for your reply. I do have another question... My neighbor who lives probably 30 feet away from our yard or so (although our free range chickens sometimes venture into his yard) also has chickens and doesn't have any problem out of his. They are literally never sick. We even gave him a young rooster we didn't want (before we knew about Marek's & before our birds were getting sick) and still none of his are sick. Some of our birds from the same "group" as the rooster we gave him are now showing symptoms.. Shouldn't he have the same problem as well since we live pretty close and the dander (or whatever) should have blown in his yard at some point? And considering we gave him that rooster?