Marek's Help

[Imachickenmama]

I seriously can't catch a break. I have confirmed Marek's in my flock. I have a Roo that clearly has it. My only choice is to cull him now? I'm devastated. How can I clean my coop of this from the sick ones?

 

[Kathy Golla]

Mareks is incredibly common. I know it’s a surprise but try to not feel devastated. You can’t clean your coop if it as the whole flock has been exposed. Step one: you know it’s Mareks-awareness is half the battle. Step two: Is your flock vaccinated for Mareks?

 

[Imachickenmama]

I have 3 adults that are not. 5 17 weekers that are not. I have four babies Wilco said that were.
This has been running through my flock for 4 months now.

 

[Kathy Golla]

Yeah..the unvaccinated chickens can recover from the symptoms but often do not. I’m sorry for your troubles. The vaccinated chickens will have more luck.
Be very careful with your biosecurity, you can pass it along for instance via a trip to the feed store.

 

[Imachickenmama]

Yes, I've definitely been thinking about biosecurity.

Yeah..the unvaccinated chickens can recover from the symptoms but often do not. I’m sorry for your troubles. The vaccinated chickens will have more luck.
Be very careful with your biosecurity, you can pass it along for instance via a trip to the feed store.

 

[Shadrach]

I seriously can't catch a break. I have confirmed Marek's in my flock. I have a Roo that clearly has it. My only choice is to cull him now? I'm devastated. How can I clean my coop of this from the sick ones?

This article has good broad coverage of the problem.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/the-great-big-giant-mareks-disease-faq.66077/
This article is also worth reading.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/flock-care-and-maintenance-with-mareks-part-1.75013/

 

[Imachickenmama]

I have 4 Wilco chicks that are suppose to be vacinated. How long should I keep them away from my chickens for their best chance at survival?

 

[Marshaharrell]

We had confirmed Mareks in our flock, and lost 4-5 over about 6 months. This was out of around 40 chickens. I thought it would be so much worse. Most of ours were not vaccinated. A lot of times they get exposed and just don’t get sick. After that, they are immune. We didn’t do anything special to prevent it spreading since everyone had already been exposed. One thing we did was to have anyone coming into our chicken area who has chickens to use our shoes vs theirs to prevent spreading it to their flock.