If you've had Mereks can you sell chickens anymore?

[speckledhen]

It's safe to say that every flock has it, but most birds are naturally resistant.

You've said this before and when you did, I took it to someone I know has the knowledge, a PhD in poultry science. He says absolutely no way all flocks have Mareks. If you start with that assumption, you are not inclined to be serious about biosecurity, IMO.​

 

[Cottage Rose]

Thank you all for the info.

Maybe all flocks don't have active Mereks but isn't it true that Mereks is everywhere...in the air etc?

 

[CityChicker]

No, it's not true that Marek's is everywhere in the air nor is it true that all flocks have it or if a bird breathes, it has been exposed to Marek's. It is also not true that Marek's is in the soil everywhere.

Yes, Marek's lives in the soil/bedding for several months after infected birds have shed it. Yes, it is airborne and spreads easily in the air. That said, it doesn't just exist everywhere in the air and soil. It has to come from somewhere (infected birds).

Almost any information you will find that talks about it being in a large number of flocks and all birds being exposed to it can be linked back to an original reference to commercial poultry houses, not small breeders/backyard hobbyists. If all, or even most, breeders had a Marek's problem they would be experiencing very significant losses of chicks.

I also continuously see a few people posting about birds developing "resistance". When the word resistance is used in relation to Marek's, it is in reference to "age resitance" not disease resistance in and of itself. Once birds are over six or so months old, they are resistant to Marek's (it is more of a "childhood" disease so to speak).

Do NOT confuse age resistance with your flock as a whole being resistant to the disease. Even though some of the chicks survived, you will always have Marek's in your flock and experience deaths in chicks (sometimes more than 50%).

Marek's does not make your flock stronger, period. It makes it weaker and causes significant losses.

 

[Cottage Rose]

Ok then...how would one get Mereks when they've had no new birds coming on to their property?

 

[CityChicker]

If no new birds came in, you probably already had it in your birds. If you hadn't had losses before, then you had just been lucky up until then. All it takes is for the air to blow the direction of where your chicks were for them to get infected. If it wasn't the air, it was something else that traveled to them somehow like when they were being fed.

I suppose it could have been something on the eggs as well, but that would be *very* unusual. It could have also been brought in by someone else if anyone visited you or something you brought in, other than the birds, had it on it.

You would just have to retrace all your steps to find where it came from and unfortunately you may never know for sure. All that said, you have it now so I guess it is up to you to decide how to handle it. If it were me, I would probably just decide to sell only eggs and vaccinated chicks so that I didn't spread it to anyone else. Only you can decide what is right for you to do though. I wish you the best.

 

[Cottage Rose]

Its not a difficult decision for me since I'm phasing out my chickens and only keep a few around for fresh eggs.
My main breeding project is my waterfowl.