Mareks....To cull or not to cull?

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Camelot Farms

Camelot Farms

Chickenista
10 Years
Jun 5, 2009
5,840
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VA,TN,NC Tri-State area
OK... we have 'unconfirmed' Mareks.

I have 2 young cochins down now. The older one is 8 weeks. She wont make it. Already seeing signs of the internal tumors. DH is culling her after work.
The other is 7 weeks and just showing 1st signs, splayed legs, depressed, neuro issues.

I have 100 chickens in the barn, all in individual breeding/brooding pens. They share the same air and in some cases, a pen wall.

About 1/2 of them are under 20 weeks, the other half are 12 mo and up.

Would you cull as the symptoms appear and avoid 'carriers' or would you try to save them and never let them off the farm?

Will eggs from 'carriers' be infected?
 
its truly up to you as far as culling goes. The mareks is already in the air once you notice they are having issues. I am battling mareks in my flock
sad.png
. I spoke to my poultry state man and he said it does NOT go to the egg. I wish you the best its really hard .
 
Marek's spreads by the dander that comes off the birds, flaking skin cells, such as that. I'm not sure how long it stays"active". If the eggs are dusty, I'd think there could be some risk, but again, not sure how long the dander stays active. If you wash them, they should be fine. This is a guess with some knowledge, not real expert knowledge.

Not all birds that are exposed to Marek's show symptoms. They can have Marek's and be carriers and you would never know it. Since it spreads so easily through the dander, if one had it I'd treat all my chickens as carriers.

What I'd really suggest is you call your county extension agent's office and discuss it with them. They should put you in touch with an expert instead of you relying on someone on the internet that may or may not know more than I do, probably at no cost to you. I'd consider that serious enough to want expert help before I did anything drastic.

That is rotten news. Good luck!
 
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I just had 2 die suddenly and am wodnering if it's Mereks also. What about meat birds? What if they get it? Can they still be eaten? Does anyone know a place so send a bird to be tested?
 
I'd confirm the Marek's first, mold can cause VERY similar symptoms. Just a tiny spot of moldy feed can cause havoc. I found out the hard way.
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How can you tell if it's mareks? I had one down a week or so ago and she is doing great now after I had kept her in quarantined for a few days. She could not stand by herself, would not eat, drink or anything. This went on for a day or so and the next morning I got up I had noticed that she were wobbling around in the box eating and drinking on her own. And this morning I found another, 2nd one, 6 week chick fluffed and sitting around so I placed her in a quarantine box. She is not eating or drinking so I had given her a baby aspirin, something that I were told to do by a close friend that knows chickens well. It's 4 hours since I seperated her and she seems to be doing ok and at times before aspirin were wobbly on her feet. I have many others in close proximity with them that have not to date shown symptoms of being sick, they are still active and all in which are 5 months old. I would contact Va Agriculture Dept in your are in order to get a post mortem, they are completeing one on a sudden death roost that I lost 3 weeks ago now. Good luck and please tell me this is not marek's.
 

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