MJ's little flock

[BY Bob]

Shoes and clothes were and are changed between the two groups of hens. And I shower in between the two as well.

Otherwise there would be no point in calling it quarantine.

Excellent work. How about testing the others to see? Can Dr. Mark do that for you? You really only need to test 1 of them.

 

[BY Bob]

I can’t read the Dutch but am skeptical. Marek’s can kill a long time after the infection and few studies would keep chickens alive long enough to know if they got tumors.
Think of it like chicken pox and shingles. Once you have had chicken pox the virus stays in your system causing no problems and years later (actually with shingles it is decades later) it flares up as shingles.
With Marek’s a chick may survive the acute infection particularly if a less deadly strain, but later will die of cancer caused by the virus.

She speaks facts.

 

[BDutch]

I don’t believe Marek’s is everywhere. It is very common but there are plenty of flocks that have never had a sign of it.

Right.
My flock never had any sign of Marek. But it goes around here in the Netherlands too. Some breeds like Barnevelders, seem to have it more often than others.

Maybe I never had an infection bc I was very careful in adding new chicks/ chickens after I had an established and healthy flock. After the first year I always bought eggs if I wanted to expand or ‘replace’ the lost hens. Except fot Kraai, who was a lonely chicken for a long time before I got her.

Unfortunately brooding didn’t work for MJ. And the roosters are a problem with hatching.

Sorry you have to coop with it MJ. Hopefully is a very mild kind of Marek.

 

[MaryJanet]

I don’t believe Marek’s is everywhere. It is very common but there are plenty of flocks that have never had a sign of it.
I know for sure I have it in my soil but I don’t know that you can assume you do.
You could have a sample of the big girl’s coop tested.
It didn’t apply to me so I didn’t keep it, but I recall studies from India where sustained very high temperatures killed the virus in soil and you may get those temperatures. I will look for the study.
Also, I forget the name but can dig it up, there is a cleaner that has proven to kill Marek’s if you are planning on sanitizing where the little ones are. I got a bottle to sanitize chick stuff for use in the quarantine period it takes for the vaccine to take.

I would deeply appreciate some more detail on the heat study and cleaning fluids RC.

But, how many flocks have Mareks but are asymptomatic? It's uncountable.

An asymptomatic flock is not the same as a Marek's free flock.

Dr Mark was saying wildbirds = Mareks, which means any outdoor flock has it.

The only things I can state with certainty are that one pullet has symptoms, two other pullets have it but are asymptomatic, and the hens most probably have had it for a long time and are asymptomatic.

I think it would be wise to seek a pcr test for one of the hens prior to relaxing quarantine. Maybe Marek's is what Erica and Ivy died of.

 

[MaryJanet]

Excellent work. How about testing the others to see? Can Dr. Mark do that for you? You really only need to test 1 of them.

I think this id a good idea and I'm going to follow up.

I hadn't yet mentioned that yesterday I read the Merck vet manual for Marek's (when I ought to have been doing something else, hey ho) and it has a v good explanation of the different strains, which are classified according to virulence. I'm confident that any info in the Merck vet manual is as reliable as info can be. So it would be good to know which strain the hens have (assuming they're asymptomatic and not Marek's-free) and which the pullets have.

If the strains are the same, good, the pullets can stay and quarantine can be suspended. Otherwise I'll have to do some more thinking.

 

[MaryJanet]

Sorry you have to coop with it MJ. Hopefully is a very mild kind of Marek.

Thank you Bdutch. I'm hopeful of that too.

 

[MaryJanet]

The one thing I'm grateful for in this new crisis is the diligence of the quarantine procedure.

As for the small run I made for the pullets, if the worst case scenario unfolds, I'll exclude that area from the hen's reach and turf it to lock the dander underneath.

 

[RoyalChick]

I would deeply appreciate some more detail on the heat study and cleaning fluids RC.

But, how many flocks have Mareks but are asymptomatic? It's uncountable.

An asymptomatic flock is not the same as a Marek's free flock.

Dr Mark was saying wildbirds = Mareks, which means any outdoor flock has it.

The only things I can state with certainty are that one pullet has symptoms, two other pullets have it but are asymptomatic, and the hens most probably have had it for a long time and are asymptomatic.

I think it would be wise to seek a pcr test for one of the hens prior to relaxing quarantine. Maybe Marek's is what Erica and Ivy died of.

I would do a PCR test for one of the hens and also the older hens' coop. What the PCR lab explained to me is that hens with Marek's do not shed virus all the time and so can test negative. But you can detect the virus in the dust and dander around the coop.
Unfortunately I couldn't find anyone who could look at different strains.
You can probably get a PCR test done in Australia - but if not, the lab I use in Texas accepts samples from anywhere in the world though I think you would have to get one of their cotton swabs to take the sample. I probably have spare and can send you a couple if you go in that direction.
I will look for the India study on heat later this evening (my time).

 

[MaryJanet]

I would do a PCR test for one of the hens and also the older hens' coop. What the PCR lab explained to me is that hens with Marek's do not shed virus all the time and so can test negative. But you can detect the virus in the dust and dander around the coop.
Unfortunately I couldn't find anyone who could look at different strains.
You can probably get a PCR test done in Australia - but if not, the lab I use in Texas accepts samples from anywhere in the world though I think you would have to get one of their cotton swabs to take the sample. I probably have spare and can send you a couple if you go in that direction.
I will look for the India study on heat later this evening (my time).

If could put a heart and an info on this post, I would.

Don't send anything until after I've checked with the various bird vet practices. I'm sure one of them will do a pcr but whether we have the strain-determining test in Adelaide (or anywhere in Australia) is another question.

 

[RoyalChick]

This isn't the study I remember reading before so I will keep looking but this is something.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0032579119473343

1-2 weeks at 37.5 C if also at 80% humidity. Same temperature without the humidity still significantly infectious after 3 weeks. I only get those temperatures for a few days at a time so not relevant for me. Not sure what you get or whether you have the humidity.

This paper has something on disinfection - but I have better on that because I bought a bottle on the basis of the data. Will find that too.