Moving Forward- Breeding for Resistance to Marek's Disease

[Northie]

I think you're better off not watching for every little sign.  It can take the fun out of anything.  Especially with Marek's. 
I guess you'll have to wait and see what the pullet does in the future.  The few I've had with ocular changes also wasted away.  Hopefully yours eats well .

Agreed, we have some live crickets for a treat tonight, that should be fun and at the moment she looks good and is the first one to come for treats.

 

[Chickie Baby]

I'm very glad to see this thread. I can say with much certainty that I have Mereks in my flock. I have culled 2 so far with neuro/gasping symptoms. Begins with the leg paralysis, wasting away, respiratory distress. Have had 2 others have the leg paralysis and lethargy for days/weeks and then perk up, but still show slight limping and vision issues.

I now have a pullet that was stressed into merek symptoms from a juvenile cockerel that targeted her and would not stop mounting her. I separated her for 1.5 weeks and she went through several phases. I was several times at the point of culling her, but she'd have days where she would look stronger. I decided mid-last week to just put her back with the rest and let it be.... She's back with her two best buds and seems much happier. She doesn't walk well, but she walks and can run when necessary. She flies in and out of the coop, eats and drinks and digs for bugs. She looks like she's had too much to drink, but she's holding her own. I want to see what will happen.

I know some other chicken owners that tell me to cull her and not make her live like that, but I want to see if she can pull through and how much will she has to live! I feed her well and she a lot of veggies from my garden. I don't give her any meds, she only gets her treats along with her fresh water and fermented foods. She also gets daily leg massages, as this is what I did with another one that was having weakness and paralysis. Yea, I'm sure it's not helping, but it helps me!

My flock has this disease and all I can do is try to help them. I'm not culling my flock because they have it. I'll follow this thread to see what I can do to help... I will not send any to others homes, but I will bring in new ones as I wish. I'll cull when I see gasping for air as I don't want to have them suffering. I feel my judgement is pretty good when it comes to those decisions.

I have no idea if any of mine have been vaccinated. Some came from the co-op, and other came from local farmers. I just know, I personally will not be vaccinating. I never realized it would be this hard to raise a backyard flock of chickens!

On top of this, I have some sneezing and nasal discharge in my newest 7-week old babies. And what do I read..... CULL, CULL, CULL!!! It just gets really frustrating

 

[seminolewind]

Chickie, I think you should be confident with your judgements of when they need to go. I can't cull until I'm ready to accept the fact that the chicken's quality of life has deteriorated.

I think there are a lot of chicken owners out there that think that Marek's is something you can get rid of by culling and cleaning, and you can't. Culling is not going to make any difference in the future when a flock has Marek's. Most Marek's chickens live long happy lives with some resistance . So I don't think culling happy healthy chickens solves anything. We all need to vaccinate as well, and not keep bringing strange chickens home.

 

[Chickie Baby]

Chickie, I think you should be confident with your judgements of when they need to go.  I can't cull until I'm ready to accept the fact that the chicken's quality of life has deteriorated. 

I think there are a lot of chicken owners out there that think that Marek's is something you can get rid of by culling and cleaning, and you can't.  Culling is not going to make any difference in the future when a flock has Marek's.  Most Marek's chickens live long happy lives with some resistance .  So I don't think culling happy healthy chickens solves anything.  We all need to vaccinate as well, and not keep bringing strange chickens home.

Thanks Seminolewind!

I know where the Mereks came from. I bought EE chicks from someone I didn't know. I never had any issues until those were brought in. Within a month, my rooster came down with it. I hate so much that I did that. I had never done that before and it bit me hard!

Our local co-op can't even tell me if the chicks I got from them were vaccinated. Sad!

 

[welasharon]

I only have culled for coryza...now that is some nasty stuff. I had an o shamo hen come down with it out of nowhere. Never had it before nor since. I pulled everything out, burned it and culled her. The ones with mareks I cull only when it is apparent they are not going to make it.I don't hatch much but am going to see if I can collect tolbunt eggs to send to someone. That seems acceptable.

 

[chooks4life]

I'm very glad to see this thread. I can say with much certainty that I have Mereks in my flock. I have culled 2 so far with neuro/gasping symptoms. Begins with the leg paralysis, wasting away, respiratory distress. Have had 2 others have the leg paralysis and lethargy for days/weeks and then perk up, but still show slight limping and vision issues.

I now have a pullet that was stressed into merek symptoms from a juvenile cockerel that targeted her and would not stop mounting her. I separated her for 1.5 weeks and she went through several phases. I was several times at the point of culling her, but she'd have days where she would look stronger. I decided mid-last week to just put her back with the rest and let it be.... She's back with her two best buds and seems much happier. She doesn't walk well, but she walks and can run when necessary. She flies in and out of the coop, eats and drinks and digs for bugs. She looks like she's had too much to drink, but she's holding her own. I want to see what will happen.

I know some other chicken owners that tell me to cull her and not make her live like that, but I want to see if she can pull through and how much will she has to live!

I feed her well and she a lot of veggies from my garden. I don't give her any meds, she only gets her treats along with her fresh water and fermented foods. She also gets daily leg massages, as this is what I did with another one that was having weakness and paralysis. Yea, I'm sure it's not helping, but it helps me!

My flock has this disease and all I can do is try to help them. I'm not culling my flock because they have it. I'll follow this thread to see what I can do to help... I will not send any to others homes, but I will bring in new ones as I wish. I'll cull when I see gasping for air as I don't want to have them suffering. I feel my judgement is pretty good when it comes to those decisions.

I have no idea if any of mine have been vaccinated. Some came from the co-op, and other came from local farmers. I just know, I personally will not be vaccinating. I never realized it would be this hard to raise a backyard flock of chickens!

On top of this, I have some sneezing and nasal discharge in my newest 7-week old babies. And what do I read..... CULL, CULL, CULL!!! It just gets really frustrating

Yeah, we'll never find the solution when we only cull, cull, cull... Best wishes with your MD battle.

 

[tridentk9]

I found this while looking for something entirely different (on another species even!) http://gip.ucdavis.edu/research_program/default.htm when I googled a term in that, this came up.

 

[sassybirds]

Thanks Seminolewind!

I know where the Mereks came from. I bought EE chicks from someone I didn't know. I never had any issues until those were brought in. Within a month, my rooster came down with it. I hate so much that I did that. I had never done that before and it bit me hard!

Our local co-op can't even tell me if the chicks I got from them were vaccinated. Sad!

I'm so sorry to hear that!

And yes, when buying chicks at feed stores, the employees never seem to know anything. Although I think hatchery chickens are (usually) not as robust, the best way to buy chicks that aren't diseased is from a reliable hatchery like Meyer or Murray McMurray. They will also vaccinate the chicks if you wish. I use Meyer Hatchery for Cornish X.

I found this while looking for something entirely different (on another species even!) http://gip.ucdavis.edu/research_program/default.htm when I googled a term in that, this came up.

Great link! Thanks!

 

[sassybirds]

Got the necropsy results back today. Official diagnosis was Marek's disease and coccidiosis. They also found capillary worms. Looks like I have some worming to do. The coccidiosis was not a surprise, since a weakened immune system and coccidia seem to go hand in hand. I have not treated for coccidiosis, nor have had any mortalities since I sent the birds in. Well, except for a couple more culls- both were stunted.

The birds also tested positive for CAV. Anyone happen to know what that stands for? I emailed the vet asking for clarification and also googled it. I hope I'm wrong, because what I came up with is Chicken Anemia Virus. Great. Last thing I need! Anyone have any experience with yet another dread disease?

 

[sassybirds]

Per vet via email:

"CAV positive just means they have been exposed at some time. If they aren’t anemic, we don’t worry about CAV much. Yes, the cockerel was positive in his nerves, but no tumors. The Marek’s likely caused the leg weakness…coccidiosis will cause generalized weakness. It might be from being weak from Marek’s, but I would still treat your flock because the eggs will be in the soil on your farm. The weakness and mortality in your flock and wasting is likely from Marek’s."