Marek's Fatality - How to Proceed??

[MothaClucker0403]

Over the last few days we had one of our Liege Fighters come down with a case of the splits and no matter what we did it progressed. We had been hoping for just a vitamin deficiency and not the absolute worse - but we got home today and the poor thing could barely lift her head. Her last days were as comfortable as they could be, nice and cool in our bedroom and hand-fed fermented food and nice cool water; but it just wasn't enough. My husband had to use the hatchet today and I did the necropsy and her organs were covered in the lesions caused by Marek's

Moving forward, what is the best thing to do for our flock? We have 2 Khaki Campbells, 1 California White (TSC Bird), 6 Flowery Hens (not sure of vaccination status yet), 2 other Liege Fighters and 3 Shamos - Fighters and Shamos from the same breeder and as I have just been made aware - not vaccinated. I know that there is no treatment and that at this point, if she had been with them before showing signs that they all most likely have it.
Please, any advice you can offer would be so helpful

 

[Eggcessive]

Sorry for your loss. Others here on BYC, such as @rebrascora, @casportpony, @Nambroth, and many others have dealt with it in their flocks. Hopefully, they will offer help. Not all birds will get it, but consider all to be carriers of the disease. That means if they leave your flock, even without symptoms, they will give it to others. Some breed their healthy birds, and try to breed for resistance.

 

[Nambroth]

I'm so sorry for your loss. I know that awful feeling of "now what?!" after finding out. If you haven't yet, be sure to check out this article: https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/the-great-big-giant-mareks-disease-faq.66077/

Vaccination is a personal choice and I suggest reading all the information I could find about it in the article, before making a decision, based on your goals for your flock. Some people find it is more important to breed for resistance and prefer to know which birds are most susceptible by losing them and find the loss acceptable. Others, such as myself, keep them as pets and want to give them the best chance possible and keep a closed and vaccinated flock. No wrong answers as long as you go into it as educated as you can be!

Generally, anything you can do to reduce stress and any other ailments will help (this is a good idea in general of course, but especially when dealing with infectious disease). Marek's is opportunistic and often shows up at times of stress or poor health due to other ailments. It is also known to suppress the immune system and make birds more prone to secondary problems, so anything you can do to reduce those is also helpful (excellent bio-security, good feed, check for parasites and other problems often, etc).

 

[LinzeeBrie]

Over the last few days we had one of our Liege Fighters come down with a case of the splits and no matter what we did it progressed. We had been hoping for just a vitamin deficiency and not the absolute worse - but we got home today and the poor thing could barely lift her head. Her last days were as comfortable as they could be, nice and cool in our bedroom and hand-fed fermented food and nice cool water; but it just wasn't enough. My husband had to use the hatchet today and I did the necropsy and her organs were covered in the lesions caused by Marek's

Moving forward, what is the best thing to do for our flock? We have 2 Khaki Campbells, 1 California White (TSC Bird), 6 Flowery Hens (not sure of vaccination status yet), 2 other Liege Fighters and 3 Shamos - Fighters and Shamos from the same breeder and as I have just been made aware - not vaccinated. I know that there is no treatment and that at this point, if she had been with them before showing signs that they all most likely have it.
Please, any advice you can offer would be so helpful

I feel terrible asking such an insensitive question... but do you happen to have photos of the necropsy?! I'm afraid I'll have to do one soon, and am trying to glean as much information as possible on what a Marek's lesion looks like.

 

[Eggcessive]

I feel terrible asking such an insensitive question... but do you happen to have photos of the necropsy?! I'm afraid I'll have to do one soon, and am trying to glean as much information as possible on what a Marek's lesion looks like.

Sorry that you are dealing with this. This link may help if you click on gross lesions and look through all of the 61 pictures:
https://partnersah.vet.cornell.edu/avian-atlas/#/disease/Marek's_Disease