Marek's disease is very contagious, but not all birds will suffer symptoms. It is also much more common than people think. I would say it is probably as common as coccidiosis but seems to have more of a stigma attached to it.
From what I have read it is not necessarily a death sentence though. I have had 4 of my young chickens exhibit symptoms. The first one to show lameness was approx. 8 weeks ago and she is still alive and bright eyed and eats well but is sadly also still lame. Like others I assumed it was a mechanical problem at the time (broken or dislocated leg) as my hens insist on roosting 6 feet off the ground!
Then the next one developed similar lameness but deteriorated pretty rapidly and within a few days I had to put her out of her misery as she couldn't stay upright and was just rolling onto her side all the time and her neck twisted. I did a post mortem and found a huge tumour on her abdomen and a smaller one on her leg.
The 3rd and 4th ones developed lameness within a week of that and one actually lay splayed on the ground at one point in a classic Marek's pose with 1 leg stuck out in front and the other behind. Interestingly she picked up an hour or so later and after a week she was fully recovered. 4 weeks on and she is still fine and showing no symptoms as is the 4th one which is a cockerel.The first one to go lame can hop about on one leg. She holds the other foot up as otherwise she stands on her own toes and trips. She is very small for her age but eats and drinks well. Unfortunately she has lost confidence within the flock so she lives in the brooder/infirmary in the hen house, where she has the company of the other hens but is safe from them and occasionally has a companion in with her, if I have a broody or a sick hen. I take her out for short supervised excursions into the fresh air to get some grass and have a dust bath when the weather is fine. She has even recently been singing the egg song, which I was not expecting with her being under developed. There were a couple of eggs in there the other day when I came to shut them all in but it is possible a couple of the others sneaked in whilst I had her outside and laid them. She is my little poppet and I am now very attached to her!
You could pick Mareks up on your clothes from visiting someone else's hens or even at the feed store from someone else who carried it there on their clothes or of course by bringing in infected hens to your flock. They may not be showing any symptoms and could be quarantined for a month or more and not show any, but still carry and shed the infection. You have to assume that all of your flock will be infected once you have an outbreak, even if it is just one bird, but they may never show symptoms. Or perhaps they will develop them when under stress at a later date. Keeping your birds as happy and healthy and stress free as you can will help to reduce the chances of them suffering from the symptoms.
Young birds under 20 weeks are most likely to be affected, but older birds can be.
That's pretty much all the info about it I have gleaned so far.
My feeling is that there is too much doom and gloom written about it which makes people want to bury their heads in the sand and kid themselves that they don't have Marek's. My experience so far is that it is not so terrible. Yes I have lost one pullet to it, but I have lost 5 to dogs/foxes (my hens enjoy free ranging and hate it if I don't let them out for more than a day), 2 to accidents, 3 to gizzard impaction and 5 in transit(stress/suffocation/overheating.... I was devastated when I realised). Unfortunately hens have a rather perilous lifestyle, even when we try to do our best for them. Yes I would rather not have Marek's in my flock, but it's impact needs to be kept in perspective. It is also important to identify it, so that you can take steps to prevent spreading it.
Just my two penneth worth.
Regards
Barbara
From what I have read it is not necessarily a death sentence though. I have had 4 of my young chickens exhibit symptoms. The first one to show lameness was approx. 8 weeks ago and she is still alive and bright eyed and eats well but is sadly also still lame. Like others I assumed it was a mechanical problem at the time (broken or dislocated leg) as my hens insist on roosting 6 feet off the ground!
Then the next one developed similar lameness but deteriorated pretty rapidly and within a few days I had to put her out of her misery as she couldn't stay upright and was just rolling onto her side all the time and her neck twisted. I did a post mortem and found a huge tumour on her abdomen and a smaller one on her leg.
The 3rd and 4th ones developed lameness within a week of that and one actually lay splayed on the ground at one point in a classic Marek's pose with 1 leg stuck out in front and the other behind. Interestingly she picked up an hour or so later and after a week she was fully recovered. 4 weeks on and she is still fine and showing no symptoms as is the 4th one which is a cockerel.The first one to go lame can hop about on one leg. She holds the other foot up as otherwise she stands on her own toes and trips. She is very small for her age but eats and drinks well. Unfortunately she has lost confidence within the flock so she lives in the brooder/infirmary in the hen house, where she has the company of the other hens but is safe from them and occasionally has a companion in with her, if I have a broody or a sick hen. I take her out for short supervised excursions into the fresh air to get some grass and have a dust bath when the weather is fine. She has even recently been singing the egg song, which I was not expecting with her being under developed. There were a couple of eggs in there the other day when I came to shut them all in but it is possible a couple of the others sneaked in whilst I had her outside and laid them. She is my little poppet and I am now very attached to her!
You could pick Mareks up on your clothes from visiting someone else's hens or even at the feed store from someone else who carried it there on their clothes or of course by bringing in infected hens to your flock. They may not be showing any symptoms and could be quarantined for a month or more and not show any, but still carry and shed the infection. You have to assume that all of your flock will be infected once you have an outbreak, even if it is just one bird, but they may never show symptoms. Or perhaps they will develop them when under stress at a later date. Keeping your birds as happy and healthy and stress free as you can will help to reduce the chances of them suffering from the symptoms.
Young birds under 20 weeks are most likely to be affected, but older birds can be.
That's pretty much all the info about it I have gleaned so far.
My feeling is that there is too much doom and gloom written about it which makes people want to bury their heads in the sand and kid themselves that they don't have Marek's. My experience so far is that it is not so terrible. Yes I have lost one pullet to it, but I have lost 5 to dogs/foxes (my hens enjoy free ranging and hate it if I don't let them out for more than a day), 2 to accidents, 3 to gizzard impaction and 5 in transit(stress/suffocation/overheating.... I was devastated when I realised). Unfortunately hens have a rather perilous lifestyle, even when we try to do our best for them. Yes I would rather not have Marek's in my flock, but it's impact needs to be kept in perspective. It is also important to identify it, so that you can take steps to prevent spreading it.
Just my two penneth worth.
Regards
Barbara
