Help!! Marek's Disease??

[Nambroth]

I'm sorry to hear this. I get the impression that they probably don't do a lot of necropsy work on pet animals, and mostly for farms and commercial operations needing to know if they have an obviously infectious disease at play? That's just a guess. Do you have a knowledgeable avian vet (or a vet that knows birds well even if not certified) around? My state didn't offer necropsy services so I used my vet. She also sent the blood and tissue samples away for further testing. It was an extra cost. U of GA is what was recommended to us for PCR, though of course we know that A&M does it as well.

 

[ChickCrazed]

I'm sorry to hear this. I get the impression that they probably don't do a lot of necropsy work on pet animals, and mostly for farms and commercial operations needing to know if they have an obviously infectious disease at play? That's just a guess. Do you have a knowledgeable avian vet (or a vet that knows birds well even if not certified) around? My state didn't offer necropsy services so I used my vet. She also sent the blood and tissue samples away for further testing. It was an extra cost. U of GA is what was recommended to us for PCR, though of course we know that A&M does it as well.

Purdue said that U of GA only does commercial flock testing so she said we couldn't send samples to them. Could that be true? That is when I mentioned Texas A&M to her. Unfortunately there don't seem to be many vets in Indiana that will work on chickens. There is one a couple of hours away from me, but Purdue is closest. I'm sure a lot of people won't pay $130 for a necropsy on a chicken so they probably don't see a ton. To me those people are short sighted and one of the reasons these diseases are spreading (wild birds being the uncontrollable other factor).

 

[Nambroth]

Purdue said that U of GA only does commercial flock testing so she said we couldn't send samples to them. Could that be true? That is when I mentioned Texas A&M to her. Unfortunately there don't seem to be many vets in Indiana that will work on chickens. There is one a couple of hours away from me, but Purdue is closest. I'm sure a lot of people won't pay $130 for a necropsy on a chicken so they probably don't see a ton. To me those people are short sighted and one of the reasons these diseases are spreading (wild birds being the uncontrollable other factor).

I don't know about that. All I know is that I definitely had my tests run through the U of GA. See this post: https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...umor-thymus-response-mareks/210#post_10973574 (please note at that time I was new to this disease and was not well educated on it yet)

 

[ChickCrazed]

I have a couple more questions! I was able to get my sticky paws on some Marek's vaccine today thanks to another BYCer and will vaccinate my whole flock this weekend (can't hurt). I hope someone can help me with the following:

#1 what dosage should I use?
#2 what size needles should I get
#3 since birds with Marek's are more susceptible, can I vaccinate for Coccidosis as adults (realizing again it might not help, will it hurt?) and if so, where can I get the vaccine and can I do them at the same time?

Again, really appreciate your help!

 

[seminolewind]

Texas A&M can do a pcr on a blood specimen for about $30.00. And probably a vet to draw the blood and put it in a tube with EDTA (?) preservative.

The dose is mixing the vial into 250 ml of diluent, and dosing is 0.2 ml sub q. The thigh is fine. I have used 23-25 gauge needles. Vaccinating adults in a flock will only work if they've never ever ever been exposed to Marek's. Otherwise, it's useless because the vaccine is a "safe" exposure for a chick to build the immunity prior to exposure to the real thing. Not be exposed to the real thing with no immunity built. Vaccinating for coccidiosis is great for chicks, but medicated feed voids it. Adults most likely have resistance to cocci already. So it's not real necessary in an adult. I will always have chicks vaccinated for both, but I have to say that I got 9 chicks with vaccines, and at 6 weeks, put them outside and one showed symptoms and I treated them all.

If the vial of Marek's vaccine has not been kept cold, it's useless.

 

[Kimberly13]

I know this is an old thread. I am hoping you are still on here. I have posted a thread with questions about Marek's. Can you please please help me? I think that a bird of mine died of Marek's. I didn't know to do the necropsy. How do I know if one of my "new" birds brought it in? Do I assume that's what it was and go through the steps you mentioned? Are the eggs still safe to eat? Should I keep the "new" hens separated from the original ones? Should I call the guy I got them from?

 

[mithious]

I know this is an old thread. I am hoping you are still on here. I have posted a thread with questions about Marek's. Can you please please help me? I think that a bird of mine died of Marek's. I didn't know to do the necropsy. How do I know if one of my "new" birds brought it in? Do I assume that's what it was and go through the steps you mentioned? Are the eggs still safe to eat? Should I keep the "new" hens separated from the original ones? Should I call the guy I got them from?

Kimberly13

If you lose another bird, you can refrig it until sending it off to the lab for testing. ( for future use) You won't know for sure if one of the new birds brought it in. The only way to know for sure, is to do a necropsy. You CAN give the vaccine to birds that have been exposed or have marek's, no one really knows for sure if it helps or not. There have been no peer reviewed studies on this issue. You also CAN treat adult birds for cocci, it is only a thiamine blocker, so not really a drug, so won't hurt either, but again, no studies to show if it does or does not help. It's up to you if you chose to go that route. The eggs are ok to eat as is the meat. Marek's does not infect humans. Since the "new" Hen's have already been with the rest of your flock, the whole flock, if it is marek's has already been exposed, so separating them after the fact will not help.

The recommendation for brining in new birds is to quarantine them for ATLEAST 4 weeks, longer is better and I do 2-3 months on chicks. I don't bring in any adult birds as the change of bringing alone something unexpected is so darn high and not just for marek's.

You can call the guy you got them from, but since you don't know for sure that the bird died from marek's, I would recommend asking if he has had any problems with diseases in his flock. Unfortunately, there are people in this world that are less than honest and ethical, so it may or may not do you any good and if he has had marek's or any other disease in his flock and still sold you birds, I doubt he will admit it to you, but if it makes YOU feel better, that again is your choice.

Also, wild birds can and do bring marek's into flocks, so it IS possible that he has a clean flock and they were exposed to a wild infected bird, you might have already had marek's in your own flock and the new bird/birds stressed your flock and the disease reared it's ugly head, OR the man's flock was vaccinated but since the vaccine does not stop them from getting the disease( only from developing the tumors that cause death ), he could have it, have carriers in his flock and not know it. There is a really good thread on here about mareks with tons of info and I believe it is still active. I think the title is "not an emergency, marek's in flock" ?

So sorry you have to go through this!!!! This is a devastating disease! You might want to read up on that other thread. It should answer all your questions.

 

[Nambroth]

I know this is an old thread. I am hoping you are still on here. I have posted a thread with questions about Marek's. Can you please please help me? I think that a bird of mine died of Marek's. I didn't know to do the necropsy. How do I know if one of my "new" birds brought it in? Do I assume that's what it was and go through the steps you mentioned? Are the eggs still safe to eat? Should I keep the "new" hens separated from the original ones? Should I call the guy I got them from?

This should answer some of your questions: https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/the-great-big-giant-mareks-disease-faq

Eggs are totally safe to eat, and humans can not get Marek's disease from our chickens. No worries there. (always practice good hygiene, though, just as a rule)

Any birds that have been in the same air-space as your bird that died can be considered exposed IF it is Marek's, so separating them now would not be helpful unless it is a different contagious disease. I will respond more in depth at your other thread: https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/910249/questions-about-mareks

 

[MathildaMimiPho]

My Chicken Phoenix went down hill very quickly paralysis in wing and leg.
The vet thought it was Marek's disease.
This is what was given to her and she is literally running around now and jumping for silver beet. The vet gave her antibiotics to cover all bases, and fluids it had been hot, and I was worried about the stress levels, she was also mouth breathing.
After the vet trip I gave her homeopathic remedy hypercium, and after that, also astaxanthin (the closest thing had to Spirulina) and dulse, and next day spirulina, also offered her normal pellets, she took several days to come right, needing to have the support of the hen house to stand up, when she was placed on her legs. But after several days was normal again.

 

[chickenpatch]

Feed her natural grain mix, soughum free. A little bit with supplemented fruits. She should have a balanced diet. If possible go and buy some live crickets for her, a good natural vitamin source for her.

Let us know of any improvements. Mareks disease is hard to overcome, and in most cases chooks can die from it. I hope she heals well.