Dying left and right!

[Eggcessive]

Hens having an egg break inside can be a fairly common occurence. I have seen it in hens who a year or two later died of egg yolk peritonitis. E. coli is an opportunistic bacteria present in the gut of all chickens. It can become a problem if there is an immunity problem, if there is a respiratory disease where it can spread through the air sacs to all parts of the body, or up the reproductive tract into the abdomen to cause peritonitis. There must be some sort of immunity problem in the birds who have died. I will be interested to see your final necropsy results. Lymphoid leukosis and Mareks are bott common diseases where there will be problems with immunity, but worms and coccidiosis can contribute to that also. Many of us never get droppings checked by our local vet for worms or cocci, but probably a good thing to do. I hope your flock's luck starts to get better soon.

 

[260906]

Hens having an egg break inside can be a fairly common occurence... There must be some sort of immunity problem in the birds who have died. I will be interested to see your final necropsy results... I hope your flock's luck starts to get better soon.

Thanks, Eggcessive. The hen seems fine today, but we plan to keep her separated from the flock and under the heat light until tomorrow since it's supposed to be around freezing tonight. She's a 5-year-old hen who laid very strange eggs last year. Her eggs lately have looked normal, but I guess this one didn't have a shell form on it. Her droppings look normal today and her appetite is great.

I'm so eager to get necropsy results, too. As with most things, it seems like waiting is harder than knowing. The pathologist thought he would have Marek's results last Friday, but I haven't heard back. He said there were "a few parasites" in the bird I turned in but didn't mention what kinds. I wish I had thought to ask him what kinds.

 

[260906]

I can hardly believe it's been over two months since I sent a pullet to the poultry commission for a necropsy, and they STILL don't have the process finished! Today I called again and finally got a preliminary report. The pathologist on my case is supposed to call and explain the report in a couple of days. I'm not confident that will actually happen, so I wanted to share the results with you guys and see what your opinions and advice are for my flock.

All total, we only lost pullets I bought from a lady (2 half-grown & 3 we hatched from fertilized eggs), while all 9 of my original flock seem fine. The one rooster we hatched out is still alive and seems fine, also.

Here's the report. I'd appreciate any input you can share with me.

 

[rebrascora]

Hi

Just had to reread this thread to remember what the situation was.... it's been so long.

I'm no expert on interpreting these reports but the glaringly obvious bit is that 4 organs tested positive for Marek's, so I think it's safe to say that this pretty much confirms what many of us suspected from your description and necropsy photos.

There are a couple of heavy growth cultures (one for E coli) which will most likely be as a result of the bird's compromised immune system due to the Marek's.

Your original flock are past the age of being vulnerable to Marek's, although there is no absolute guarantee that they are safe. Your way forward may be to breed from the surviving cockerel or bring in adult birds over a year old. I would be wary of bringing in young chicks, even vaccinated ones and I think it is better for any you raise, to be broody reared, so that they are exposed from the start. Broody reared chicks have more robust immune systems. That's just my opinion, but it's what I'm doing and whilst I am still losing the occasional young bird to it, that is the nature of poultry keeping....some don't make it despite your best efforts.....Many thousands die each year as a result of shipping stress, but people still buy them mail order. You have to weigh up the risks and make a calculated decision.

Best wishes

Barbara

 

[260906]

Thanks, rebrascora. We have a broody hen on some of our eggs right now & plan to do our best to not get attached to the chicks in case they don't make it. This is so sad.

What I don't understand is how my chickens have Mareks when I got them from different sources over several years and have never had any losses (except one hen that seems to have died of old age). I thought when a flock became infected, some of them always died or at least acted sick. The only sickness I've ever noticed in our flock is a respiratory illness 5-6 years ago (we only have I think one chicken left from that time period) and an occasional hen with diarrhea for a few days.

 

[rebrascora]

My guess would be that it came in with an adult bird that was a carrier but didn't manifest itself until you had young birds that were at a vulnerable age to contract it. Getting birds from different sources at different times is risky. It's how Marek's arrived in my flock too. Even if you had quarantined, the carrier can appear perfectly healthy, so it's just one of those things. It is an extremely widespread and very easily contracted disease. The problem is that many people don't realise that they have it in their flock because the symptoms can be so varied and many don't bother to try to identify it. It gets chalked down to coccidiosis or respiratory disease, or wry neck, but these are often symptoms of a compromised immune system, stemming from Marek's.

Good luck with your broody and her clutch. I hope it works out for you as it has done for me.

Best wishes

Barbara

 

[whychickens2]

You can vaccinate the new chicks hopefully it will save the new babies! Good luck sorry for your losses!

 

[260906]

Thanks for your kind words, whychickens2. This has been quite an experience! I'd never heard of Mareks until January, and I've spent most of my life around chickens. From what I'm learning, Mareks sounds like it's a common disease that's hard to avoid! Stinkin' virus!

 

[260906]

This morning I talked with the lady who sold me the last batch of pullets & eggs. I asked if hers had ever tested positive for Mareks, which I was really afraid would offend her since she's a breeder. She was very nice about it and said though she's never had one test positive, she has had a few in the past who acted strangely & got sick before she culled them. She said they might have had it, but she doesn't know for sure. She thinks the best way for anyone to go is to breed for resistance. I guess that would come naturally, though, since all the succeptible birds seem to quickly die!

 

[260906]

Oh, one more thing. I've been selling off or giving away my older hens the last couple of years to keep a younger flock that lays more eggs. I guess I can't do that now that I have confirmed Mareks. That's bad because we are all to wimpy to cull our sweet girls--we only eat the eggs, never the meat.

Hmm...I'll have to figure out what to do about that. I don't want to end up feeding 10 old biddies who are too old to give us eggs. Lol

Any suggestions?