Mareks… and I could cry

[Shellebelle920]

I’ve had 3 mysterious deaths in my young flock in the past month or so. I sent the 3rd bird off to my state lab to get necropsied, and while histopathology results are pending, it appears most likely that my flock is infected with Mareks. The necropsied pullet has “gross lesions along her peripheral sciatic nerve” pointing to mareks. Of course ALL is not out of the equation yet, but neither diagnoses brings more hope than the other. My goal with this spring hatch was to choose the closest to The SOP and begin breeding. “Chickening” is purely a hobby for me with original intent to show this fall. I enjoy hatching, selecting and learning the genetics behind the birds. I even had a nice new coop built for this spring hatch!! Im feeling defeated as none of that is really possible now. I suppose I could start breeding for resistance, but I’m not sure if my heart is into culling that many birds and growing chicks only to watch them get sick. The illness seems to be mostly affecting my faverolles at this point (there are silkies in with them). I have 2 more faverolles who are becoming symptomatic who I will be culling today, and it sucks. I’m hoping to that my 2 1/2 year old silkies, marans, legbar and leghorn will remain asymptomatic. They’re in the side coops. Anyway, I just wanted to share my disappointment. I’d love to hear from anyone who has gone through something similar and how they managed everything.

 

[Araucana Nest]

I’m so sorry While I haven’t gone through Marek’s, I’ve lost beloved hens and therefore plans and projects I had hoped for. Just lost my most valuable hen to a rat snake wanting her chicks It’s shattering and I can imagine would end plans for some. Others on here have gone through it and continue so I know you can find inspiration to continue with what you love. I don’t think all is lost. Bio security will have to be your motto from now on though.

 

[Shellebelle920]

I’m so sorry While I haven’t gone through Marek’s, I’ve lost beloved hens and therefore plans and projects I had hoped for. Just lost my most valuable hen to a rat snake wanting her chicks It’s shattering and I can imagine would end plans for some. Others on here have gone through it and continue so I know you can find inspiration to continue with what you love. I don’t think all is lost. Bio security will have to be your motto from now on though.

Thank you!

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I'm sorry you're having problems.
I'm tagging in @microchick to see if she can give you some tips and encouragement.

 

[Karm]

I’ve had 3 mysterious deaths in my young flock in the past month or so. I sent the 3rd bird off to my state lab to get necropsied, and while histopathology results are pending, it appears most likely that my flock is infected with Mareks. The necropsied pullet has “gross lesions along her peripheral sciatic nerve” pointing to mareks. Of course ALL is not out of the equation yet, but neither diagnoses brings more hope than the other. My goal with this spring hatch was to choose the closest to The SOP and begin breeding. “Chickening” is purely a hobby for me with original intent to show this fall. I enjoy hatching, selecting and learning the genetics behind the birds. I even had a nice new coop built for this spring hatch!! Im feeling defeated as none of that is really possible now. I suppose I could start breeding for resistance, but I’m not sure if my heart is into culling that many birds and growing chicks only to watch them get sick. The illness seems to be mostly affecting my faverolles at this point (there are silkies in with them). I have 2 more faverolles who are becoming symptomatic who I will be culling today, and it sucks. I’m hoping to that my 2 1/2 year old silkies, marans, legbar and leghorn will remain asymptomatic. They’re in the side coops. Anyway, I just wanted to share my disappointment. I’d love to hear from anyone who has gone through something similar and how they managed everything.

I'm sorry this has happened We found out our flock has Marek's earlier this year too. To make matters worse, we had just hatched four of our own chicks and then purchased four more from Wilco to raise with them. Learning that these chicks now have it too was pretty devastating.

I agree with you that breeding for resistance would be too difficult. We are currently thinking and weighing alternatives but in the future will probably just purchase chicks that we KNOW are vaccinated for Marek's. Thanks to the excellent knowledge of others on BYC we also now know we must have a closed flock, practice bio security, keep the coops and run really clean, keep a close watch on every chicken/chick on a daily basis, etc.

Hang in there, you are not alone!

 

[microchick]

Thank you @Wyorp Rock.

@Shellebelle920 belle I am so sorry to hear that you are experiencing this horrible disease in your flock.

Like you I had plans to breed rare birds and sell them. Then I found out I had Marek's disease in my flock and all of those dreams ended.

You are not alone and it sucks. I daresay that there are a lot of members here on BYC who belong to this exclusive club and absolutely none of us want to be.

Like you, I enjoy hatching chicks, nurturing them and watching them grow. Marek's really throws a monkey wrench into your plans. What's that old saying? Man plans, God laughs?

Having a solid diagnosis of MD is tragic but not the end of the world. Things just change. My advice to you is don't give up it does get better.

Technically and ethically you should not sell or give away any chicks or birds from your flock. Your flock is closed.

Change your focus to short term from long term plans. Find a way to work around the Marek's disease. IMHO if you have 2.5 year old birds that are thriving without symptoms you need to guard these birds and use them for your future breeding stock. The DVM that I talked to at the University of Missouri at Columbia School of Veterinary Medicine told me that if you have birds that are 3-4 years of age that have survived a MD outbreak, these birds are resistant and should form the foundation of your breeding stock.

Personally I would say watch your Silkies closely. From what I have read, they are way up there in the list of birds that are susceptible to Marek's. For me it devastated my flock of Buff Orpingtons, especially my roosters and my Welsummer roosters. None lived past the age of 1-2 years of age and died from secondary MD tumors or neurological disorders. I had one young bird who developed the scissors paralysis and died at 9 weeks but none of my birds ever showed signs of primary infection. they just died from the age of 11 months on.

At this time my oldest bird in my flock is 5 years old and a cherished old man he is. He is the lone survivor from a hatch that happened with a hen who had ocular MD. all of her offspring died except him. Tough old bird has sired at least 6 descendants for me.

I know there is a lot of controversy about vaccinating birds but frankly, bringing in Vaccinated birds and local resistant birds is what saved my back yard chickens hobby for me.

I also brought in genetically resistant Egyptian Fayoumis and vaccinated bantams. All of their offspring are thriving and knock on wood, I have not have a Marek's related death in two years now.

As I was told by the Mizzou doctor. You will lose birds, a lot of birds but you won't lose all of them. Just hang in there and don't cull your whole flock. That is throwing out the baby with the bath water. Just hang on. I know you are mad. I know you are hurting and grieving but it will get better.

 

[Shellebelle920]

I'm sorry this has happened We found out our flock has Marek's earlier this year too. To make matters worse, we had just hatched four of our own chicks and then purchased four more from Wilco to raise with them. Learning that these chicks now have it too was pretty devastating.

I agree with you that breeding for resistance would be too difficult. We are currently thinking and weighing alternatives but in the future will probably just purchase chicks that we KNOW are vaccinated for Marek's. Thanks to the excellent knowledge of others on BYC we also now know we must have a closed flock, practice bio security, keep the coops and run really clean, keep a close watch on every chicken/chick on a daily basis, etc.

Hang in there, you are not alone!

I’m so sorry to read that! You can feel my pain at least. It feels like as soon as you get comfortable and confident with “chickening”, something comes and knocks you down. This is such a bummer. I found the Mareks article from BYC https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/the-great-big-giant-mareks-disease-faq.66077/ to be very helpful in answering some of my questions. I’m assuming that you’ve read it at this point. Thanks for chiming in! This is so deflating.

 

[Shellebelle920]

Thank you @Wyorp Rock.

@Shellebelle920 belle I am so sorry to hear that you are experiencing this horrible disease in your flock.

Like you I had plans to breed rare birds and sell them. Then I found out I had Marek's disease in my flock and all of those dreams ended.

You are not alone and it sucks. I daresay that there are a lot of members here on BYC who belong to this exclusive club and absolutely none of us want to be.

Like you, I enjoy hatching chicks, nurturing them and watching them grow. Marek's really throws a monkey wrench into your plans. What's that old saying? Man plans, God laughs?

Having a solid diagnosis of MD is tragic but not the end of the world. Things just change. My advice to you is don't give up it does get better.

Technically and ethically you should not sell or give away any chicks or birds from your flock. Your flock is closed.

Change your focus to short term from long term plans. Find a way to work around the Marek's disease. IMHO if you have 2.5 year old birds that are thriving without symptoms you need to guard these birds and use them for your future breeding stock. The DVM that I talked to at the University of Missouri at Columbia School of Veterinary Medicine told me that if you have birds that are 3-4 years of age that have survived a MD outbreak, these birds are resistant and should form the foundation of your breeding stock.

Personally I would say watch your Silkies closely. From what I have read, they are way up there in the list of birds that are susceptible to Marek's. For me it devastated my flock of Buff Orpingtons, especially my roosters and my Welsummer roosters. None lived past the age of 1-2 years of age and died from secondary MD tumors or neurological disorders. I had one young bird who developed the scissors paralysis and died at 9 weeks but none of my birds ever showed signs of primary infection. they just died from the age of 11 months on.

At this time my oldest bird in my flock is 5 years old and a cherished old man he is. He is the lone survivor from a hatch that happened with a hen who had ocular MD. all of her offspring died except him. Tough old bird has sired at least 6 descendants for me.

I know there is a lot of controversy about vaccinating birds but frankly, bringing in Vaccinated birds and local resistant birds is what saved my back yard chickens hobby for me.

I also brought in genetically resistant Egyptian Fayoumis and vaccinated bantams. All of their offspring are thriving and knock on wood, I have not have a Marek's related death in two years now.

As I was told by the Mizzou doctor. You will lose birds, a lot of birds but you won't lose all of them. Just hang in there and don't cull your whole flock. That is throwing out the baby with the bath water. Just hang on. I know you are mad. I know you are hurting and grieving but it will get better.

Thank you for the thoughtful and detailed message! I replied this feeling earlier, but it gets to be so frustrating to feel like you are gaining confidence and security with “chickening” and then something comes and knocks you down. I’m an honest person and would never want to expose anyone’s flock to this disease, which is why I won’t be selling/rehoming any of these birds. I guess I’ll just have to see how this year or so goes. The unfortunate thing is that I hatched these affected faverolles/silkies specifically to breed with my older silkie hens. So I’m not sure if it would be a good idea to put them together next spring. It’s just a bummer. And the expression “man plans, God laughs” is exactly how I feel!

 

[microchick]

Thank you for the thoughtful and detailed message! I replied this feeling earlier, but it gets to be so frustrating to feel like you are gaining confidence and security with “chickening” and then something comes and knocks you down.

Tell me about it.

I felt for ages like I had let my flock down. If I had bought vaccinated chicks to start with this would never have happened to my flock.

I have/had all three forms of MD on our property. Visceral, Neurological and Ocular. The trifecta of frustration.

And I feel the same way as you do. The farthest any of my birds have traveled is next door and they wound up residing in fruit jars if you get my drift. What is weird as far as my thinking is concerned is why if Marek's contaminated dander can travel for 5 miles on the wind, is my flock the only flock that I have heard of that has been affected by the virus?

Are all the area birds, mainly on Amish farms resistant? My resistant birds are Amish barnyard mixes and I've only lost one chick from that source to MD.

You see, I've been fighting this battle for 6 years and I still have a lot of questions that so far cannot be answered.

It's a learning experience and we learn as we go.