Mareks? What to do

[mochicken]

I have lost two Marans chicks out of the three that I had, I emailed the person I got them from and she said she has lost three chicks to the same symptoms in the last month. My problem is my chicks were brooded by her Marans chicken so they were exposed to her Marans from the start. She said that she has not lost a Marans but lost a couple chickens in pens near them.

My dilemma is this

I still have one of the marans I got from her, it is in with 7 barnyard mix chicks that it has been in with since they were about 3 weeks old, they are 8 weeks old now.

What do I do? do I wait to see if they show sypmtoms or cull them to make sure my whole flock doesnt get it? what are the odds that if it was Mareks that all of them have it?

 

[GreenMeadows]

They have all been exposed so why not leave them together. When I had it, it hit at 5 weeks and again around 4-5 months with the leg out in front. Hope you are safe but if 1 had it then all are exposed.

 

[saladin]

Why do you think it is Mareks? What are the symptoms that led to this analysis?

 

[Chris09]

What are the Symptoms?
What type of feed are you feeding?
What type of feed was/is the breeder feeding?

Chris

 

[mochicken]

sorry I just saw I had replies

The symptoms started as walking weird, kinda high stepping it, then it ( the first one ) would get so off kilter it couldnt even stand and would fall over. It was acting lethargic but would eat and drink when I gave it food and water, it just couldnt walk and its feet would go out from under it and slide up and down in front of the chicken. It started getting pale in the face, kinda hard to tell since they were young but it was noticeably getting more pale, I separated it from the others and gave it higher protein food, chick saver vitamins in its water and a heated end of the brooder I isolated it in. I checked her for lice and mites and she was clean of both as far as I could tell, she did seem a little on the thin side and often had diarrhea in the isolation area.

The second one died without much warning, it was starting the high step weird walking a couple days ago and it died yesterday. We have one more Marans left and its a young roo im pretty sure, maybe I am just seeing things but he too seems to be lightening in the face, almost pale looking compared to the other chicks.

They were 6 weeks old
They are all eating 18% chick starter
I fed them 28% gamebird food when they started acting sick

I dont know what the breeder is feeding, I got them when they were a couple days old, she let her BCM hen hatch them out and let her keep them for a day or two till I could go pick them up.

 

[fancyfeathers38]

Did you ask if they were vaccinated for Mareks?

 

[Chris09]

Could be Vitamin B2 deficiency and it simulates Marek’s disease (MD).
You could offer the chicks small pieces of Beef Liver and also offer some chopped up Spinach.

Chris

 

[seminolewind]

As Chris said, I would give B-complex vits. And do not feed medicated chick starter, it wipes out thiamine.
"If" it is Marek's (no tests for) , all your birds have been exposed. And some will survive, some won't, and some will waste away in the future. This disease is not consistant. But in 8 week olds or less, it can get all of them.

I would get a new bag of feed just in case,

You will have to vaccinate all hatched chicks and quarantine them from the rest. Or buy vaccinated day olds from a hatchery. From now on.
A breeder could have it and not even know. Even if all her chicks and hens were vaccinated, they can still carry the disease to your flock.

Your best bet is to send a fresh dead chick or chicken to the- state animal disease lab-in your state. Then you can really find out what it is.

I had a very sad summer. I lost 10 chicks (8weeks old), and 2 adults. The chicks had paralysis. The adults just wasted away. The one adult did both.

I am so sorry, no matter what it is that is killing them.

 

[mochicken]

I talked to the lady that I got them from and she does not vaccinate

 

[seminolewind]

Quote:
I was just saying that she may have not known she sold chicks with Marek's-if she did.

Last summer, my silkies brooded and hatched 10 chicks. 8 weeks later, they died one by one, all 10, most with paralysis. That's how I found out my flock had Marek's. From one pullet from one breeder that died 2 years ago. Every time I think about it, I get a sick feeling in my stomach and could cry.

My original 25 mixture of adults were not effected. I hope the same for you.