Living with Marek's: Need real life experience

[Cali_chkmama]

I am so sorry. It isn't easy, I know.

I would probably suspect neurological MD involvement with your birds secondary to the initial infection. I had birds that survived to be 3-6 months of age who developed some really strange symptoms. They would eventually develop seizures that would end with them being put down.

My vaccinated Fayoumis and bantams are doing well but I still live in fear that there will be another spike/outbreak at some point in time.

I try to keep stress down in the flock and just keep my fingers crossed. Sometimes it's all you can do.

Yes so true. Fingers crossed!!

 

[Chickendaddy33]

I know there is a LOT of controversy about vaccinated birds. BUT, as the old saying goes, do not judge until you have walked a mile in my moccasins. Until you are holding a bird in your lap that is dying from the complications of Marek's disease, and until you have to wipe tears away from your eyes so you can see clear enough to end that bird's life so it doesn't suffer any more....well you know the rest.

This is 100% true. I’ve also just found out I have Merck’s in my flock. I’m broken hearted for my chickens that I babied or so I thought. And after getting 16 chickens with a large rooster % I’m losing suddenly a chicken a week. This is my first time having chickens and I fell in love with them and now to try and figure out if it’s the Merck’s or something else hoping I can help my poor chickens is terrible. I just had a layer start and suddenly after giving me 9 eggs she is sick. If she passes (which I hope she doesn’t) I’m down to 9 chickens and 4 of them cockerels in their own bachelor pad. Nothing is more disheartening then watching these littles suffer and trying to google the crap out of everything watching symptoms and having to decide to cull. And all I can do is think damn I shouldn’t have brought those cute paint silkies into my flock. And now we all suffer, if I only knew then what I know now! Thank you for your words!

 

[microchick]

This is 100% true. I’ve also just found out I have Merck’s in my flock. I’m broken hearted for my chickens that I babied or so I thought. And after getting 16 chickens with a large rooster % I’m losing suddenly a chicken a week. This is my first time having chickens and I fell in love with them and now to try and figure out if it’s the Merck’s or something else hoping I can help my poor chickens is terrible. I just had a layer start and suddenly after giving me 9 eggs she is sick. If she passes (which I hope she doesn’t) I’m down to 9 chickens and 4 of them cockerels in their own bachelor pad. Nothing is more disheartening then watching these littles suffer and trying to google the crap out of everything watching symptoms and having to decide to cull. And all I can do is think damn I shouldn’t have brought those cute paint silkies into my flock. And now we all suffer, if I only knew then what I know now! Thank you for your words!

I am so terribly sorry you are going through this and I completely understand what you are suffering right now.

Hindsight is always 20/20 and trust me, everyone who is in your shoes has thought and felt the same way.

For me it was, why didn't I buy vaccinated chicks instead of breeder hatched babies. I'm still kicking myself for that one.

The thing is, Marek's is EVERYWHERE. It's like cold sore virus in people. Just about everyone is carrying the cold sore virus in their systems. Some have resistance to the virus (which is a variation of the same herpes virus that causes Marek's Disease in chickens) while every time other poor individuals go through a stressful period in their lives they get a huge cold sore on their lip

So it goes with chickens.

Why are some breeds of chickens immune to MD and others aren't? Look at Egyptian Fayoumis. I have 5 in my flock that are genetically resistant to MD plus are vaccinated (3 hens vaccinated one hatched/second generation). The oldest are three two years old now and the youngest 1 year old and they so far, knock on wood and cross my fingers, are doing great. I love watching these long necked, fiercely independent birds scratch around their big run in search of bugs. I pray that the scientists doing research into what makes these birds genetically resistant to MD so it can be passed on to the other breeds of chickens that we have in our flocks.

Till then we can only do what we are doing and that is hope that some of our chickens survive this horrible disease and build up resistance to it.

Silkies are one of the highest susceptible birds when it comes to MD. The birds that I lost the most to MD (and yes, at a rate of one a week and sometimes 2 a week) were Buff Orpingtons and yes, I felt crushing defeat when I read that they ranked up there with Silkies when it comes to MD.

Just hang on. Is my best advice. Your losses are horrible and I feel your grief and helplessness because I have been where you are. But it will get better and it will end. You will lose a lot of birds but you won't lose all of them. Then you can develop a plan. Mine was to bring in local resistant birds and vaccinated birds. So far I am into year two of not losing any birds to Marek's disease. The year isn't over yet though so I'm still keeping my fingers crossed.

I wish there were little t'shirts for birds that said 'I survived Marek's Disease'. The funny thing is, if you can call it that is that dealing with the Covid pandemic has been duck soup for me. My flock has been dealing with their own pandemic for 6 years now. If they can do it, so can I.

 

[Chickendaddy33]

I am so terribly sorry you are going through this and I completely understand what you are suffering right now.

Hindsight is always 20/20 and trust me, everyone who is in your shoes has thought and felt the same way.

For me it was, why didn't I buy vaccinated chicks instead of breeder hatched babies. I'm still kicking myself for that one.

The thing is, Marek's is EVERYWHERE. It's like cold sore virus in people. Just about everyone is carrying the cold sore virus in their systems. Some have resistance to the virus (which is a variation of the same herpes virus that causes Marek's Disease in chickens) while every time other poor individuals go through a stressful period in their lives they get a huge cold sore on their lip

So it goes with chickens.

Why are some breeds of chickens immune to MD and others aren't? Look at Egyptian Fayoumis. I have 5 in my flock that are genetically resistant to MD plus are vaccinated (3 hens vaccinated one hatched/second generation). The oldest are three two years old now and the youngest 1 year old and they so far, knock on wood and cross my fingers, are doing great. I love watching these long necked, fiercely independent birds scratch around their big run in search of bugs. I pray that the scientists doing research into what makes these birds genetically resistant to MD so it can be passed on to the other breeds of chickens that we have in our flocks.

Till then we can only do what we are doing and that is hope that some of our chickens survive this horrible disease and build up resistance to it.

Silkies are one of the highest susceptible birds when it comes to MD. The birds that I lost the most to MD (and yes, at a rate of one a week and sometimes 2 a week) were Buff Orpingtons and yes, I felt crushing defeat when I read that they ranked up there with Silkies when it comes to MD.

Just hang on. Is my best advice. Your losses are horrible and I feel your grief and helplessness because I have been where you are. But it will get better and it will end. You will lose a lot of birds but you won't lose all of them. Then you can develop a plan. Mine was to bring in local resistant birds and vaccinated birds. So far I am into year two of not losing any birds to Marek's disease. The year isn't over yet though so I'm still keeping my fingers crossed.

I wish there were little t'shirts for birds that said 'I survived Marek's Disease'. The funny thing is, if you can call it that is that dealing with the Covid pandemic has been duck soup for me. My flock has been dealing with their own pandemic for 6 years now. If they can do it, so can I.

Your buffs were hit hard? I have 1 buff and 2 lavender cuckoo orps so far they seem the least infected but who knows, at this point. I thought I was ok after I lost my last roo but a week later here I am with my first and only laying hen. I actually can’t believe that I still have two silly silkie Roos that are holding strong which I’m grateful for, I’ll even put up with the smallest one attacking my boot if they can make it through. I only ones really have left the 3 orps, 1 amerucana/astralorp, and 2 Wyandotte’s and a jerk ee cockerel which I’m undecided to keep or not. My barred rock/rir just got sick Saturday. And I lost my fav EE roo the Sunday prior.
I’ll have to see how the fayoumis do in the winter here but it was hard to find anything local that vaccinates and I’m pretty sure the closest place that does doesn’t have fayoumis. I actually don’t know what to do, I know though I certainly won’t even think about adding any chickens until may next year. everyone if they make it should just be a year by then.

 

[microchick]

I got my EFs from Murray McMurray hatchery. Having gotten burned doing the NPIP Breeder thing, I figured how much worse can it get, right? So far they are amiable birds if not cuddlers. Mine will take treats from my hand and allow an occasional pat but other than that if I want cute and cuddly I will stick to my bantams.

When I talked to the Vet who ran the lab down in the University of Missouri at Columbia (MIZZOU) veterinary college he told me this. I would lose birds. Lots of birds but I wouldn't lose them all and the ones that survived would be resistant birds.

The weird thing with my BO's was I lost every rooster. EVERY ROOSTER. Original birds and second generation. I lost a few hens, mostly to wasting and ocular Marek's disease but every second generation BO hen that I hatched, every second generation rooster that I hatched, died. with the exception of one. Of my original flock of Buff Orpingtons, I had I had surviving hens that were 3+ years old but none of their offspring were viable. At one time my flock was up to almost 40 birds. Buff O's Welsummers and one lone Speckled Sussex. Since they couldn't produce resistant offspring for me I finally reached the painful decision to cull them and concentrate on a flock made up of local resistant birds, vaccinated bantams and vaccinated/resistant genetically Egyptian Fayoumis.

I wish I could say that I regret that decision but I don't. As carriers they were shedding the virus and were content to sit in the coop and eat and spread the Marek's buggies all over the place.

What I was told is that you need to strive to get your birds to survive to the age of 3+ years. The older the better and then breed from those birds as long as you can.

What you need to hold onto though is that this will get better eventually. Oh, yes, you will lose a bird every now and again but you won't lose them all.

Hang in there.

 

[Giskard]

Just learning to live with Mareks and need some advice from you guys with experience. I bought my first group of chickens back in September from a local breeder. They were not vaccinated but this wasn’t on my radar back then. Four pullets and a cockerel. They were 13 weeks old. Four weeks ago one pullet went lame. The vet thought it was a hairline fracture. This chicken felt thin to me but she was only 20 weeks old so I didn’t think much of it. They free range every day and were on growers pellets and a bit of mixed corn as a daily treat. I put her in a dog crate in the main run. After two weeks she seemed to be improving and was on two feet but very wobbly and weak. She could walk but more like uncoordinated stagerring. I also noticed both wings were a bit droopy but she has always had droopy wings. She has a healthy appetite and drinks and is still excited about life. Then I noticed a second pullet limping. After a few days she was walking on her hock. I bought a second coop with a small run and put her in it. My chicken run was starting to look like a field hospital. Two weeks on and I have a third limping pullet. She has progressed much faster and within days either of her legs work and she struggles to get round the dog crate. The other two lame chickens are in the second coop which is inside my main walk in chicken run. All three are eating and drinking. The remaining two chickens, a Maran cockerel and Maran pullet are fine. They are both much bigger than the other three and look in good health for now. The original lame chicken (4 weeks on)is still looking as though she is improving. The second (3 weeks now) is the same with one leg which she can’t stand on but not getting worse. The question is should I cull these three with symptoms? Or just the worse recent one and get the vet to do a post mortem. Should I try to persevere and see if the three survive. Am I putting the two healthy ones at more risk by keeping the symptomatic ones. I really don’t know what to do for the best. They have all been wormed and currently they are all on a five day course of antibiotics to rule out any synovitis.

 

[h2oratt]

Just learning to live with Mareks and need some advice from you guys with experience. I bought my first group of chickens back in September from a local breeder. They were not vaccinated but this wasn’t on my radar back then. Four pullets and a cockerel. They were 13 weeks old. Four weeks ago one pullet went lame. The vet thought it was a hairline fracture. This chicken felt thin to me but she was only 20 weeks old so I didn’t think much of it. They free range every day and were on growers pellets and a bit of mixed corn as a daily treat. I put her in a dog crate in the main run. After two weeks she seemed to be improving and was on two feet but very wobbly and weak. She could walk but more like uncoordinated stagerring. I also noticed both wings were a bit droopy but she has always had droopy wings. She has a healthy appetite and drinks and is still excited about life. Then I noticed a second pullet limping. After a few days she was walking on her hock. I bought a second coop with a small run and put her in it. My chicken run was starting to look like a field hospital. Two weeks on and I have a third limping pullet. She has progressed much faster and within days either of her legs work and she struggles to get round the dog crate. The other two lame chickens are in the second coop which is inside my main walk in chicken run. All three are eating and drinking. The remaining two chickens, a Maran cockerel and Maran pullet are fine. They are both much bigger than the other three and look in good health for now. The original lame chicken (4 weeks on)is still looking as though she is improving. The second (3 weeks now) is the same with one leg which she can’t stand on but not getting worse. The question is should I cull these three with symptoms? Or just the worse recent one and get the vet to do a post mortem. Should I try to persevere and see if the three survive. Am I putting the two healthy ones at more risk by keeping the symptomatic ones. I really don’t know what to do for the best. They have all been wormed and currently they are all on a five day course of antibiotics to rule out any synovitis.

Do you have a place to get them necropsies. Onceyouknow what they have you can make better decisions. Here in Calif we can get necropsies for 20 dollars at uc davis. I would cull them .

 

[microchick]

Do you have a place to get them necropsies. Onceyouknow what they have you can make better decisions. Here in Calif we can get necropsies for 20 dollars at uc davis. I would cull them .

Agreed. Birds showing symptoms shed dander that is loaded with the virus at a rate that is greater than birds that are simple carriers. When my birds began showing signs of wasting, or tumor growth I culled them rather than let them suffer and spread copious amounts of the virus.

You will know more after you have a solid diagnosis. I'm surprised that the vet didn't suspect Marek's Disease. Unfortunately it sure sounds as if that is what you are dealing with. I'm sorry. It's a hard blow to deal with but not the end of the world as far as keeping chickens is concerned. As I mentioned to the thread's OP, you aren't alone if you are dealing with Marek's in your flock.

I invite you to read my article about my experiences dealing with Marek's in my flock. It's not a scientific paper, just a heart felt recounting from a fellow chicken keeper about what my birds and I went through from the time I lost my first bird to how both birds and humans learned to live with (and in spite of) Marek's Disease.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...-i-learned-to-deal-with-mareks-disease.76944/

Let us know how things turn out for you.

 

[igorsMistress]

Just learning to live with Mareks and need some advice from you guys with experience. I bought my first group of chickens back in September from a local breeder. They were not vaccinated but this wasn’t on my radar back then. Four pullets and a cockerel. They were 13 weeks old. Four weeks ago one pullet went lame. The vet thought it was a hairline fracture. This chicken felt thin to me but she was only 20 weeks old so I didn’t think much of it. They free range every day and were on growers pellets and a bit of mixed corn as a daily treat. I put her in a dog crate in the main run. After two weeks she seemed to be improving and was on two feet but very wobbly and weak. She could walk but more like uncoordinated stagerring. I also noticed both wings were a bit droopy but she has always had droopy wings. She has a healthy appetite and drinks and is still excited about life. Then I noticed a second pullet limping. After a few days she was walking on her hock. I bought a second coop with a small run and put her in it. My chicken run was starting to look like a field hospital. Two weeks on and I have a third limping pullet. She has progressed much faster and within days either of her legs work and she struggles to get round the dog crate. The other two lame chickens are in the second coop which is inside my main walk in chicken run. All three are eating and drinking. The remaining two chickens, a Maran cockerel and Maran pullet are fine. They are both much bigger than the other three and look in good health for now. The original lame chicken (4 weeks on)is still looking as though she is improving. The second (3 weeks now) is the same with one leg which she can’t stand on but not getting worse. The question is should I cull these three with symptoms? Or just the worse recent one and get the vet to do a post mortem. Should I try to persevere and see if the three survive. Am I putting the two healthy ones at more risk by keeping the symptomatic ones. I really don’t know what to do for the best. They have all been wormed and currently they are all on a five day course of antibiotics to rule out any synovitis.

If it is indeed Marek’s then the sick shed the virus in their dander and you are indeed putting the others at risk. However, many other diseases mimic Marek’s so a necropsy of a dead bird is necessary to know for sure what you’re dealing with.

This thread gives state lab info. You don’t have to send in your own state so if your lab is too expensive then find another. TX is pretty cheap. Also, the bird must be refrigerated and shipped ASAP, NOT frozen.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/➡-necropsy-disease-testing-state-labs-info.1236884/

Marek’s can live for quite some time in the soil and on surfaces. Virkon S kills it along with other things, I suggest you sanitize the coop. I recommend you sanitize at least yearly even without sick birds. Best of luck!

Also, the vaccine does not prevent your birds from getting Marek’s, it masks the symptoms.

Also, this article will tell you everything you need to know about Marek’s

https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/the-great-big-giant-mareks-disease-faq.66077/

 

[Giskard]

Agreed. Birds showing symptoms shed dander that is loaded with the virus at a rate that is greater than birds that are simple carriers. When my birds began showing signs of wasting, or tumor growth I culled them rather than let them suffer and spread copious amounts of the virus.

You will know more after you have a solid diagnosis. I'm surprised that the vet didn't suspect Marek's Disease. Unfortunately it sure sounds as if that is what you are dealing with. I'm sorry. It's a hard blow to deal with but not the end of the world as far as keeping chickens is concerned. As I mentioned to the thread's OP, you aren't alone if you are dealing with Marek's in your flock.

I invite you to read my article about my experiences dealing with Marek's in my flock. It's not a scientific paper, just a heart felt recounting from a fellow chicken keeper about what my birds and I went through from the time I lost my first bird to how both birds and humans learned to live with (and in spite of) Marek's Disease.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...-i-learned-to-deal-with-mareks-disease.76944/

Let us know how things turn out for you.

I think today they were all worse. Falling over and unable to get back up. I had to pick them up several times. It’s heartbreaking watching them. I might have to do something about them tomorrow. I gave watched some videos on cervical dislocation. Just scared I will get it wrong