More dead chickens 🤦🏼‍♀️

[SheaLoner]

Vaccinating gives a chance not full immunity.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

Vaccinating gives a chance not full immunity.

My understanding of the Mareks vaccine is that it only protects chicks for the first few weeks. The vaccine is to turkey mareks not chicken.
Here is the link to the Mareks article.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/the-great-big-giant-mareks-disease-faq.66077/

It protects the vaccinated birds from developing the issues that kill from the disease. It doesn't prevent them from getting or passing the disease. It protects them for their life so long as they are given the required 2 week quarantine

 

[KaseySnow]

Here is the link to the Mareks article.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/the-great-big-giant-mareks-disease-faq.66077/

I was just about to link that Mareks article too. It is an amazing resource, I highly recommend reading it thoroughly.

I am battling a similar situation with a flock I work with and it is a very involved process to even attempt to get rid of Mareks, much less keep it out. The virus is known to live anywhere from 5 months to 2 years in environments without a host bird to live off of, so it's incredibly tenacious. You may be able to send soil samples off to a lab to check for Mareks if you are unable to send any birds that had Mareks like symptoms in for a necropsy .

Trying to get rid of Mareks requires a lot of work and is quite the undertaking. As you will read in the article, it is easily spread on wild animals (rodents, birds, etc) and even on our shoes. So if you visit another place that has chickens, always take off those clothes and clean them/spray the bottoms of your shoes with an anti-viral solution proven to kill Mareks. Even if you don't currently have chickens, you don't want the virus taking up residence again.

Since your flock is gone (so sorry you had to do that), best thing to do is to remove as much topsoil in and around the coop/run area as you can since stray feathers and even your shoes have likely tracked the virus all over your property.

Next step is to create a wild animal proof coop and run to keep rodents and wild birds out especially. 1/4" hardware cloth all around and overhead is the best method as animals can't chew through it. Also burying it into the ground either 2' down or 3' out from the run/coop will prevent rats/mice/other predators from digging under your fencing to get in.

Third step is to wait before adding new birds. I would say waiting 5 months minimum, but longer is better if you can hold out. UV rays do not kill Mareks, so all you can really do is wait for it to die out without a host. You may be able to speed the process slighly by spraying every nook and cranny with an anti-viral solution (links to a few in the aforementioned article), but you run the risk of missing some so I still would give the property plenty of time without chickens just to be safe.

And definitely, definitely, always have chicks vaccinated either in the egg or at hatch for Mareks. It increases their odds of surviving the virus since they cannot inherit immunity from their parents genetically. It does not give the bird Mareks, simply makes their bodies familiar with a similar virus and gives them some tools to hopefully fight it off with if/when they encounter it in the future.

It can also help to introduce older birds to a possible Mareks environment, if you can. I would say nothing younger than 6 months old, but even older is better since their immune systems will be more advanced.

If you are unable to eradicate Mareks from your flock, the only other option is to breed for Mareks resistance in your flock (only allowing birds to breed who have survived the virus) or have birds that have more of a natural resistance to the virus. Silkies are especially susceptible to it, but many game breeds like Egyptian Fayoumis are more resilient to it.

Best of luck. It is thought that most backyard flocks have been or will be exposed to Mareks in some capacity due to its pervasiveness. All we can really do is try to have the best biosecurity possible and hope that they come up with a true Mareks vaccine or effective treatment for it sooner rather than later.

 

[Iluveggers]

Ideal poultry has 2 breeds (I think it’s the 236 & the Production Black but not 100% sure), that they have bred to be more resistant to Mareks. Silkies are highly susceptible to the disease. If you do decide to add chickens at any point, I would definitely look at the Ideal birds as options.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

Naked Necks (some claim NNs only, others say even Nns) and Egyptian Fayoumi also are usually pretty resistant

 

[Ada06]

I was just about to link that Mareks article too. It is an amazing resource, I highly recommend reading it thoroughly.

I am battling a similar situation with a flock I work with and it is a very involved process to even attempt to get rid of Mareks, much less keep it out. The virus is known to live anywhere from 5 months to 2 years in environments without a host bird to live off of, so it's incredibly tenacious. You may be able to send soil samples off to a lab to check for Mareks if you are unable to send any birds that had Mareks like symptoms in for a necropsy .

Trying to get rid of Mareks requires a lot of work and is quite the undertaking. As you will read in the article, it is easily spread on wild animals (rodents, birds, etc) and even on our shoes. So if you visit another place that has chickens, always take off those clothes and clean them/spray the bottoms of your shoes with an anti-viral solution proven to kill Mareks. Even if you don't currently have chickens, you don't want the virus taking up residence again.

Since your flock is gone (so sorry you had to do that), best thing to do is to remove as much topsoil in and around the coop/run area as you can since stray feathers and even your shoes have likely tracked the virus all over your property.

Next step is to create a wild animal proof coop and run to keep rodents and wild birds out especially. 1/4" hardware cloth all around and overhead is the best method as animals can't chew through it. Also burying it into the ground either 2' down or 3' out from the run/coop will prevent rats/mice/other predators from digging under your fencing to get in.

Third step is to wait before adding new birds. I would say waiting 5 months minimum, but longer is better if you can hold out. UV rays do not kill Mareks, so all you can really do is wait for it to die out without a host. You may be able to speed the process slighly by spraying every nook and cranny with an anti-viral solution (links to a few in the aforementioned article), but you run the risk of missing some so I still would give the property plenty of time without chickens just to be safe.

And definitely, definitely, always have chicks vaccinated either in the egg or at hatch for Mareks. It increases their odds of surviving the virus since they cannot inherit immunity from their parents genetically. It does not give the bird Mareks, simply makes their bodies familiar with a similar virus and gives them some tools to hopefully fight it off with if/when they encounter it in the future.

It can also help to introduce older birds to a possible Mareks environment, if you can. I would say nothing younger than 6 months old, but even older is better since their immune systems will be more advanced.

If you are unable to eradicate Mareks from your flock, the only other option is to breed for Mareks resistance in your flock (only allowing birds to breed who have survived the virus) or have birds that have more of a natural resistance to the virus. Silkies are especially susceptible to it, but many game breeds like Egyptian Fayoumis are more resilient to it.

Best of luck. It is thought that most backyard flocks have been or will be exposed to Mareks in some capacity due to its pervasiveness. All we can really do is try to have the best biosecurity possible and hope that they come up with a true Mareks vaccine or effective treatment for it sooner rather than later.

Interesting, do you have a link to a cleaner that can get rid of it?
Thats what made me think it was Marek's in the first place, I had over $550 in show silkies and none of them lived through it.
We already have a predator proof run, which is great. It's roofed in, as well as buried.
My only concern is, having the same thing happen again.
Thank you for all your help!! It is greatly appreciated!

 

[SheaLoner]

I definately would have sent another in for testing.

 

[KaseySnow]

Interesting, do you have a link to a cleaner that can get rid of it?
Thats what made me think it was Marek's in the first place, I had over $550 in show silkies and none of them lived through it.
We already have a predator proof run, which is great. It's roofed in, as well as buried.
My only concern is, having the same thing happen again.
Thank you for all your help!! It is greatly appreciated!

So there's a link to a couple of anti-viral solutions in that big Mareks article. If you just scroll down to the Control section (or ctrl+f and search for the word "Control"), you'll find links to the known solutions that have been proven to kill Mareks.

Good that you have an animal proof coop/run, that will help for sure. Do you ever have wild birds near the coop? If you feed wild birds, it might be a good idea to stop or to move the bird feeder to a far end of your property where the chickens never go. That way if any wild birds shed the virus, it won't be in the vicinity of your flock.

The biggest problem with getting rid of Mareks or keeping it away is that it is present on shed feathers and dandruff, so can be blown just about anywhere on the wind. I really think the best bet would be to wait a year before getting any new birds (even after a deep clean/removal of soil) in case any of the virus is hanging around just outside of the area you clean and blows back in afterwards.

The toughest thing with your situation is that you don't know for sure that it was Mareks since you weren't able to have any birds necropsied. There are other diseases such as lymphoid leukosis that can present very similar symptoms to Mareks. If you are able, I would really recommend getting some soil sample tests done of the dirt in and around your coop and run. If you can confirm Mareks then at least you will know for sure that is what you are dealing with. It would be a shame to go through all of the time and cost of decontaminating for Mareks if that isn't actually what you have.

I am not sure what labs do soil samples, but if you contact the state lab where you would send for a necropsy, I'd imagine that they would know where to send you for that.

 

[african chickens]

i would have put the ones that were getting sick down and kept the ones that have been fine

 

[Ada06]

i would have put the ones that were getting sick down and kept the ones that have been fine

I would have loved to do this, but they weren't well. The ones who were 'surviving' were no longer laying eggs. They weren't the same, and I felt horrible for them. For a couple weeks I was loosing chickens every couple days. I didn't want to put them through it any longer. I felt cruel, like it was no better than chicken factory's. Having chickens living in not great conditions.
I had no roosters, so I couldn't breed for resistance. It's all really unfortunate.