Help protecting my flock (Mareks, Leuokosis)

[GingerGremlin]

That sure is one grim necropsy result to deal with

With Mareks or ALV you should keep a closed flock meaning not selling or giving away any birds or eggs to prevent spreading the virus.
Do not visit country fairs or poultry exhibitions or other people with poultry as you will carry the virus not only on your boots/shoes but even on your clothes and hair.

Take your time to think about how to proceed as there are quite a lot of different not so virulent Mareks strains and birds over time often aquire resistance to the local ones.

When you see any of your birds getting sick, cull.
But there is no need to cull four entire flock as long as the birds act healthy.

Oregano oil, brewers yeast and calcium supplements plus vitamin D are all helpful as is keeping the coop and run dry, clean and well ventilated.

I got another response from the vet and pathologist and they are firm in the diagnosis of Mareks so case closed on which of the two we are dealing with.

Thankfully we're doing all of those recommendations except the brewers yeast which I will be adding ASAP. I'm glad to hear someone else say culling the entire flock was unnecessary, I was fairly annoyed at that suggestion when I got it but I just let it go.

We already weren't planning on adding anyone to the flock this year so we definitely won't be now and are going to take our time with deciding how to proceed and just keep a closer eye on the girls we still have, joining this board is the best thing I've ever done the vet means we'll I'm sure but they made it seem like anything other than culling the entire flock would be an awful thing for us to do and that anything other than that would be a waste.

I'm so grateful for you guys!! Thank you so so much for the genuine concern and advice!!!

 

[LaFleche]

We already weren't planning on adding anyone to the flock this year

You can always add to your flock, but keep in mind that some breeds like Silkies, Barnevelder or Sebright are known to be more susceptible to Mareks than others.

Consider Egyptian Fayoumi as they are said to be quite resistant to the Marek virus and very heat tolerant.

 

[Joseep]

Thank you so much! This whole situation has been a nightmare, I understand there is no cure which is infuriating to me, at this point I just want to make sure I'm doing whatever I can to help them, I will be looking into these.

The vet we went to got back to me and essentially told me there's nothing I can do except cull the entire flock and start over and I am not willing to do that if there's a chance they can have happy and somewhat healthy lives they deserve better than that.

Was your flock able to overcome it and at least live relatively normal and happy lives?

Hello, i feel your pain. I had Marek diagnosed in my flock. I chose to wait and see and thankfully most of them made it through. The Vet suggested that, if i want to enlarge my flock to breed my own chicken with my roos since the baby should be already more protected from Marek. She was right, very little chicks have died from that. I have bought a few adults vaccinated hens but 6 out of 10 died of Marek. So i guess there are different version of Marek.
I give Reishi extract to the hens that seem to be a bit under the weather just to give them an extra boost to their immune system. Just make sure to tell anyone that you want to sell live chicken to, that they might be carrying Marek.
Good luck