I have 3 baby silkies in the brooder in the house, and they are pretty close to going outside and starting the integration process. But I am terrified of dooming them. However, these 2 sick amerecaunas also spend the night in the house. A different room, but on the same floor in the house. So I do think testing will help settle that anxiety on welcoming them outside. I will feel oh so guilty if I bring them out and integrate as usual and then they get symptoms and suffer from this. Maybe if by any chance the big girls are negative I could sleep better starting that process. Do you have any knowledge to share on ALV? I also have a younger flock that I hatched (no vaccine) they started the integration process with my main flock but they are brutal so it's short supervised periods. I was thinking of testing one of them and one of the main girls. Do you have separate flocks for the positive and negatives or are they all together and just did not get it? I have a barn they all live in but a separate small coop outside for the younger ones. I was told these 2 were vaccinated, but I don't fully believe them. Those 3 little silkies I just mentioned are from the same person. This is long already so bare with me.
I got 4 from her at 3 weeks old, 2 passed away days after getting them and I assumed it was coccidiosis because I lost a hen from my original flock to it shortly after. But now I am rethinking maybe it was either mareks or alv. They were fine one day and then lethargic and passed within a few days. She got them from a hatchery and I got them at 3 weeks old. I hope that all makes sense my kids are chatting with me as I type this.
If I miss any of your questions let me know. These are my opinions and my experiences, every flock and strain of Mareks is different, read everything you can about Mareks and ALV. I sent you an article on them through the messages, it is really good and was shared with me when my flock tested positive. I had a similar situation, existing flock of hens, 6 wk old chicks, and 1 and 2 week old chicks, none vaccinated. I vaccinated the Saturday of the week I got the Mareks results back. The vaccine may not help at that point, it seems there isn't data, but it also seems everyone agrees it doesn't hurt.
#1 baby silkies: per what I've read, the virus can travel clothes, hair, breeze, everything/ everywhere, being in another room, it's still likely they've been exposed. I would vaccinate these chicks, give them good nutrition, skullcap, probiotics.
#2 testing: if this helps your anxiety, 100% test!
#3 ALV knowledge: just the article I shared and the little bit of info from my friend who had it in her flock.
#4 do I have separate flocks: not exactly. I was as careful as I could be between my outside chickens and my inside chicks in the brooder. Once they are outside, I have my grow outs about 70 feet from my unvaccinated Mareks positive/ exposed silkies. Mareks can definitely travel that distance and I wear the same barn boots to all coops. My layers are in two other coops but I was going between my silkies and layers all the time before I knew it was Mareks and my layers tested negative after all that. Super confusing. I still have my layers and grow outs apart from my silkies, but I have put some of my vaccinated grow out silkies next to my Mareks flock. I'm not far enough into this journey to know how this will go, I think I may test a few birds this fall just to see whats going on and if my vaccinated silkies and vaccinated layers are fighting it off or now carrying it.
With ALV, you could test every bird and cull or separate out the positive ones, I have a contact for a lab that tests that much cheaper (not PCR).
3 weeks old seems early for a Mareks loss, but it can happen, and typically ALV won't cause losses until POL.
as hard as it seems, you'll get through this.
), mixed in with a little feed with an olive oil drizzle to get it to stick (mixed reviews by the flock), make a mash with their feed and sprinkle the skullcap in and stir it up, this seems to be the best received. If the one I'm specifically wanting to take it is refusing to voluntarily eat it, I've either popped a capsule down their gullet or opened a capsule, mixed in a little water to make a slurry and used a syringe into their mouth. 
