Marek’s Disease

[Tkrier]

it was just verified by necropsy that we have Marek’s in our flock. What does this mean for my flock? I know it’s highly contagious and all of my birds have been exposed. But, how many birds should I prepare myself to lose? We have 6 hens that are under 2 years, 5 pullets that are 3-4 months and 8 chicks under 6 weeks. Once a bird shows signs of the disease, is it guaranteed to die?

 

[Kessel23]

Is it a hot strain or a cold strain? I have a cold strain and it killed over 50% of my juvenile birds and 1 hen that was over a year old. Not every bird that shows symptoms will die. I have had several start to show symptoms and then have them return to normal in a day or two. Although, I have never had one go from not walking to walking again.

 

[Tkrier]

Not sure what that means “hot or cold strain”.

The bird that started showing signs today is just lethargic. I was curious if I should euthanize her. Your reply has given me hope that it isn’t necessarily a death sentence.

I’m absolutely devastated and am horrified that I will lose more birds.

 

[Kessel23]

There are a few different strains of Marek's and they are either a hot strain or a cold strain. Hot strains are very deadly while cold ones are less dangerous. I usually cull them once they are unable to walk.

 

[Eggcessive]

Sorry about your diagnosis. Mareks disease is everywhere in the world, and there are many strains of the virus. It is scary to get that diagnosis, I am sure. I would relax and do some reading and research on your own. If you can get on the search forum and try to navigate it, there are many threads about Mareks and how many have dealt with it. We have members her, such as @rebrascora, @casportpony, and others who breed birds and who have dealt with it for years. What were some of the symptoms your chicken had before it died? Here are 2 good threads that contain a lot of information:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/the-great-big-giant-mareks-disease-faq.66077/

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

https://www.merckvetmanual.com/poultry/neoplasms/marek’s-disease-in-poultry

 

[Tkrier]

Thank you for your replies, I appreciate it. I will read the mentioned articles, if I haven’t already... I’ve read a lot!

How can you know which strain I’m dealing with?

The first bird that died was suddenly unable to walk. The second bird was confused for a couple of days, just acting off. She was unable to jump/fly, just seemed uncoordinated. She continued to eat/drink, but died suddenly.

The first bird is the one that was necropsied.

 

[Eggcessive]

I have never had Mareks in my flock, but there are different strains, some worse than others. I doubt if most testing labs will identify the exact virus strain. Mareks viruses are always changing. The only treatment right now is the Mareks vaccine given to brand new day old chicks. Some hatcheries may give it in the embryo. Many people say they breed their surviving birds, the ones that seem to have some natural immunity.

 

[rebrascora]

Hi

I'm so sorry to read that your flock has been diagnosed with Marek's. I understand how heart breaking and scary that bad news is but I can assure you that it is not always as devastating as some of the stuff you read. I am 4 years down the line with it and whilst every loss is tragic, especially when they are young birds that should have their whole lives a head of them, I have had a number of pretty miraculous recoveries, some from very serious paralysis that took weeks or even months of supportive care. Yes the disease will probably be fatal eventually for those that do recover from an outbreak but they can have a good quality of life in between outbreaks and the happier and stress free you can keep them, the better chance they have. Don't forget we (and they) are all guaranteed to die sooner or later, so try to rejoice in the ones that recover rather than worry about which one is going to die next. I broody rear chicks both from my surviving birds and last year I experimented with hatching eggs from an external source. I get less and less cases as the years go by. So far, none of my chicks from last year have shown symptoms and they are past the critical adolescent stage, but I lost a 7 year old bird to it who had recovered from a previous outbreak and a 3 year old that succumbed to a respiratory infection which I strongly suspect was due to a compromised immune system..... secondary infections like these are quite common with Marek's birds. I still have several 5 and 6 year old birds that have "weathered the Marek's storm" and not yet been affected and also a few 2, 3 and 4 year olds
I offer supportive care to sick birds as long as they continue to be interested in food but once they stop eating, that is my red line in the sand to end it for them. One of my first batches of chicks to get it, went 2 months nest bound and I twice set a date to euthanize but the day came and went and she continued to be bright eyed and wolf food down and I couldn't do it. She made it through to spring and on warm days I would put her and a friend out in a large cage on the lawn and she would peck at grass (which has a lot of healing properties and enjoy the sun and at bedtime I would open the cage and she would try to crawl back to the coop..... it was ugly to watch as she had to use her wings to pull herself and I would let her struggle for a short distance and then help her. Each day she managed to go a little further and her legs started to strengthen until she eventually after a month or so, was fit enough to resume free ranging with the flock and get up onto the highest (6 ft roost bar). Sadly I lost her and her pal to a fox 6 months later but she had a wonderful summer of ranging and foraging and dust bathing and she was always the first to come running/flying when she saw me. I should also say that that was her second attack of Marek's. Her first outbreak lasted 3 days and she went from being fine to hobbling, to floundering on her side unable to get up with her legs stuck out in classic Marek's splits posture, to back on her feet but with a slight limp, to completely better and remained so for about 2 months until her second and prolonged 3 month attack.
Others are less lucky and go downhill quickly as you have seen and some even die suddenly with no apparent symptoms. It is a lottery as to how it will play out but don't lose hope.... it will get better eventually.
You might want to invest in some sachets of Virkon S.... here in the Uk you can buy small sachets for £2 that make up to a gallon by dissolving in a bucket of water and can be used to spray down the coop after an outbreak. It is one of the few disinfectants which is active against Marek's and whilst it will not eliminate the virus from your property it will dramatically reduce the reservoir of infected material in your coop, which is the place where the virus will survive the longest outside of it's host and where other birds are most likely to inhale it and become infected. Only birds which are symptomatic are capable of shedding the virus.... just like people with the cold sore Herpes virus are not infectious unless they have a cold sore, so it makes sense to do a clean down after an outbreak in my opinion.

Personally I am not a fan of the Marek's vaccine for a number of reasons and prefer to breed from surviving birds but everyone has their own different ideas and set of circumstances which dictate their course of action.

If I can be of any specific help or support, feel free to ask. I know how gutted you will be feeling right now..... it takes time to come to terms with it and develop enough knowledge and experience to figure out the best way forward for you, but be assured it does get easier eventually so hang in there and remember it is a sad fact that chickens die from all sorts of things.....ailments, predators etc.... Marek's is just another one of them. You can't protect them from everything, all you can do is your best and learn to roll with the punches after that and enjoy the victories when they happen.

Good luck X

 

[Tkrier]

Thank you so much for your reply, I appreciate hearing your story.

 

[hmlamberson]

Sorry about your diagnosis. Mareks disease is everywhere in the world, and there are many strains of the virus. It is scary to get that diagnosis, I am sure. I would relax and do some reading and research on your own. If you can get on the search forum and try to navigate it, there are many threads about Mareks and how many have dealt with it. We have members her, such as @rebrascora, @casportpony, and others who breed birds and who have dealt with it for years. What were some of the symptoms your chicken had before it died? Here are 2 good threads that contain a lot of information:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/the-great-big-giant-mareks-disease-faq.66077/

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

https://www.merckvetmanual.com/poultry/neoplasms/marek’s-disease-in-poultry

Not sure if you can help with some advice on Mareks. I had a few of my young chickens die last year and some from that same batch I gave to my friend and they ended up dying as well. She got a necropsy done and it was Mareks. I'm worried mine have it since some were dying and the ones I gave her died. I just hatched chicks this Tuesday and more hatched yesterday. I have the Mareks vaccine, should I actually vaccinate them? I didn't want to open the vaccine on the first hatch day because only 2 hatched but the majority hatched yesterday morning. I also have a few on this hatch that will be raised for meat (Bresse) - can/should I vaccinate them as well? Just not sure if I'm way too late in the vaccination process since they would now be 2 day old chicks...I currently have 24 full grown chickens in total...chicks were hatched at my moms offsite....Any help is greatly appreciated!