Not an Emergency...Marek's in the Flock

[Haunted55]

Joining in too.

I had a flock of 5. Lost 3 to Marek's last year. My vet told me that if they came from a Marek's infected farm (which I suspect they did), they could be carriers for life and never 'express' the disease. Some kind of stress usually brings it on in bird that is a carrier --cold, trouble in the flock, etc.

So I thought if my remaining two made it through the winter I would add chicks and get vaccinated chicks.

I ordered the chicks and now I have another hen sick yesterday---waddling way down low, swollen abdomen. I haven't gone out to the coop yet this morning. I know from past experience she could either be dead overnight or this could go on for weeks, or she could be fine. I've had all those scenarios!

Not really looking for any advice I am just commiserating on how awful this disease is and how it kind of holds you hostage, feeling like you can't win no matter what you try to do.

Is she egg bound by any odd chance? We who see it everyday know it's there but it isn't always the reason we lose our birds.

I know you're not looking for advice and probably don't need it, but take this as a friendly reminder, you need to keep any new chicks, vaccinated or not, away from the original birds for a long while. Unvaccinated for 6 months to a year, so they can build resistance.

 

[Haunted55]

These are first hatched from Control Group #2. Crappy picture, sorry. I am doing a staggered hatching with this group. Eggs set into incubator on the 12th, the 19th and last on the 25th. These hens just started laying a short while ago and wanted to get some babies from the early, just in case. I must say, they do still look very good and healthy! Maybe this really will work. Second generation now, only 6 more to go.

 

[seminolewind]

Joining in too.

I had a flock of 5. Lost 3 to Marek's last year. My vet told me that if they came from a Marek's infected farm (which I suspect they did), they could be carriers for life and never 'express' the disease. Some kind of stress usually brings it on in bird that is a carrier --cold, trouble in the flock, etc.

So I thought if my remaining two made it through the winter I would add chicks and get vaccinated chicks.

I ordered the chicks and now I have another hen sick yesterday---waddling way down low, swollen abdomen. I haven't gone out to the coop yet this morning. I know from past experience she could either be dead overnight or this could go on for weeks, or she could be fine. I've had all those scenarios!

Not really looking for any advice I am just commiserating on how awful this disease is and how it kind of holds you hostage, feeling like you can't win no matter what you try to do.

Hi. I would not worry about who's a carrier, if your flock is exposed, they are all carriers. About 20 of my chickens are older and carriers. The other 34 are vaccinated. Now I've hatched chicks from exposed moms that should have some resistance , and have not vaccinated them.

 

[deville]

I'm not sure what to do about marek's. Some of these posts don't seem to follow what's happened to me. I added 3 adults to a flock of 6 months to 1&1/2 year old birds. After 6 weeks I started loosing birds of all ages. 1 or 2 or 3 a month starting in February and through the summer. I never lost any birds in December or January, so I thought mayber it was better....but then 2 more in March. One 11 months old and the other going on 2 yrs. I'm prepared to cull all. It was a hard decision to come to...but we were able to hatch some eggs in an incubator from most everyone so we can have replacements close to the ones we will loose. I have 2 kids, 6 & 9 yrs. old...and they were part of thisdecision. They are tired of trying to save everyone only to loose another. Can I cull, use oxide, and clean up the ground they live on.?

 

[missnu01]

I'm not sure what to do about marek's. Some of these posts don't seem to follow what's happened to me. I added 3 adults to a flock of 6 months to 1&1/2 year old birds. After 6 weeks I started loosing birds of all ages. 1 or 2 or 3 a month starting in February and through the summer. I never lost any birds in December or January, so I thought mayber it was better....but then 2 more in March. One 11 months old and the other going on 2 yrs. I'm prepared to cull all. It was a hard decision to come to...but we were able to hatch some eggs in an incubator from most everyone so we can have replacements close to the ones we will loose. I have 2 kids, 6 & 9 yrs. old...and they were part of thisdecision. They are tired of trying to save everyone only to loose another. Can I cull, use oxide, and clean up the ground they live on.?

I'm not sure that will work. But it might. I think it depends on how long marek's can stay in a the environment. I would think that having any future birds vaccinated. I'm handling it roll of the die way...some will die and some will be fine. The ones that are fine will live on to breed and the ones that aren't alright won't breed. So eventually I should end up with birds that are on the whole impervious to whatever the issues are

 

[Haunted55]

I'm not sure what to do about marek's. Some of these posts don't seem to follow what's happened to me. I added 3 adults to a flock of 6 months to 1&1/2 year old birds. After 6 weeks I started loosing birds of all ages. 1 or 2 or 3 a month starting in February and through the summer. I never lost any birds in December or January, so I thought mayber it was better....but then 2 more in March. One 11 months old and the other going on 2 yrs. I'm prepared to cull all. It was a hard decision to come to...but we were able to hatch some eggs in an incubator from most everyone so we can have replacements close to the ones we will loose. I have 2 kids, 6 & 9 yrs. old...and they were part of thisdecision. They are tired of trying to save everyone only to loose another. Can I cull, use oxide, and clean up the ground they live on.?

From everything I've been told...yes. The hardest part is the ground, but even that can be done. Time is what you need more than anything else.

I have no idea what the temps are like where you are, but I have been told that the warmer it gets, the harder it will be to get the outside ready for them. There are a lot of variables dealing with the outside, type of soil, dryness, ground cover, ect. and each situation has to be done for it's own particular needs. The basics, lawn lime and getting it into the ground. Either through tilling or soaking it in with water. Heavy applications anywhere your other birds have been, at anytime, and frequently. You could try the activated Oxine outside on the ground , but again, heavy application and for me it would seem to be more than one application needed for that as well. You need to get the ground 'cleaned' deeper than the surface. In the run I have for my chickens, I am liming and tilling 2' down.

The most important thing here, is the availability of housing for birds away from where you have them now. Until you can get the inside and outside cleaned, you don't want to put babies or any new birds in there.

 

[Nambroth]

I'm not sure what to do about marek's. Some of these posts don't seem to follow what's happened to me. I added 3 adults to a flock of 6 months to 1&1/2 year old birds. After 6 weeks I started loosing birds of all ages. 1 or 2 or 3 a month starting in February and through the summer. I never lost any birds in December or January, so I thought mayber it was better....but then 2 more in March. One 11 months old and the other going on 2 yrs. I'm prepared to cull all. It was a hard decision to come to...but we were able to hatch some eggs in an incubator from most everyone so we can have replacements close to the ones we will loose. I have 2 kids, 6 & 9 yrs. old...and they were part of thisdecision. They are tired of trying to save everyone only to loose another. Can I cull, use oxide, and clean up the ground they live on.?

To add to what's been said above... if you are going to go to the extremes of trying to remove Marek's from your environment -- that is, not only cleaning coop and house, but your soil as well -- the small investment of a testing a bird to make sure that you are experiencing Marek's for sure would be a very wise investment indeed.

 

[Haunted55]

To add to what's been said above... if you are going to go to the extremes of trying to remove Marek's from your environment -- that is, not only cleaning coop and house, but your soil as well -- the small investment of a testing a bird to make sure that you are experiencing Marek's for sure would be a very wise investment indeed.

X's 2

 

[missnu01]

I had 12 chickens. 5 adults and 7 chicks. 2 chicks became paralyzed and had to be culled. Have had no other health issues in the flock. I have a bunch of chicks though so if I'm going to lose any it should start happening in about a month... 8-10 weeks old seems to be the most dangerous time, and all the chicks are 4 weeks old. It sounds like some people's chickens get marek's and then they just keep dying off.. Mine were just the 2 affected at all. Hmmm. Curious. Is it possible that we aren't all experiencing the same disease?

 

[Haunted55]

I had 12 chickens. 5 adults and 7 chicks. 2 chicks became paralyzed and had to be culled. Have had no other health issues in the flock. I have a bunch of chicks though so if I'm going to lose any it should start happening in about a month... 8-10 weeks old seems to be the most dangerous time, and all the chicks are 4 weeks old. It sounds like some people's chickens get marek's and then they just keep dying off.. Mine were just the 2 affected at all. Hmmm. Curious. Is it possible that we aren't all experiencing the same disease?

It is and it could also be that the others came from parents that had exposure in their lives. I have about 6 month olds now that are the offspring of Marek's survivors and I lost 1 from this group around the 8 week mark. All of the others are doing great. This is another 'marker' in their life though. The 6 month mark can show up with more Marek's related issues. Usually the occular form here. So far, so good. They are healthy, happy and producing eggs everyday.