Just placed my first chick order (couple of questions)

[clickchicks]

Are you sure you already have marek's disease there? Get testing done (state veterinary lab) to know for sure.
Mary

Its a tricky question. Apparently the farm I got the pullets from has Mareks. I lost a bird early on who was necropsied by the state vet lab, but didn't indicate Mareks. However, I've kept in touch with a number of other people who got their birds from the same place/around the same time, and all of them have had heavy losses with confirmed Mareks diagnoses. So I feel like I have to assume its here, even if I never got a definitive diagnosis. I know there's a PCR test that can be done on live birds, but they were all supposedly vaccinated and I'm not certain how that affects it.

I wish I had someone who could brood them for me! I can do a deep clean of the garage with a cleaner than kills the virus, but I'm not sure if even that is really enough.

@Ridgerunner Thank you for all of this info!

I'm prepared for the loss, but will try to mitigate it as much as I possibly can. I'd really rather not lose any birds, but I guess even without Mareks its possible. So I've tried to stay optimistic and not give up on my chicken keeping dreams.