Mareks? What to do?

[CaCO3]

I have also referred to myself, as Typhoid Mary. They may come and take us away to an island to protect society. Luckily I do not work as a cook, so you're all safe for now!!!


Thanks for the info it is very helpful. The fact that there is debate among scientific researchers just goes to show it is a complex issue. I found a recent study that tested effectiveness of booster v. nonboostered samples, so it is something that scientific community considers worth investigation. My practice is to do what I can, within reason (sometimes a little extra, on those occasions when I am up until 3 a.m. giving a chick enema, etc.). Everyone has their own upper limit and some instances destroying a whole flock may be the only answer or if your flock is directly threatening other ones in the vicinity. Where palliative care and other management practices are effective, then a more conservative approach is worth trying. Plus most of us BYC members are more chicken lovers than intense farming operations, anyways, right? Otherwise we wouldn't be one here gushing about our flocks .

 

[PandoraChick]

I am sorry to read about everyones struggles with this heart breaking disease here.I too was doing a search trying to put my mind at ease about something I have noticed lately within my flock(of 4-8 week olds).
I have a lot of chickens right now..Our older girls in the coop(15 of them, various production type breeds), and then I have 3 different brooders(2 are next to each other), one is my bathroom(the sillies who I am very diligent keeping quarentined from others).

Everyone seems to be doing ok except for 2 of my buff orps. The boy appears to be blind in both eyes, and the girl appears to be blind in one eye. Their pupils do not react to the light, and I have seen them walk into things. I do not know if they were born this way or not, I only noticed this last week when I started letting them outside for the first time. I can tell ypou that I have 3 buff orps...and from almost day one 2 of the three seemed to "like" being held, but the third(im assuming healthy sited girl) always ran away from me...This makes me believe they were just born this way. Other then an occasional sneeze I have noticed anything off with any of the chicks.

I do have one with bad spraddle leg(a slw roo) I tried to fix, but its not working. I have no idea what is happening to his leg now, his hock is badly swollen. I have been searching all day to try and distinguish all the possibilities...he had bad legs from day 1, but seemed mild at first. All of the chicks except the silkies came from a hatchery(and bought at either TSC or Big R). I thought they were vaccinated, but now I am not sure.

With the visually impaired chicks, I notice they turn their heads funny when trying to eat(and find the food)...The boy does this way worse then the girl and I think its becasue he doesnt see at all.

I did have a silkie die in my hands a few weeks ago..she was only a week old and I believe it was just failure to thrive, she was soooo tiny..I tube fed her round the clock for 3 days. Other then that we have not lost any. Last year when we started with chickens, we never had any problems...this year sucks!

Does anyone have a good site or any info on Ocular Marek's? I have just been praying thats not it and I wont lose all my chickens.

 

[realsis]

here is a link for you on ocular Marek's disease with photos. hope this helps some. good luck. http://www.avianweb.com/mareksdisease.html

 

[PandoraChick]

Thank you for the link...its so hard to tell by looking at there eyes. There eyes are like a light green color...their pupils are quite large and do not constrict to light or dialate at all.
The only other things is the roo is a little small...about 4 oz less then his sisters. To help this, I have been giving him hardboiled eggs, ground beef and chick starter mixed up...He loves that. So far since I have realized there is a problem, he has gained 3 oz.
I do not want to cull him..

 

[seminolewind]

I've had the ocular Marek's. One had an eye turn gray, the other was noted to get a miss shaped pupil. Both wasted away. I've had 20 vaccinated birds who are all living-none died. I have 16 non vaccinated who are older and doing good, a few older ones have died, but at 5 years old it's hard to say.

I also think that Marek's displays different symptoms due to what it attacks first: eye , paralysis, wasting, a slow gasp, etc.

I know you have to watch carefully for Coccidiosis or sick birds who get sick but not with Marek's.

And importantly, say you get chicks and 6 weeks later they get Marek's symptoms. It would be hard to tell if they came with it, or you had it already in your flock, and the chicks got it that way. I had it in my flock and didn't know until 10 chicks got paralysis and got culled. They were hatched under my 4 year old silkie.

If you are to get more chickens, make sure they are vaccinated day one , even the ones from the hatchery you can vaccinate, but it's cheaper to have them vaccinated.

 

[ShellP]

Ok y'all. I have chicks hatching but they are "trickling in". Jeffers Mareks vaccine is now $19.95 (I could swear it was just $9.95 a couple of weeks ago!) so I kinda hate to use up a bottle every day to vaccinate just 4 or 5 chicks.. How long can they stay in the incubator? Can I put a little food and water in there to buy myself an extra day or so, or will that contaminate everything? What do all of you do? Maybe remove them and vaccinate every 2 or 3 days??

 

[Haunted55]

Ok y'all. I have chicks hatching but they are "trickling in". Jeffers Mareks vaccine is now $19.95 (I could swear it was just $9.95 a couple of weeks ago!) so I kinda hate to use up a bottle every day to vaccinate just 4 or 5 chicks.. How long can they stay in the incubator? Can I put a little food and water in there to buy myself an extra day or so, or will that contaminate everything? What do all of you do? Maybe remove them and vaccinate every 2 or 3 days??

They can be in there for days if you add the feed and water. How many more to hatch? the vaccine you get at jeffer's is rated for 1st through the 3rd day. meaning you can give it up to 3 days old.

 

[ShellP]

Goodness I have about 25 BCM and silkies in the hatcher now, and 2 more staggered sets of polish eggs in the incubator. I'm addicted.

 

[Haunted55]

I don't know what to tell you, you need to figure out the dates of hatch and see if the one batch of vaccine is going to work or not. As I said, it's 'rated' for 1-3 days of age. If it were a day more I'd chance it, but not a week or more. Everytime you open the bator, you're exposing those chicks to the outside air and whatever is in it.

 

[ShellP]

I have 3 bottles of the vaccine on hand now. I'm hoping I can just vaccinate every 3-4 days. I think that should get them all. I was just worried about stringing it out till they were 3-4 days old instead of 1 day old.

Is there anywhere else that still has the vaccine for sale for $10 vs the $20 at Jeffers now? Am I imaging that the price just doubled?