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

[IrishAcreFarm]

Hi everyone, sorry I am always asking you guys questions, but you all seem to be the most knowledgable about mareks! Last week I got 16 chicks from meyers, they were vaccinated abd have been kept totally seperate. One of them yesterday started with adroopy wing, and on the same side was limping a little. She is eating and acting ok otherwise. Can mareks show up this quickly? Also, can she get mareks from the vacc? I keep getting conflicting info, I know it is because there are so many strains and that mareks does not follow rules! Hate this! Any siggestions on what may help her?

 

[Nambroth]

Hi everyone, sorry I am always asking you guys questions, but you all seem to be the most knowledgable about mareks! Last week I got 16 chicks from meyers, they were vaccinated abd have been kept totally seperate. One of them yesterday started with adroopy wing, and on the same side was limping a little. She is eating and acting ok otherwise. Can mareks show up this quickly? Also, can she get mareks from the vacc? I keep getting conflicting info, I know it is because there are so many strains and that mareks does not follow rules! Hate this! Any siggestions on what may help her?

Am I understanding correctly that your new 16 chicks are only a week old (or less)?
Do you have other chickens, or have you had them in the past? Essentially, have the new babies come into contact with any area that has been exposed to other chickens?

If the chicks are that young, and further haven't been exposed to other chickens (directly or indirectly), really, the chances that it is Marek's seem extremely low. They cannot get it from the vaccine. If they were mine, I'd be looking for other reasons for the droopy wing and limp.

 

[IrishAcreFarm]

Thank you for your response! Yes, they are a little over one week old, and have had no contact with any other chickens. I do have adult chickens, but the babies have not been anywhere near them. I have tried to be really good about taking care of them before the adults, and I clean everything with Oxine. I plan to keep them seperate until they are 8 weeks old. Are there other thongs that can cause his?

 

[Wyandottes7]

Hi! I'm posting on this thread because I think that I might have Marek's in my flock. About a month ago, I noticed that one of my six-month old Dutch Bantam pullets had a pupil that was smaller than the other. This pupil was slightly irregular in shape, and did not respond to light, always remaining the same size. At that point, I didn't really check the other pupil that closely because it seemed normal in size.

However, maybe one week ago, I was looking at her, and noticed that the other pupil didn't respond to light either. It is only a little bit smaller than usual, and only slightly irregular. Neither this pupil nor the first pupil that I noticed are cloudy or grey. The bird is not blind, and acts perfectly normal. None of my other 20 or so birds have any symptoms of Mareks.

Not all of the birds in my flock are vaccinated. The bird with the strange eyes isn't, and her two brothers aren't either. I have six other birds of varying ages (from seven months to nearly two years) that aren't vaccinated either.

So, do you think that this is Marek's, or could it be something else? I just don't know. I show and breed my flock of birds, and, in fact, some of my best birds aren't vaccinated. I'm worried that they will get the disease too, if it is Mareks.

Should I cull the bird with the strange eyes, or should I sell her? Is it possible that anyone would even buy her? I can't keep her, as I only keep show quality birds, and a bird with irregular eyes would be disqualified at a show.

Please help! If you want to read more about what is wrong with my birds, I have posted a thread called "Marek's Disease? What to do? Please help!" in the "Managing Your Flock" section, but have only received one reply.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Haunted55]

Thank you for your response! Yes, they are a little over one week old, and have had no contact with any other chickens. I do have adult chickens, but the babies have not been anywhere near them. I have tried to be really good about taking care of them before the adults, and I clean everything with Oxine. I plan to keep them seperate until they are 8 weeks old. Are there other thongs that can cause his?

Yes, vitamin deficiency. Are you giving them a poultry vitamin? Are they on medicated feed? Is this one being jumped on or pecked by any of the others? Lots of different things could have happened. Let's do the simple stuff first. I agree with Nambroth, they cannot get Marek's from the vaccine. Also, so you know what the Marek's vaccines were that were given?

 

[seminolewind]

Quote: I would , but today she has Paralysis, one foot forward one foot back. At 5 years old. I think the heat was the stress trigger.

 

[seminolewind]

Hi everyone, sorry I am always asking you guys questions, but you all seem to be the most knowledgable about mareks! Last week I got 16 chicks from meyers, they were vaccinated abd have been kept totally seperate. One of them yesterday started with adroopy wing, and on the same side was limping a little. She is eating and acting ok otherwise. Can mareks show up this quickly? Also, can she get mareks from the vacc? I keep getting conflicting info, I know it is because there are so many strains and that mareks does not follow rules! Hate this! Any siggestions on what may help her?

Last week? She cannot get Marek's from the vaccine. A week is not enough time for the virus to grow to the point that it shows symptoms. The average is 6 weeks.

I had a vaccinated bird have paralysis at 6 weeks , lived another 6 in my bedroom , she was just too cute. She came out of it, got walking therapy, and has lain eggs for about 7 months now.

I may think there is an outside chance that it's a reaction to the vaccine, and should go away. Or just go away. Call Meyers and ask them about the vaccine.

 

[Haunted55]

Hi! I'm posting on this thread because I think that I might have Marek's in my flock. About a month ago, I noticed that one of my six-month old Dutch Bantam pullets had a pupil that was smaller than the other. This pupil was slightly irregular in shape, and did not respond to light, always remaining the same size. At that point, I didn't really check the other pupil that closely because it seemed normal in size.

However, maybe one week ago, I was looking at her, and noticed that the other pupil didn't respond to light either. It is only a little bit smaller than usual, and only slightly irregular. Neither this pupil nor the first pupil that I noticed are cloudy or grey. The bird is not blind, and acts perfectly normal. None of my other 20 or so birds have any symptoms of Mareks.

Not all of the birds in my flock are vaccinated. The bird with the strange eyes isn't, and her two brothers aren't either. I have six other birds of varying ages (from seven months to nearly two years) that aren't vaccinated either.

So, do you think that this is Marek's, or could it be something else? I just don't know. I show and breed my flock of birds, and, in fact, some of my best birds aren't vaccinated. I'm worried that they will get the disease too, if it is Mareks.

Should I cull the bird with the strange eyes, or should I sell her? Is it possible that anyone would even buy her? I can't keep her, as I only keep show quality birds, and a bird with irregular eyes would be disqualified at a show.

Please help! If you want to read more about what is wrong with my birds, I have posted a thread called "Marek's Disease? What to do? Please help!" in the "Managing Your Flock" section, but have only received one reply.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

First thing, you cannot in good conscience sell that bird or any other birds you now have. Yes this does sound like Marek's and unfortunately all your birds are now suspect of having or carrying this disease. If you were to do this, you could very well be killing someone elses birds.

For a minute, please let me rant a bit. If you are raising birds for show, why aren't they all vaccinated for Marek's? In this type of a situation that you have going, it is unconscionable not to. Every bird, person and facillity this bird has been to or come in contact with is possibly contaminated, if this is in fact Marek's. Please, please, please...educate yourself and quickly. Even the vaccinated birds can become carriers, as some believe and you need to start thinking this way as well. Okay rant over, sorry.

If all you are keeping birds for is show, my best advice is start culling and then wait and clean and clean and wait some more. this isn't something that goes away with the culling of the birds. If it is Marek's, your houses, yours included, has the virus in it. Your land, etc., etc.. Or, you could send a blood sample to these people for a test.
http://tvmdl.tamu.edu/tests_service...sease-(PCR)&unit_id=1187&unit_effdt=02-JUN-10

If it does come back positive....there are things you can do to speed up the wait time for new birds.

If I seem to come across as harsh, I am sorry. This is a terrible disease and I would rather you be mad at me and get some facts than to handle you with kid gloves and have you not understand just how serious this can be to you and others. Until you can be sure it isn't Marek's, please consider you, yourself as infected with it and take every precaution you possibly can to not infect someone elses birds.

Also, please read through this thread. Yes it's long, yes it will take time, but it is loaded with information from those of us who see this everyday.

 

[Haunted55]

I would , but today she has Paralysis, one foot forward one foot back. At 5 years old. I think the heat was the stress trigger.

Crap! Poor baby and poor you.

 

[seminolewind]

Thank you for your response! Yes, they are a little over one week old, and have had no contact with any other chickens. I do have adult chickens, but the babies have not been anywhere near them. I have tried to be really good about taking care of them before the adults, and I clean everything with Oxine. I plan to keep them seperate until they are 8 weeks old. Are there other thongs that can cause his?

Just keep things clean, don't cross contaminate, and wait it out. Sounds like you've been doing okay!