Marek's & My Flock

You mean it may not have been the rooster? Or that maybe even while quarantined some dander affected the flock?
A quarantine would be little to no help if a bird had Mareks. Birds can have it for a lifetime and never show symptoms, plus since it is spread by dander if there is an infected bird on your property it will spread in the wind or on your clothes/shoes etc...

How old was the rooster? I know chicks need to be a few weeks old before they can show signs but I am not sure what the time frame is for adults (whether it would take 3 weeks). It is possible the flock already had it and it just popped up now due to the stress of adding the rooster, probably not that likely but certainly possible.

Hopefully the facility doing the necropsy knows what to look for. I paid $150 for a necropsy at UGA (a top vet school) and they totally missed it because they looked for lesions and some forms do not cause lesions. Had I known better I would have ordered a specific test instead of letting them wing it.
 
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A quarantine would be little to no help if a bird had Mareks. Birds can have it for a lifetime and never show symptoms, plus since it is spread by dander if an infected bird is on your property you can transmit the dander on your clothes to the flock.

Your flock may already have had latent Mareks and it just now popped up, or a wild bird could have introduced it, or you could have picked up infected danger on your clothes and brought it in. How old was the rooster?
He’s between 4-5 months. I’m not entirely sure since I didn’t raise him as a baby. I was told he was 3 months when I got him, but he seemed younger.
 
I agree that you may have already had it in your flock before the rooster came, but his presence may have triggered the stress reaction that often creates outbreaks.

I also agree that, although an outbreak can be heartbreaking, many, many folks (who know their flocks have it) have a lot of success keeping chickens - so please don't give up hope!
 
He’s between 4-5 months. I’m not entirely sure since I didn’t raise him as a baby. I was told he was 3 months when I got him, but he seemed younger.
Oh wow, he isn't a rooster he is just baby. Yeah your flock very well may have had it and the stress of being integrated caused him to succumb. I thought he was a full grown adult rooster which would mean he would be stressing out the other birds, instead of the flock stressing out him, but a cockerel that young would get picked on and get very stressed.
 
I live in Georgia too, and I got the same feedback— lots of Marek’s. I love the idea of the immune booster!

Do I just give up on the symptomatic birds? Is there anything I should be doing?
Valtrex isn't an immune booster. From what I understand the herpes virus spreads using an enzyme, and valtrex shuts the enzyme down so the virus cannot spread and infect new cells.

Some people are on it daily for years to prevent a herpes outbreak. Others, even infants, take it at the first sign of symptoms to stop the spread before it gets much worse. Since I got a script (vet wrote it, I filled it for $10 at a local pharmacy) I have not had a bird come down with it. If something happens that would stress a bird out (like a predator attack) I dose them with it once or twice early on. The drugs are not approved for chickens (and never will be because there isn't enough money in it) but there are numerous cases of the same class of drugs being used successfully. Here is a thread where someone was using it to cure a fatal herpes virus in turkeys:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/cure-for-herpes-virus-in-turkey’s.1405326/#post-23067015

Personally I absolutely would treat those birds that have symptoms. Start it asap as every day matters! If a bird is real bad and becomes unable to walk/stand then consider euthanasia as they can live for weeks/months that way if given food water, though milder symptoms could hopefully be stopped/reversed.
 
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Also just an FYI...since poultry is a huge industry in Georgia the state does free necropsies on backyard chickens (which you already know).

They do that to track diseases that could affect the poultry industry. They don't just test for one thing they test for EVERYTHING and if they find something they don't like (i.e. avian flu antibodies) the state culls the entire flock regardless of whether the other birds test negative. That is also why they make you fill out the "chick registry" if you buy chicks at a feed store, to track buyers in the event a hatchery has a problem. I don't use the state ag vet for that reason.
 
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Oh wow, he isn't a rooster he is just baby. Yeah your flock very well may have had it and the stress of being integrated caused him to succumb. I thought he was a full grown adult rooster which would mean he would be stressing out the other birds, instead of the flock stressing out him, but a cockerel that young would get picked on and get very stressed.
Yeah— he’s a cockerel. I was very careful integrating him. He has not been hurt. I would only let him out for a few hours supervised at first, but he kept sleeping in the puppy play pen, not the coop. Once I saw them accepting him, I let him sleep in the coop. That wasn’t until 2 weeks in.

i’m going to the vet today— I will talk to him about the valtrex.
 
First off so sorry you are a member of the Marek's in my flock club.

For a lot of us there are no vets that are willing to treat chickens so getting an RX for anything let alone an anti-herpes drug is pretty much a lost cause. Plus I would hesitate to eat meat or eggs from a bird being treated with any anti-viral drug. What they eat goes into their system and there is enough trouble with antibiotic resistant infections in humans thanks to the indiscriminate use of antibiotics in the meat we eat. We don't need resistance to the antiviral drugs also.

Personally, I argued pro and con with myself about vaccinated vs non vaccinated birds and finally went with introducing vaccinated birds into my flock. So far I have had no losses from the vaccinated birds who are now over 3 years old (some of them) nor from their current offspring. I hesitate to say that it is working for me and my flock but it does look promising and frankly if it is a choice between vaccinated birds and letting my flock slowly die out from MD, I'm going with vaccinated birds.

What I'm saying is that IMHO with Marek's disease there is no one size fits all approach to dealing with it. You have to do what is right for your particular situation and yes, it takes some experimenting. Some things work and some don't.

What you need to remember is a lot of us are on our own without a vet who is willing to work on poultry unless they are dealing with a large meat bird or egg producing situation where it is worth their while to offer treatment.

I'm amazed that nobody has mentioned Egyptian Fayoumis as flock members. Look them up, please and read about them. They aren't cute like the Orpingtons or the rabid egg producers that Easter Eggers are but they are a viable solution for dealing with Marek's Disease.
 
First off so sorry you are a member of the Marek's in my flock club.

For a lot of us there are no vets that are willing to treat chickens so getting an RX for anything let alone an anti-herpes drug is pretty much a lost cause. Plus I would hesitate to eat meat or eggs from a bird being treated with any anti-viral drug. What they eat goes into their system and there is enough trouble with antibiotic resistant infections in humans thanks to the indiscriminate use of antibiotics in the meat we eat. We don't need resistance to the antiviral drugs also.

Personally, I argued pro and con with myself about vaccinated vs non vaccinated birds and finally went with introducing vaccinated birds into my flock. So far I have had no losses from the vaccinated birds who are now over 3 years old (some of them) nor from their current offspring. I hesitate to say that it is working for me and my flock but it does look promising and frankly if it is a choice between vaccinated birds and letting my flock slowly die out from MD, I'm going with vaccinated birds.

What I'm saying is that IMHO with Marek's disease there is no one size fits all approach to dealing with it. You have to do what is right for your particular situation and yes, it takes some experimenting. Some things work and some don't.

What you need to remember is a lot of us are on our own without a vet who is willing to work on poultry unless they are dealing with a large meat bird or egg producing situation where it is worth their while to offer treatment.

I'm amazed that nobody has mentioned Egyptian Fayoumis as flock members. Look them up, please and read about them. They aren't cute like the Orpingtons or the rabid egg producers that Easter Eggers are but they are a viable solution for dealing with Marek's Disease.
Thank you so much for all this good information, and I had NO idea that the Egyptian Fayoumis were resistant. I will definitely look into them.

I'm really rooting for the ladies and pulling through.
 
My pleasure. I am attempting to cross breed the genetically resistant Fayoumis with local resistant birds that I've hatched from fertile eggs with the hopes of increasing the barnyard mix birds' resistance even more. I've hatched my first batch of cross breeds last year and not only are they striking birds but they are so far so good, healthy.

IMG_2735.JPG

One of the Fayoumi Amish Barnyard cross cockerels at 4 months.
kingtut.JPG



My Fayoumi rooster King Tut with two Amish Barnyard cross cockerels and one of the third generation OEGB SDW cockerels from vaccinated parentage.

What you read about Fayoumis in the breed description is spot on. The cockerel chicks will start to crow as early as 5 weeks and they mature at a faster rate than other breeds of birds. They are extremely heat resistant and so far as long as they are kept inside, mine are resistant to cold. We are expecting -10+ degree lows this weekend so it will be the big test for them but so far they are doing well.

They also have big mouths. The roosters love to crow and the hens can shriek like a banshee when they want to putting most guineas to shame. One member here on BYC describes them as velociraptors in full open mouth scream and that pretty much is what they sound like....straight from Jurassic Park.

There are studies ongoing in several locations that are trying to discover what makes these birds resistant to MD. I hope they can find out their secret so it can be passed on to all chicken breeds.
 

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