I don't know how to go on. Please tell me what you think, my friends. -- NEW INFO AT END OF POST #1

My flock is positive for Marek's antibodies -- What do you think I should do?

  • Keep everybody, but only as pets. Give up on the business all together. There is no way to salvage i

    Votes: 4 11.1%
  • Hatch chicks from the breeder's eggs, and vaccinate every chick. It would be fine to sell the vaccin

    Votes: 7 19.4%
  • Sell hatching eggs! Marek's isn't transferred through eggs, and it would be fine to sell them.

    Votes: 7 19.4%
  • Try to find homes for the birds --  giving them away as "special needs" birds with full discloser th

    Votes: 1 2.8%
  • Same as above, but you'd have to move to another house before it would be safe to start over.

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Breed for resistance. Eventually you can begin to sell the healthy offspring.

    Votes: 3 8.3%
  • Euthanize everybody now. Even if they seem strong and healthy. Everybody has to go. Period.

    Votes: 5 13.9%
  • The test is not reliable. Most birds have been exposed to Marek's anyway. The fact that they have Ma

    Votes: 14 38.9%

  • Total voters
    36
Cherie, my prayers are with you........Chicklette is going thru the exact same thing right now.......I know that she is out of town [don't know how long tho] maybe she has more words of wisdom than me......
I would be that "wait and see" person.....I could not bear to cull. I wish there was more "formal" information about cause and affect of MD without going to a vet. Maybe your call to UCDavis might yeild more info....
Hang in there.......hugs to you.
 
Cherie, my prayers are with you........Chicklette is going thru the exact same thing right now.......I know that she is out of town [don't know how long tho] maybe she has more words of wisdom than me......
I would be that "wait and see" person.....I could not bear to cull. I wish there was more "formal" information about cause and affect of MD without going to a vet. Maybe your call to UCDavis might yeild more info....
Hang in there.......hugs to you.


Oh, thank you so much, froggiesheins. I do recall Chicklette talking about the possibility of some of her girls having Marek's a few weeks back, but I haven't been on the Serama thread in some time. I haven't exactly been feeling like the best Serama owner during all of this. =(
 
Oh gosh Cherie, what an awful predicament. I hesitate to make a suggestion, because I haven't researched the disease well enough.

From that last info sheet,

"Marek’s is distributed worldwide and is so common that if you have birds, they have been exposed to Marek’s, regardless of whether they show symptoms or not"

makes me wonder how many birds in everybody's flocks would test positive, if the owners actually did the test.

Know that you have have my sincere sympathies, and support.
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Oh gosh Cherie, what an awful predicament. I hesitate to make a suggestion, because I haven't researched the disease well enough.

From that last info sheet,

"Marek’s is distributed worldwide and is so common that if you have birds, they have been exposed to Marek’s, regardless of whether they show symptoms or not"

makes me wonder how many birds in everybody's flocks would test positive, if the owners actually did the test.

Know that you have have my sincere sympathies, and support.
hugs.gif

Thank you so much for your kind words, Sunny.
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I have been wondering a lot lately about the same thing . . . did I just shoot myself in the foot by finding out information nobody else has about there birds, but would have if they did the test, and now I think I'm the only one? *Sigh.*

Well, I just talked to Kate in email. Even she didn't want to venture a guess . . . she told me to ask on the SCNA boards, so now I'm waiting for approval by the mods to post. The wait is killing me.
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I just have this feeling that when I post there, the real experts are going to deem me unfit to sell or keep Seramas, and I'll be done for in the world of Seramas forever.
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Thank you so much for your kind words, Sunny.
hugs.gif
I have been wondering a lot lately about the same thing . . . did I just shoot myself in the foot by finding out information nobody else has about there birds, but would have if they did the test, and now I think I'm the only one? *Sigh.*

Well, I just talked to Kate in email. Even she didn't want to venture a guess . . . she told me to ask on the SCNA boards, so now I'm waiting for approval by the mods to post. The wait is killing me.
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I just have this feeling that when I post there, the real experts are going to deem me unfit to sell or keep Seramas, and I'll be done for in the world of Seramas forever.
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Wow, I really hope you're just kidding about the "experts" deeming you unfit (I don't even know what SCNA is), but any group that would belittle someone for seeking information is certainly not a group that "I" would want to belong to. There is no such thing as a stupid question when one is sincere in their quest for knowledge.
 
I think as long as you are using an incubator and brooder away from the flock and keep everything clean by taking care of the chicks before the rest of the flock you should be good. Even when you vaccinate chicks for Maercks its not 100%. Since they use live virus I wouldnt be surprised if this is the reason its so prevalent in birds. Vaccinated birds with the live virus is I would assume like humans getting chickpox vaccination. It doesnt keep you from getting it just gives a milder more tolerable form. when people get vaccinated it doesnt keep you from giving it to other people either. I could be wrong about all of this but this is my best semi-educated guess. Hopefully this will help you out. I dont vaccinate any of my birds nor do I knowingly buy hatchery birds. I want my birds to be as strong as they can be.
 
Wow, I really hope you're just kidding about the "experts" deeming you unfit (I don't even know what SCNA is), but any group that would belittle someone for seeking information is certainly not a group that "I" would want to belong to. There is no such thing as a stupid question when one is sincere in their quest for knowledge.

Well, I don't know if they would or not . . . it's just fear. The SCNA is the Serama Council of North America . . . if there's anybody I don't want to have get a bad idea of me, it's them!! If the big fish in that pond start telling people my birds "have Marek's", I'm done for.
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I think as long as you are using an incubator and brooder away from the flock and keep everything clean by taking care of the chicks before the rest of the flock you should be good. Even when you vaccinate chicks for Maercks its not 100%. Since they use live virus I wouldnt be surprised if this is the reason its so prevalent in birds. Vaccinated birds with the live virus is I would assume like humans getting chickpox vaccination. It doesnt keep you from getting it just gives a milder more tolerable form. when people get vaccinated it doesnt keep you from giving it to other people either. I could be wrong about all of this but this is my best semi-educated guess. Hopefully this will help you out. I dont vaccinate any of my birds nor do I knowingly buy hatchery birds. I want my birds to be as strong as they can be.

You know, that's kind of how I understand it, too. It's all so confusing . . . they all have it anyway, but practice strict biosecurity so they don't come in contact with it, vaccinate everybody but don't let them come in contact with other birds, vaccinated chicks may be carriers depending on the strain of virus the vaccine contains . . . eugh.
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Great article in simple language. Thanks for posting Ive book marked

I'm glad it helped, mauigirl, I thought it was a good one, too!
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We're hobby breeders, so not a business, but we've always made a point to vaccinate our chicks be they purchased or bred because I'm neurotic about exactly this sort of situation. So I'm one of the folks who voted for "vaccinate the new chicks".

I also don't want to be in a situation where someone calls me and tells me their flock was exposed to Mareks because of a chick/en they bought from me.
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Having bought two chickens who had red mites, I'm a bit overly-sensitive about this sort of thing, I suppose. But I just want to do everything I can to ensure that ours are as healthy as possible when they go out into the world. Also, ours is a really small community and word gets around. Don't believe me? Just ask about where I got those two red-mite infested chickens!
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