aurinia
Chirping
So I am reasonably sure that the issues I've been dealing with in my flock for the last 6 weeks are due to Marek's. I've been trying to tell myself that there was another explanation for my girls getting sick. Vitamin deficiency. Poor feed quality. Some unknown, unseen issue in the building that my coop is in. Anything but what it so obviously is. I am devastated. Right now all I feel like doing is sitting down and crying, to be honest. I have wanted chickens since I was a child and now that I FINALLY have the space, time and money to do so, in the space of weeks it has turned into a nightmare. Since mid-June, I have had 5 pullets get sick and have lost 4 of them. They seem to have 2 separate groups as far as symptoms go...I find them one morning all fluffed up, lethargic, not wanting to eat, drink or interact with the flock and they die due to wasting, or they start having trouble walking, progressing to paralysis. The only one who has survived, my little partridge rock (who is of course my kids favorite), actually seemed to completely recover from almost total bilateral leg paralysis after only about a week and a half. Except this morning I noticed she has what looks like 2 small tumors growing on her face, one at the corner of her beak and one under her chin. Up until today, I was wondering if it was a problem with the hatchery these birds came from (Mt. Healthy, by way of our local feed store). They were the only ones getting sick. Stupid me. This morning I opened the coop to find one of my EE pullets all fluffed up and lethargic (but is still eating and drinking at this point), and this afternoon noticed one of my 17 week old RIR's is starting to have trouble walking. Neither one of them were from a hatchery, but were hatched by a friend. I know I shouldn't say definitively that its Marek's without having a necropsy done on someone (which I cannot afford at the moment), but to me the signs are pretty clear. And I can't even figure out how they were exposed. I just bought the house last year. The previous owner of 50+ years never had ANY kind of farm animals on the property. This is my first flock and I have no adult birds...the oldest are 17-18 weeks old. The few people I know who have chickens have had zero problems in their own flocks and no suspicious deaths and only 2 of them have even been on my property. There are no big poultry farms within at least 30 miles. My only guess is they were exposed during the short time they were at the feed store. I don't know.
Anyway, when I'm done with my pity party (sorry, might take a little bit), I have some questions. I've spent the last few days reading through as much of the Marek's threads on here as I can, but I'm not done yet, so I was just hoping for some advice. My original plan was to breed and sell chicks and sell eggs to eat. Obviously that plan just ended up in the compost pile. I know that I am now no longer able to sell, give away or otherwise get rid of any birds on my property. What about hatching eggs? I know Marek's doesn't get passed down through the egg, so I'm just curious if there's any risk to selling them or giving them to friends if there is some way to clean them. What about selling eggs to eat? Can you eat birds that have been exposed to Marek's? Since I can't sell any later on down the road, I need to figure out what to do with the extra cockerels I'm bound to end up with if I hatch my own chicks. Has anybody had any luck in breeding for resistance? Or is my best best still to only order vaccinated chicks from a hatchery from now on? I have also seen several posts about how it may possibly be beneficial to keep several turkeys with your chickens, that it can possibly help lessen the severity of the symptoms that the birds come down with. Is there any truth to this? I had actually planned on getting a few turkeys next year and it would be great if there was some benefit to the chickens, too.
I'm sorry this is so long...I just really don't know what to do. I am so disheartened by this whole experience that I'm starting to wonder why I ever wanted chickens in the first place. But of course now I absolutely adore them, which makes it so much harder. Ugh.
Anyway, when I'm done with my pity party (sorry, might take a little bit), I have some questions. I've spent the last few days reading through as much of the Marek's threads on here as I can, but I'm not done yet, so I was just hoping for some advice. My original plan was to breed and sell chicks and sell eggs to eat. Obviously that plan just ended up in the compost pile. I know that I am now no longer able to sell, give away or otherwise get rid of any birds on my property. What about hatching eggs? I know Marek's doesn't get passed down through the egg, so I'm just curious if there's any risk to selling them or giving them to friends if there is some way to clean them. What about selling eggs to eat? Can you eat birds that have been exposed to Marek's? Since I can't sell any later on down the road, I need to figure out what to do with the extra cockerels I'm bound to end up with if I hatch my own chicks. Has anybody had any luck in breeding for resistance? Or is my best best still to only order vaccinated chicks from a hatchery from now on? I have also seen several posts about how it may possibly be beneficial to keep several turkeys with your chickens, that it can possibly help lessen the severity of the symptoms that the birds come down with. Is there any truth to this? I had actually planned on getting a few turkeys next year and it would be great if there was some benefit to the chickens, too.
I'm sorry this is so long...I just really don't know what to do. I am so disheartened by this whole experience that I'm starting to wonder why I ever wanted chickens in the first place. But of course now I absolutely adore them, which makes it so much harder. Ugh.
