Is Marek's contagious to parrots and other cage birds?

[Sparrow]

I have a 5-6 week old chick that is displaying symptoms of either Marek's or a vitamin deficiency. All other chicks have always been inside and are apparently fine, and he has been down for almost 2 weeks now. He is now appearing to go downhill, though I have been giving him vit. E. I brood my chicks(all TSC chicks) in a room in my house, and I have my parrots in my living room nearby, so I am now terrified that I might have brought it in on my clothes/shoes/whatever else. I have heard conflicting information on whether they can get it or not, and how it affects them. I don't think I could live with it in my mind if it did somehow spread to my beloved parrots, though I have allowed them no one-on-one contact and always wash my hands between handling them. Please someone help to ease my mind.

 

[brentd228]

What symptoms is it showing?

 

[Sparrow]

Classic symptoms of either problem. Started with finding him laying on his back randomly. Flip him over, and he was all wobbly in the legs. He would stand but look woozy and off balance. It has progressed to him not flipping as much now because he spends most of his time laying down in a strange position. Very rarely he has the one leg in front, other out back. Usually it is more on his his belly or rolled to his side. Legs are not stiff, feet limp but not curled. If he tries, he can still move the legs, but they just seem to lack he strength to stand him up all the way nowdays. Breast and thighs are thin. He has eaten well until today, he looks much worse and weaker today, unfortunately. No skin lesions, no eye oddities. He has been down for two weeks, no other chicks appear affected.

 

[casportpony]

Call an avian pathologist and ask them. I seriously doubt that your parrots will get sick, but you should call one just in case.

 

[casportpony]

That does sound like Marek's to me... Has he been eating and drinking?

 

[Sparrow]

I have an avian vet that I use, but since it is Sunday night and they are closed I was just stressing about it again. I plan to call tomorrow, but just hoped to round up some info and opinions on it in the meantime.

 

[Sparrow]

He has been eating/drinking/pooping until today. He just looks worse today. These chicks are from Privett hatchery and that is the ONLY place they could have contracted the disease from. If I have it in my flock, I am not going to be a happy person. Do you think that after two weeks someone else should be showing symptoms as well?

 

[casportpony]

Talk to your avian vet, but also find an avian pathologist, they see way more birds than an avian vet does. Then whe he dies, which I think he will, send him off to your State lab for a necropsy. Many States, like California, do them for free, they even let you use their FedEx account number to help save on shipping. If you decide to have your vet euthanize him, ask him/her to draw some blood to send with his body, that's what my pathologist recommends, something about making it easier/quicker to test for something.

Please don't think I'm insensitive, I really do feel for you.... Sure wish I had known about free necropsies a year ago when I paid my vet $125 to send a turkey to UC Davis when I could have had done it there for free. Live and learn...

-Kathy

 

[brentd228]

Iv raised several hundred chickens and have seen similar symptoms. Most will not make it two weeks with marek. Marek is contagious to other chickens. I'm not a vet, but I wouldn't worry about the parrots. Iv had several chics that were lethargic just as yours and they ended up fine. As long as the other chics that it started with are fine I wouldn't worry at all about spreading any disease.

 

[casportpony]

I've heard that coccidiosis can cause problems like you describe... How does his poop look?

FWIW, someone on BYC posted that TSC chicks are not vaccinated for Marek's, but the employees say that they are. Maybe you could call the hatchery and ask them if they vaccinate *all* TSC orders.