cityeggs
Songster
I'm so sorry you and your flock have had to deal with all of this. It's really hard to see any of them die, especially when it keeps happening despite your efforts to save them.
I'm still learning about Marek's, but this does sound enough like Marek's that it would be worth getting a necropsy if you lose another, and probably taking precautions as if it is in the interim. I have also read that you can do PCR tests for Marek's for the surviving flock, but I don't know much more than that - it's on my list of things to look into further. The lab I took my hen to for necropsy doesn't do Marek's PCR tests, though they did rule out a bunch of other things and a few of them via PCR. There are a few other issues that can cause neurological symptoms - mine was tested for heavy metal poisoning, avian influenza and Newcastle's ( I thought they had tested for lymphoid leukosis, which is often described as similar to Marek's, but it was Newcastle's). It seems pretty unlikely to be HPAI - that would act much more quickly and with more respiratory symptoms and you said you've seen none - and wouldn't be a year or more in between.
Have you already read the Big Marek's article here? It's taken me a few reads to digest it all - it's a lot to take in and process how it complicates chicken-keeping from here on out.
In terms of the hand-feeding concern - I don't have much experience but my understanding is that Marek's can cause tumors everywhere, so it's possible one of your chickens had a tumor that made it difficult to swallow, though it seems unlikely that they both would in a similar place. It also seems theoretically plausible that the neurological effects/brain lesions could affect all the musculature involved in eating as well, but that's just a guess on my part. When my hen (of what is most likely Marek's), she was getting weaker despite hand feeding, and even though she'd seemed to have improved the day before. On the last day, I didn't see any choking, but she did start leaking water out of her mouth after I fed her and gave her some water, until I was able to reposition her and prop her head up a little. In her situation, it seemed like she just had no muscle control in her head/neck to hold herself upright enough for stuff not to come back up, but I may be completely wrong. It did help me to know that nothing I could've done differently was going to change her brain and lung lesions
I'm still learning about Marek's, but this does sound enough like Marek's that it would be worth getting a necropsy if you lose another, and probably taking precautions as if it is in the interim. I have also read that you can do PCR tests for Marek's for the surviving flock, but I don't know much more than that - it's on my list of things to look into further. The lab I took my hen to for necropsy doesn't do Marek's PCR tests, though they did rule out a bunch of other things and a few of them via PCR. There are a few other issues that can cause neurological symptoms - mine was tested for heavy metal poisoning, avian influenza and Newcastle's ( I thought they had tested for lymphoid leukosis, which is often described as similar to Marek's, but it was Newcastle's). It seems pretty unlikely to be HPAI - that would act much more quickly and with more respiratory symptoms and you said you've seen none - and wouldn't be a year or more in between.
Have you already read the Big Marek's article here? It's taken me a few reads to digest it all - it's a lot to take in and process how it complicates chicken-keeping from here on out.
In terms of the hand-feeding concern - I don't have much experience but my understanding is that Marek's can cause tumors everywhere, so it's possible one of your chickens had a tumor that made it difficult to swallow, though it seems unlikely that they both would in a similar place. It also seems theoretically plausible that the neurological effects/brain lesions could affect all the musculature involved in eating as well, but that's just a guess on my part. When my hen (of what is most likely Marek's), she was getting weaker despite hand feeding, and even though she'd seemed to have improved the day before. On the last day, I didn't see any choking, but she did start leaking water out of her mouth after I fed her and gave her some water, until I was able to reposition her and prop her head up a little. In her situation, it seemed like she just had no muscle control in her head/neck to hold herself upright enough for stuff not to come back up, but I may be completely wrong. It did help me to know that nothing I could've done differently was going to change her brain and lung lesions
Its obvious you tried your very best and loved them dearly xoxox
