Mereks positive

[CrazyChickLady64]

So I had a hen get sick and it was all the signs and symptoms of Mareks. This was not the first one I have had this happen with but the first we had tested. I have lost 7 hens now but didn't test. 2 of them had no signs of illness and were fine in the morning and dead by the afternoon. We culled her sent in a sample and it is positive for Mareks. I have several hens that are young enough to be affected and also just had 5 chicks hatched a week ago. Most of my flock is over a year old. My question is what can a do to help the ones that are likely to get this horrible disease not get sick? I have decided that I will not add any more to my flock as I hope to move in the next 6 months to a year. I don't want to take this mess with me when I go. Any and all advice is greatly appreciated.

 

[Debbie292d]

There are several members here that have Marek's in their flock.
Some have written articles and here's a couple of the better ones I've read or come across.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/the-great-big-giant-mareks-disease-faq.66077/

https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...-i-learned-to-deal-with-mareks-disease.76944/

I'm not sure if either speak of Chinese Skullcap but look into that too. My understanding from @2ndTink who is dealing with Marek's is you have to give this to all the unaffected ones every single day. That's becoming more and more popular.

Keep your chin up! I wish you the best!

P.S. If you incubate eggs your own eggs or purchase hatching eggs, I wrote an article about how you can sterilize them before putting them in the incubator.

 

[2ndTink]

Mareks is not fun to deal with, there is a lot of information online that you can wade through, and lots of opinions, misinformation, new research, and a lot that is still unknown.

For your week old chicks, you still could vaccinate them, it may or may not help, but consensus is that it will not harm them. You can get the Mareks vaccine from Valley Vet, Jeffers or a few other animal supply sites.

Here is the link for Valley Vet:
https://www.valleyvet.com/ct_detail...efaa&msockid=091b6dbf4e4569f837ce79214f0768b5

When I had a positive Mareks diagnosis I had one resource recommend I vaccinate everyone that was under 1 year old. Since it can't hurt them, that's what I did. I haven't had any of my year + old hatchery layers present "Mareks" symptoms, although I have had some losses this year overall. Some younger chickens that were classic Mareks symptoms and others that did not seem related although a weakened immune system could have been a cause.

Debbie is correct, I am using Chinese Skullcap for my entire flock, it's too early for me to say much about it yet. My first 6 to 8 weeks I was using the recommended dose but it turns out most people are doubling or tripling that dosage. I'm maybe 2 weeks into a doubled dose. There is a thread here on BYC that discusses dosage, I'll also shoot you some additional information. Adding the Chinese Skullcap adds a step to the feeding routine, you can add it to your bulk feed, or make various treat / mash recipes, but if this is something that will decrease or stop our Marek's losses, it is completely worth it to me!