Confirmed Marek's... now what?

[Wyorp Rock]

I'm sorry for your loss.

I do have a question. What are your future chicken keeping goals? Do you plan on selling/trading/giving away hatching eggs, chicks, started pullets, etc.?

I really don't know the answer to your question. If you cull all and begin again at new property, don't carry over equipment/housing, have birds vaccinated, etc. You can probably start again once you get settled in.

Here's the thing. Even if you vaccinate for Marek's - the vaccination will only stop the formation of tumors but other symptoms of the virus can present (paralysis, respiratory, etc.). If these birds are for your use only and you keep a closed flock (all in/all out) meaning they never leave your property (live and die there), then you could conceivably cull heavily to "breed for resistance". I am not a breeder, but a few people do this, but they practice bio security and cull any that have symptoms.

Barbara @rebrascora has Marek's in her flock, so she may have much better advice than I could ever give. When you live it, you know it.

@Nambroth may be able to help as well, but I don't think she comes on as frequently.

 

[Chickythom]

I'm sorry for your loss.

I do have a question. What are your future chicken keeping goals? Do you plan on selling/trading/giving away hatching eggs, chicks, started pullets, etc.?

I really don't know the answer to your question. If you cull all and begin again at new property, don't carry over equipment/housing, have birds vaccinated, etc. You can probably start again once you get settled in.

Here's the thing. Even if you vaccinate for Marek's - the vaccination will only stop the formation of tumors but other symptoms of the virus can present (paralysis, respiratory, etc.). If these birds are for your use only and you keep a closed flock (all in/all out) meaning they never leave your property (live and die there), then you could conceivably cull heavily to "breed for resistance". I am not a breeder, but a few people do this, but they practice bio security and cull any that have symptoms.

Barbara @rebrascora has Marek's in her flock, so she may have much better advice than I could ever give. When you live it, you know it.

@Nambroth may be able to help as well, but I don't think she comes on as frequently.

I do not think we want to sell or swap. We would like to raise our own chicks and/or be able to bring in other breeds too at some point. We want to be able to eat the birds and consume eggs. We plan on only keeping females for about 2.5 years and harvest cockrels we do not use for breeding or flock protection as table birds. The older ladies will also become stew birds. We enjoy raising them and giving them a quality life but they are for sustenance. This is are first go at chicken rearing. We started with 27 beautiful buff orpingtons. Then at 12 weeks all of this started. I suspect they became infected by poultry carrier trucks driving on the highway in front of our rental home.

If we do as suggested and abandon all chicken rearing items and cleanse our belongings that have been exposed to the chickens i.e. Chairs, shows, etc prior to moving to our new land, should we still assume the new flock will have Marek's in our new flock?

I am not sure if at some point our child would like to take a chicken to fair... he is only 2.5 years old.

Thanks for your help!

 

[nhdeb]

My flock was diagnosed with Marek's 3 years ago. Since then I have raised chicks and gotten new hens and there has been no new outbreaks since the first year. I think the chicks got an immunity and the hens are old enough for it not to affect them. I was told that the tumors do not affect the meat

 

[Chickythom]

My flock was diagnosed with Marek's 3 years ago. Since then I have raised chicks and gotten new hens and there has been no new outbreaks since the first year. I think the chicks got an immunity and the hens are old enough for it not to affect them. I was told that the tumors do not affect the meat

Do you vaccinate and isolate the new birds or chicks? If so, how long? Do you eat your birds?

 

[nhdeb]

No vaccinations , no isolation and the last one to die was too skinny to eat. But yes, I have eaten others with no symptoms and I am doing my 7 meat birds this weekend.

 

[Chickythom]

No vaccinations , no isolation and the last one to die was too skinny to eat. But yes, I have eaten others with no symptoms and I am doing my 7 meat birds this weekend.

So when you process them, what do you look for to determine if ok to eat or not. For example, we are due to process our cockerels in a few weeks. If we start and find tumors in the organs, would you still eat them?

Our symptoms so far have been 2 neuro and 2 sudden death...no ocular yet and no skin changes we have seen but they are super fluffy... I assume our sudden death were organ failure/wasting. We have not done our own necropsy yet. The two that helped us confirm Marek's were necropsied by the vet and were the neuro cases.

 

[mcmom48]

They receive garlic, oregano, thyme, braggs nutritional yeast and acv daily either in food or water.

Just lost another fluff. How long after trying to disinfect ourselves to the best of our ability and relocating should we try to raise chickens again? 1-2 years? Thoughts or anyone with experience?
Thanks in advance

Amanda

What i mean is take a needles syringe and put a mix of garlic and water and make it thick but not too thick that u cant squirt down their throat. This wont fix what the disease did to ur flock but it will help them fight it so they u wont lose them all. This lady, her hen came down with the disease and her vet gave that strong concentration of garlic to the hen and her hen survived the disease. She just really didnt gain full use of her legs again.

 

[Chickythom]

What i mean is take a needles syringe and put a mix of garlic and water and make it thick but not too thick that u cant squirt down their throat. This wont fix what the disease did to ur flock but it will help them fight it so they u wont lose them all. This lady, her hen came down with the disease and her vet gave that strong concentration of garlic to the hen and her hen survived the disease. She just really didnt gain full use of her legs again.

Thank you for clarifying. I understand now.

 

[nhdeb]

Just in case you haven't seen this: https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/the-great-big-giant-mareks-disease-faq.66077/

 

[Chickythom]

Just in case you haven't seen this: https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/the-great-big-giant-mareks-disease-faq.66077/

I have. Thanks!