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

[seminolewind]

That roo was paralyzed in the legs, then a wing, then he couldn't aim at his food. But yes he did crow.

 

[Raphire]

Ok, so far I have had to put down two mille fluer d'uccles: one male, one female. I have two more sick. Both are OEGB's: a buff male and a lavender girl. Neither are as bad as the other two. The little roo is almost that bad, he can still walk slightly and his wings don't work with him, but he can still get around their little 'kennel' while in separation inside. The girl is just limping on one foot, it won't open.

Here is my question, the ones still in the coop, started laying. I don't know when, there were 3 eggs all in the same box. All the eggs had nice hard shells and seem to be pretty large for banty eggs. I am wondering if, since this started and how bad some have been, do you think they are healthy enough to make it through the virus since they are laying at this point. The first two got sick and almost complete paralysis within a few hours of noticing symptoms, since then, only the other two have had symptoms and are separated.

I know no one can know for sure on this, I am just looking for a little hope for my banties. I don't want to lose them all, due to them all being housed together.

Also, they have not free ranged, but my bigger chickens come up to their coop all the time, can I eventually let them house together, or should I always keep these banties in their separate housing?

 

[Tamara119]

That roo was paralyzed in the legs, then a wing, then he couldn't aim at his food. But yes he did crow.

OK, thanks. The roo I had that twisted his neck up so badly when he crowed just had the wry neck. He had no paralysis at all, wings and legs were fine. Has anyone heard of Marek's affecting the neck without first compromising the legs/wings?

 

[lalaland]

I feel sick. Just got back the final report on the hen with the grey eyes, who was underweight:

Addendum: 10-27-14: Histology of the eyes reveals a mild infiltrate of plasma cells in the iris of the hen,
while this inflammatory infiltrate is not present in the rooster. There is no evidence of Marek's disease and
the eyes of both birds are within normal limits.


That means I didn't have to bring her down to be euthanized and necropsied. I feel awful. I know, it is kind of good news, but it is a horrible feeling.


And.....apparently eye color change is not necessarily mareks, even when it happens just days after a marek's diagnosis.

 

[lalaland]

Raphire, I have no idea what to tell you except that I have read that there can be some survivors. I will keep my fingers crossed for you.

 

[seminolewind]

Quote:
I am really not sure. I had something questionable happen , it was my 1st demise. A Polish roo Eddy was found in the corner of the yard with his face in the corner. My husband picked him up and put him in the coop. Next day, I see he had some head feathers pulled out, no blood and no damage to the scalp. Blood from the feathers. He twisted his neck around facing the other way and walked backwards-for a few months. I ended up feeding him several times a day with a spoon all that time. I could bring him to the water and he would drink. I gave him 4-four week old chicks to keep him company.

As time went by, I thought he was not getting better, and decided to euthanize him. So I gave him 10 of my dog's valium, and 10 of my Xanax, and sat outside and waited and waited...1 am I decided to go to bed. Next day he's on the roost and crows!!! He started to eat on his own, and turn his head around more. He completely recovered and gained some weight. A month later he wasted away and was euthanized. My husband and I can still get wet eyed talking about him. He was odd and crooked and named "Ugly Eddy". I could tell Eddy stories for an hour. His brother was handsome and tolerated him, so I had them both.

So, yes, you can get wry neck with Marek's. You can have paralysis anywhere, eyes affected or not, wasting, but most still keep a happy face the whole time. Marek's mimics many symptoms/illnesses out there. That's why it's so hard to diagnose. I think it must attack the area of least resistance first, classically legs.

Raphire, most sick birds do not lay eggs. Most adult egg layers will survive. Your big chickens may also be resistant by age. I can't tell you how long to wait, but yes they can all range together. If you have Marek's all your chickens are most likely exposed. I think most will be survivors because they're older.

 

[seminolewind]

I feel sick. Just got back the final report on the hen with the grey eyes, who was underweight:

Addendum: 10-27-14: Histology of the eyes reveals a mild infiltrate of plasma cells in the iris of the hen,
while this inflammatory infiltrate is not present in the rooster. There is no evidence of Marek's disease and
the eyes of both birds are within normal limits.


That means I didn't have to bring her down to be euthanized and necropsied. I feel awful. I know, it is kind of good news, but it is a horrible feeling.


And.....apparently eye color change is not necessarily mareks, even when it happens just days after a marek's diagnosis.

It's very very easy to beat yourself up when you euthanize or have a chicken euthanized. You can't really be wrong if what you do is for the benefit of the flock. Believe me, with chickens, there is always something to blame yourself about. I'm sorry you feel bad. But know that you're not alone.

 

[seminolewind]

I have a question. When a chicken is within the classic period of time for having Marek's , and shows paralysis, I guess it's assumed that there is tumor growth internally. But when an exposed chicken is a few years old, and wastes away, why is that? I can't say it's tumors at a few years old. Is it opportunistic ailments that finally kill the chicken with wasting? If a chicken is a few years old, how do we know it died from Marek's, or it died from illness secondary to Marek's, or not related to Marek's at all? Is this all from a suppressed immune system?

 

[mightymax]

Quote:
I tend to look at it like doctors look at cancer. A woman is diagnosed with breast cancer. Has a double mastectomy and is fine for a few years. Then the cancer returns. But now that both her breasts are gone it settles in her liver. She dies 9 months later. What will the doctors tell her family she died from?

Note: saying just 'cancer' is not only the easy way out, it's also wrong. She died of breast cancer. Not liver cancer, not the cold she fought for over a week last April and no, not even of the humiliation she felt after her second mastectomy. She died of breast cancer, pure and simple.

Now, would she have still gotten the liver cancer if she never had the breast cancer first? And would she have beaten that cold she had last April in one day instead of one week? The answer is, we'll never know the answer. The human body, and life in general, is choc full of so many variables that just like there are no two sets of fingerprints the same and no two snowflakes alike, there is no one answer to the questions concerning Marek's.

This is the only example that I can seem to wrap my head around. It may not make sense to anyone but me, I'm used to that. And it may be too simplistic for the majority of you, I can live with that. But it just may hit home with quite a few of you, and I'll obviously be happy about that.

-kim-

 

[jgoldy2]

I've only had one who was 8 weeks old and couldn't walk. But she kept her weight and growth. After 6 weeks she started to walk again. I don't know why. She was vaccinated.

I did have luck with the 1 ounce of vodka at making them sleepy before I euthanized. I will use that again. I can't stand the ones that starve to death. They always look hungry to me. And it's hard to narrow down the stressors. It could be anything. I do think this illness mimics HIV/AIDS perfectly. However, I think aids is all about destruction of T-cells or making them mini factories? Doesn't Marek's start with B lymphocytes?

I had a simalar thing but my girl never got better and even was vaccinated