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

[hogster160]

you can spray them down with oxine

Thanks! She is now laying on her eggs like they were her own lol. I had to kick her out to eat, so I swapped them out for the golf balls. When I went out about an hour later, she was all comfy and full.

 

[schnebbles]

funny she collected golf balls.

Penny ate bunches of mealworms.

The vitamin b's I have dissolve but it still wants to congregate in the bottom. Going to walmart tomorrow for the other kind.

She's sleeping on the couch again.

We have avian vets an hour or more away, probably should gone there.

That SUCKS about us having it. I do hope that isn't what penny has. I should see if the vet would draw blood. Hide that one from husband, lol!

 

[Haunted55]

OK another question for you smart, wonderfully helpful, and friendly people. I just got my eggs. I candled for cracks. One had a crack hairline, so I broke it open, there was a bullseye in the white spot. So they are fertile. Now before I put them in with my chicken, do I need to clean them in any way? My bio security brain, is saying yes. But I don't think I want to wash the bloom off. I'm gonna wait to put them under Ms. Broody for a bit yet. Eggs are sitting on my counter atm. Pointy side down. Please correct me if I'm wrong lol Thanks!

Deb....explain this to me please.....You are having one of your chickens set these eggs? As in a bird already exposed to the Marek's there? Now before you think i am jumping down your throat, please bear with me. I thought you were going to be using an incubator for the eggs. Well, you are....you'll be using God's own, but...this raises a whole new bunch of issues. This bird has been exposed, if it is Marek's there. Who knows what strain you've got. Well, doesn't matter because all you'll be able to get is the turkey Marek's vaccine anyways. Okay, how are you handling this? Is the hen going to be separated from the rest of the flock? How do you plan on vaccinating the chicks? Are you taking them away from the hen once they do hatch? Whatcha doing Deb? LOL! I'm sorry if this is all over the place...my fingers are following my head right now and it's jumping everywhere. I'll say this...you've certainly given me something to think about today!

First, yes, plan on vaccinating those birds as soon as they come out of that egg or get them out from under that hen immediately and wait for the others to hatch. This is a situation that is kinda different from what I envisioned, lol. Seminolewind mentioned the race against the viruses, this is it in living color. Hopefully, these chicks will have resident resistance from their mother and be able to take the initial exposure. Once all have been rounded up, lol, vaccinate them and do not put them back with the hen. They are going to need as much time as 8 weeks to fully form the resistance the vaccine offers.

Hogster? You really don't do things by half measure do you? Lol, don't worry, this might work yet. If you can get those chicks out from under her at point of hatch or soon after, as in you will need to be there to be watching this little miracle and you can get the vaccine into them before any resistance from mother wears off and you can keep them totally isolated from the rest of your flock until the vaccine is fully formed in their system....I'd give you a 60% chance of success. If you used an incubator, I'd give you 85%. Now, if this were me, I would be planning on doing that second vaccination as well. It's good you have the turkeys there, but these will be too young to benefit from that yet. Wow, I really have got to look some stuff up and think about this. It could work, yes it could. Losses? No clue, but I don't think it would be total.

 

[seminolewind]

Quote:
I'm sorry for your loss. There is support here, I don't put up with nastiness here. There should not be any judging and people should be respectful . I get my vaccines from twincitiespoultrysupply.com They seem to have the cheapest and fastest shipping.

I see that the vet doesn't think it's Marek's at that age, but I've had 4-5 year old chickens die or be euthanized for it. Marek's does not follow any rules. The symptoms that most websites list are the typical common ones, not all the other symptoms that it could be. Depends on where in the body the virus hits first.

It's pricey to send them. But well worth the price.

 

[seminolewind]

Quote:
I got eggs from elsewhere, and put them under my silkie 2 years ago. At 6 week, one got paralysis at a time. All 10 died. If you suspect your flock has Marek's, they are probably alright for your hens to hatch your own eggs. But if you bought them, incubate them, and keep them away from contamination. It was a hard lesson I learned. It took the 3rd paralysis victim to realize that they all did not break their leg.

 

[seminolewind]

so, say I went to the fair again or the national show in November, and I clean up good and use disinfectant wipes on my hands, would I be contagious to the birds?

I will get the super b. Right now I have 500mg of b12, and I dissolve one in her tiny bowl of water, however it wants to float to the bottom, I stir it up with my finger before I offer her a drink when I'm home and have her on the couch.

I don't have a good pen for her and that dog carrier is just not big enough and way too dark. if I put litter in high, it gets in the water/

I don't expect her to get better overnight. My husband was all saying she has no quality of life, blah blah blah. Well, I'm the mom, lol! He didn't want me taking her to the vet, but I did.

Penny eats, I need to get her mealworms tho, I have my own colony and I need to go grab some.

I hope your lost bird doesn't show Mareks. Ya, I'd feel horrible if my dog got one of my babies. My cats seem ok with them too. Cat's don't usually go outside tho. My foster dog is an old beagle and he doesn't and never did even look twice at them.

Penny was standing a lot tonight, maybe it felt good to stretch her legs but she kept almost falling asleep.

When I go to a show, I don't wear my chicken shoes. And when I get home, I strip my clothes off and throw them in the washer, I scrub my arms up to my shoulders, and have minimal contact with my chickens til I get a full shower.

 

[Nambroth]

I see that the vet doesn't think it's Marek's at that age, but I've had 4-5 year old chickens die or be euthanized for it. Marek's does not follow any rules. The symptoms that most websites list are the typical common ones, not all the other symptoms that it could be. Depends on where in the body the virus hits first.

Yes-- I had a roo that died at 11 months old, from the visceral form (full lymphoma and paralysis at the end) which my vet commented was usually seen more often in younger birds. So it hardly plays by the "rules".

 

[hogster160]

Deb....explain this to me please.....You are having one of your chickens set these eggs? As in a bird already exposed to the Marek's there? Now before you think i am jumping down your throat, please bear with me. I thought you were going to be using an incubator for the eggs. Well, you are....you'll be using God's own, but...this raises a whole new bunch of issues. This bird has been exposed, if it is Marek's there. Who knows what strain you've got. Well, doesn't matter because all you'll be able to get is the turkey Marek's vaccine anyways. Okay, how are you handling this? Is the hen going to be separated from the rest of the flock? How do you plan on vaccinating the chicks? Are you taking them away from the hen once they do hatch? Whatcha doing Deb? LOL! I'm sorry if this is all over the place...my fingers are following my head right now and it's jumping everywhere. I'll say this...you've certainly given me something to think about today!

First, yes, plan on vaccinating those birds as soon as they come out of that egg or get them out from under that hen immediately and wait for the others to hatch. This is a situation that is kinda different from what I envisioned, lol. Seminolewind mentioned the race against the viruses, this is it in living color. Hopefully, these chicks will have resident resistance from their mother and be able to take the initial exposure. Once all have been rounded up, lol, vaccinate them and do not put them back with the hen. They are going to need as much time as 8 weeks to fully form the resistance the vaccine offers.

Hogster? You really don't do things by half measure do you? Lol, don't worry, this might work yet. If you can get those chicks out from under her at point of hatch or soon after, as in you will need to be there to be watching this little miracle and you can get the vaccine into them before any resistance from mother wears off and you can keep them totally isolated from the rest of your flock until the vaccine is fully formed in their system....I'd give you a 60% chance of success. If you used an incubator, I'd give you 85%. Now, if this were me, I would be planning on doing that second vaccination as well. It's good you have the turkeys there, but these will be too young to benefit from that yet. Wow, I really have got to look some stuff up and think about this. It could work, yes it could. Losses? No clue, but I don't think it would be total.

Yes, my ocular girl is the one who went broody, I tired breaking her. She has stripped her chest feathers, won't leave the nest to eat, poop or forage. Its been two weeks. So I figured I'd give it a shot. Half measure sometimes isn't measured when you are new at something. I have no clue what I'm doing. Probably setting my self up for heart ache. But I'm guessing the only way to know for sure is to try it. So I am.

And this is what I do know. Yes they will be moved once they are hatched (hopefully I will be there to remove them as they hatch, no clue if that's possible tho lol but am planning on watching them). I am getting 2 sets of vaccine, because I am guessing they won't all be born within 2 hours of each other, or for the second set of vaccine. They will be separated for at least 18 weeks. I'd like to keep the separated longer if possible. And it should be. I have a couple of acres so that just means another bldg if they survive. Which I will wait to build once I know. The hen has a secluded box in the coop. She has an area about 4x3 that was used for the turkeys when I first got them. She doesn't get off the nest unless I take her. That's when she eats poops and baths. In about 10 minutes shes back on the nest. No other bird is allowed in her area. She really doesn't let them.

I'm not going to worry. I figure she went broody for a reason. So we are giving it a shot. I am hopeful things work out. I don't have an incubator, but maybe if this doesn't work, I'll need to invest in one.

Deb

 

[hogster160]

Yes-- I had a roo that died at 11 months old, from the visceral form (full lymphoma and paralysis at the end) which my vet commented was usually seen more often in younger birds. So it hardly plays by the "rules".

That's kinda of what I figured. Hes the Dr. He has to sound like he knows what hes talking about. It was very hard to understand him, so I'm hoping once I get the results back I get some kind of answer. But I really think even if it says neg for md, I'm going to believe its a false neg.

Deb

 

[hogster160]

I got eggs from elsewhere, and put them under my silkie 2 years ago. At 6 week, one got paralysis at a time. All 10 died. If you suspect your flock has Marek's, they are probably alright for your hens to hatch your own eggs. But if you bought them, incubate them, and keep them away from contamination. It was a hard lesson I learned. It took the 3rd paralysis victim to realize that they all did not break their leg.

I'm a so sorry for this. I am probably going to face the same thing. I'm hoping not, but....now I'm wondering if I should just stop this now. I hate double guessing myself. But I need to be realistic at the same time. I don't know what I have here making my birds sick. It would probably be better to wait until I new for sure. This sucks!

Deb