Mareks is wiping me out, I think..???

[ranchhand]

Quote:
We don't all jump to the worst possible conclusion, sorry you got that impression.

But your thread title and first post both said Marek's, so it natural to assume you knew enough to be fairly sure. Good luck!

 

[cocosandy]

Jean-
I am being warned all over the place about getting day old vaccinated chicks and how careful you have to be not to infect your flock with them...the dr in that first vet supply article even says it...but he also says that the vacvcine is alive and its ok to vaccinate the birds...Im very confused and Ive read extensively on this....all Ive found is that the best thing to do if it is mareks is to cull the entire flock and start again with all vaccinated chicks.,..then vaccinate chicks you hatch...
and dont take in any adult chickens who arent vaccinated unless you want to take a chance of them getting it.
apparently you have to keep the vaccinated chicks very separate and you have to change clothes before you go from coop to brooder and back again...
Where is it documented that that is not true?

The vaccine is "natural" because its actually the virus....just like they say that turkeys give some immunity because they carry the kind of mareks that is in that virus....
Im by no means against medications...and after years of a healthy flock Im having my first outbreak of multiple deaths here...I hope to god its not mareks...
Its been a bad year, and I am now 100% for worming with real wormers....and 100% for antibiotics if they are needed...and any other meds that are needed, Im on board!

anyway, Im not against vaccines...I just want safe ones.
Imnot even sure that this is mareks because the vet saw no sign of even tiny tumors...it may be one of those viral things...
no bird flipped over and this is almost parkinsonian in that a couple got a peripheral shaking of the limbs but not the head.....
One had the holding the leg out front thing, but I had never heard of that and it may have been an injury...that bird was necropsied.
I cant wait for the results...maybe Ill email my friend who went to school there and knows all the vets and techs at the poultry extension.
I will report back.

 

[GardenGranny]

Here is a link to another thread on Mareks with the explanation about the vaccine and whether or not it can spread. It supports what Pips&peeps said.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=39918

 

[MakNat]

Every bird on this farm have been ones hatched here except 4 leghorn and 4 ameracuanas (sp?) from Mt healthy hatchery Not vaccinated. They all did GREAT and a laying know. I only got those for breeding, so they wouldn't be kin.. Well Sorry about the comment I made about people jumping to the worst conclusion and I did have a ? mark in my first post... That is because in earlier posts explaining the problem a few of you went right to the disease Mareks. I was hoping for a simplier answer, hence the remark.... It has been a extremely cold year and it is my first year to raise them in these weather conditions. Hopefully it is just a deficancy.... Thank you all for the info... I think my decision as of now is to make sure they are getting EVERYTHING they need and a little extra ammune boosting treats. I will watch them extra close and hopefully this won't happen to anyone else. This is going on my 4th year with chickens and some of the original birds are still here, so I must be doing something right. Sorry about my spelling..

 

[seminolewind]

I had a roo that I had to put down 2 weeks ago. I thought it was Marek's, classic symptoms. My vet did a necropsy, and didn't find any tumors. So his feeling was that my roo had contracted Eastern Equine Encephalitis. On reading, turns out that 204 sentinel chickens in Florida have gotten EEE. And I hear it's a big problem in the midwest. The symptoms are the same. It's spread by mosquitos.
It might be easier to take a chicken for a blood sample to rule out EEE, and check for deficiencies. I can't say that my roo didn't have Marek's, but there were no tumors. He was not sick and didn't act sick. He did waste away from not eating enough. One day I thought he was staggering, the next day he's like hopping crawling, and that night he can't move. Legs and one wing paralyzed. Looked like one foot forward one foot back, and his left eye appeared different, first he kept it closed, then when he did open it, the pupil looked small, and he was blind in that eye. He couldn't eat normally, kept missing the food. Then he started losing strength in his neck. I was going to try tube feeding, but just trying exhausted him. Very sad, still makes me tear up. Everyone else is good so far.

 

[MakNat]

Quote:
So sorry. It is devastating... All this is really getting complicated.. and really starting to take the fun out of having chikens all together. Some say there is about a %10 mortallity rate no matter what.. I guess if thats the case, I haven't been doing to bad at all. After trying to help the seldom sicks ones only to fail, I to decided to start culling. It truly breaks my heart..

 

[NYREDS]

Marek's is often spread by wild birds but once introduced in a flock of susceptible chickens it usually spreads. While some birdsrecover from Merek's they remain carriers for the rest of their lives therefore it is best to immediately kill affected birds. I don't know much about vaccines as I don't use them. I prefer to breed for disease resistance.
For what it's worth the "Dr" at First State Vet SUpply isn't a Dr-he just calls himself Doc.

 

[aveca]

Certian breeds are more susceptible to merecks , we started a discussion a while ago about it, certian breeds have an A or B factor in thier blood that makes them resistant to Mereks disease. If you want to go natural then those breeds are a consideration. Not sure , think we posted a list of them.

We lost our best dominiques to Mereks , It was so sad they are very suseptible . From that day on we have vaccinated all day old chicks .I have had the classes when I lived in COLO at pueblo USC You can go and take classes, cornell offeres classes on subcutanous, intramuscular and interveinous injections. Mereks is a subcutanous injectable, so its just a small amount just under the skin not in the muscle top of the back of the neck. Some of the vaccines are feed through like cossidosis (bloody stool) are given through eye dropper right away but you cannot feed medicated feeds with antibiotic for a while or it will cancel out the vaccine. Somone put a great step by step how to vidio on UTUBE how to vaccinate day old chicks, but let someone who is comfortable doing this if you are not. put out an ad for somone who has experience or a vet to do it for you. Some vets will allow you come bring the little box right to thier office.

If you dont like the Idea of vaccines, consider breeds that have natural resistance.

Randall burkey offers all sorts of vaccines.

Mereks is a horrible disease and heartbreaking.

It can also be vitamin deficency but most commercial feeds are pretty complete unless you mix your own.

 

[aveca]

Also and this really works, the old timers used to run thier day old chicks in with a white turkey , the turkey naturally resistant to mereks and for whatever reason carries it in thier system and baby chcikens become immune through running with the white turkey.
Why a white turkery? Im not sure what the difference is but it is even mentioned in the book the sebright written by the formost top winning breeder of sebrights in the world. So thought that was interesting note

 

[cocosandy]

The description of EEE is exactly what happened here. I put down a chicken yesterday with exactly that...the roo is still alive and he seems a little better.
That description is exactly what we have here, in abscence if tumors....I am awaiting the blood work.
If you have a dead chicken its much cheaper to have it tested at the university poultry extension than an avian vet.
I am going to the feed store now (I hatched one tiny button quail and have to get some feed for it...if it will eat!...this is the tiniest bird born with feathers Ive ever had...I also raise parrots but they are naked at this size;-)
and I will ask my guy if he hears of this. I live in horse country and there are alot of small farms around...we also have a very bad west nile/mosquito problem and I have a...ceeement pond...that my grandfather built in the 40's as a pool but was just too big to ever heat...I am taking care of it because there is a question about my well and if its effecting the water to have standing gunk there....we have a huge overgrowth of iron bacteria that is unusual.....the city calls it a cement hole in the ground and suggests filling it because of a mosquito problem...but there is a gunky pond across the street that is wetlands....I dunno....but if this is a problem with mosquitos I will do more against them. I already use a machine and dunks etc...and I havent been eaten alive like usual....
Im gonna research and report back.
Until I have a real diagnosis from necropsy of mareks, Im going to figure its something else....also because they dont all get it...its not a breed thing, its the weaker younger birds.