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

[hogster160]

she just died. I was holding her and had her lying by me on the bed a while before Now to decide on necropsy, husband mad at me about considering that.

I am so sorry that Penny didn't make it. My necropsy was supposed to be free, as Indiana Chicken poultry assoc. or something like that was going to pay for it. But my luck, She was out of the office for a couple of day, and all the paperwork had to be done before the necropsy was done, and I couldn't get the paperwork done since I couldn't get it from her. Their web site was also down for construction at the time. So I paid to have the necropsy done as well as the extra blood work. $85 for necropsy and $40 for the blood work plus $55 to ship her. Yea it sucks, I will not be telling my DH about that. He just needs to go fishing, and enjoy things for a while lol.I've tried to keep him busy all week with the honey due list. So today hes going fishing. Hoping to have the bill in the mail so I can pay it, and him not see it. If he asks I'll tell him, so far he's not asked.

How are the other chickens doing? Anyone else having problems? Hoping they are all doing fine for you. But it would be best for you and them in the long run to have the necropsy done on Penny.

I am so dang sorry she passed. I was really hoping the super B would help her.

Deb

 

[pysankigirl]

she just died. I was holding her and had her lying by me on the bed a while before Now to decide on necropsy, husband mad at me about considering that.

Hugs. you cared for her and she knew it. you were a safe place. necropsy would be good...why husband mad?

 

[Shabana]

Hi there. I,ve been following your thread for a while now and silently keeping my fingers crossed for Penny and learning alot from all these knowledgeable people. I,m so very sorry to hear she passed. Please don't feel regret because you did absolutely everything you could and I,m certain she knew that and had affection for you and knew she was loved.

She certainly sounded like a very special little girl and she was lucky to have you.

Hope you only have happy times now xx

 

[salt and pepper]

So glad I gave my EE hen a chance!!!! She has made a complete recovery, and is now eating, and feeling better!

 

[Haunted55]

So glad I gave my EE hen a chance!!!! She has made a complete recovery, and is now eating, and feeling better!

Glad to hear it S&P!

 

[schnebbles]

Salt & Pepper - yay! All we can do is try, I know that. I would not have been happy had I just immediately put her down with no chance.

I called Ohio Ag today about necropsy, and they would do it, but speaking with her she kind of had my same thought, which is IF it happens again (hopefully not!!), then I will confirm it. I'd know before I confirmed it too i supposed. It's not going to help my birds now, and I won't be bringing new birds in. I will take care if I go to a show or something which probably won't be happening soon, to be very clean and conscious to not handle my chickens first.

I really hope it wasn't that. Husband doesn't share my animal values, so he thinks I'm crazy because it's not going to help if I did the necropsy. But between her and I talking I think I'll wait and hope it doesn't happen again.

 

[seminolewind]

Schnebbles, I'm very sorry you lost her.

Haunted, with my chicks from my Marek's exposed parents, I just left them with the parents. My reasoning being that they are being exposed and building their resistance while they are living off their maternal resistance.

 

[schnebbles]

Thanks seminole - I have to look back and see how far apart your losses were. I'm sure hoping for the best.

 

[seminolewind]

Quote from Haunted "If I had the chance you do right now, I would continue with it. Get the vaccine for 2 dosings and I would do the hatch the same as I wrote before. It would be the opposite of what Seminolewind did. I would be taking them away from the disease while they are still covered by resistance from the parent stock and vaccinating them for even more. I would also do it again around 4-5 weeks of age to give them the boost needed to face the dreaded 6-8 week marker. I look at it this way...I've got nothing to lose and everything to gain by following this process. Remove the eggs...dead chicks. Continue and the chance of dead chicks but also the better chance of live chicks able to make it to adulthood. " Unquote.

Haunted, I wish I could remember what I do that you do the opposite of? Is it my confusion about where the eggs came from? If the eggs were laid by exposed hens, and hatched by exposed hens, it's possible they are resistant. I also had incubated eggs from exposed parents, and put them outside a week after they hatched, unvaccinated.

I've had 3-4 hatches from purchased eggs in my incubator that were moved outside next to the Marek's exposed birds before I knew I had it. I may have had 1 death in one hatch, and one death in one other hatch. I wonder if the eggs sent to me could have been from exposed backyard flocks? Then , I get a hatch of 10 and they all die. So those were from non exposed flock.

I just feel really clueless tonight

 

[hogster160]

Well, I think what I am going to do is however many hatch, half are being taken away, the other half are staying with mama. These are eggs brought in, and to my knowledge not exposed. They will all be vaccinated x2. Mama is being good, she had removed all her breast feathers and sits diligently. I have to carry her outside, she hates to leave those eggs. And I hate to say this, almost because it sounds dumb. But her right eye is normal now. No longer does it look like her pupil is bleeding into the iris. Her left one still looks the same. I am sure there is no reason for this, but it is happening. We are having hot hot weather here atm, so I am trying to take her off the nest 4-5 times a day. Boy is she angry lol.

The girls all got some crickets yesterday after our day out fishing. They loved them! We made a point to give EE and mama extras, but it was difficult lol, chickens and turkeys everywhere.Then mama caught a mouse, she was instantly bombarded and bits of mouse was being ripped from every angle I think almost all the chickens got part of it lol. It was the most comical point in our day yesterday. Fishing was so relaxing, heck, not even the fish never bothered us. Brought home only 4 and small ones at that. They swallowed the hook and would not have lived, so the girls got them too!

Our turkeys have been staying in the coop with the girls. Well when we added the poop board the roost changed somewhat, went a little higher. The turkey hen can get up and down just fine, the turkey can not. What we were gonna use for the turkeys didn't work out, they hated it and went back in the coop with the girls every night. So now we built a covered roost for the turkeys to use outside, with a lower roost for him. I think it sets at around 36" high. They won't use it, they want inside the darn coop. He get so frustrated trying to get up, I'm afraid hes going to hurt himself. Any ideas what I can do? I have no problem with them in the coop other than them getting hurt, or hurting the chickens in the process. We have about 13-15' of roost and board which sits about 48" high, and all the birds stay on the 8' part. So the turkeys would be on the lesser end. Well then he cant get down, not enough room to just jump down safely. He about broke my nose the other night, I was trying to put him outside on his new roost and his wing got loose. Well let me tell you, you do not want your face that close to a turkey wing when said turkey is alive and well and scared! I think hubby wanted that wing in his face with some gravy on it! Man he was mad. So we've been booting the turkeys out at night, the female will roost, the male will not. He sleeps on the ground. And is not happy about it lol.

As far as my ee goes. We think we are going to cull her. We want healthy birds in our flock. She is not healthy. I don't see anyway of making her healthy. I don't want her to suffer, and I am sure she is. She really doesn't do the things that chickens do. The rest of the flock, if it is mericks, their immune systems for what ever reasons are dealing with it atm. I am not one to watch anyone, person or animal, suffer. I just can't see letting her try to be a chicken, when she really can't. Hubby and I still have some talking to do about it. For the most part he agrees. Just not enough to do it now. Well me either for that matter. She walks a few steps at a time, and most times her right foot is turned in. Then sits on her hocks. Picks at the ground with her beak. She doesn't scratch the ground with her feet, only beaks it. She literally has to fight for her food daily. Shes one of the last ones to eat, so I normally put her in the coop with her own stash to eat. When we do cull her, I will have a necropsy done to see. Hopefully I won't have to pay for that one. But if I do, well then I do.

So many ups and downs. Raising chickens is supposed to be fun, and for the most part easy. Learning chicken husbandry, however is not easy. And that is what we want to learn. We want to do more of the natural way of things. Not lots of meds. If I didn't care about what my food consisted of, I would still be buying eggs and meat from the store. We want a more healthy way of life. And raising chickens is just a part of that. So I do believe, she will be culled. Everyone else is doing fine. Even mama, who has the ocular change. And if we see a decline in her, she will be culled as well. We didn't get into chickens so we could have more pets. We live in the country on our couple of acres of heaven. We want to have the best food available to us. So I garden organically, can and freeze it, buy our meat from our neighbor who only lets his cows graze. They have 50 acres, and raise 10 calf to butcher 2x a year. They get no corn. We will be doing meat birds in the spring. We wanted to do them this fall, but dh will be going to Florida to work soon. And I really don't know if I can process 15 birds by myself, since I have never done it. I do however, feel I need to do this, whether my hubby is home or not. So I may still do this. If I find I can't process them, there are many Amish in my area who will for a price.

Anyway, now that I have bared my soul to all of you this fine early morning, I am off. I have a kitchen that needs cleaning, tomatoes that need canned, and animals to feed. (and a few more posts to read. I have 30 more minutes to myself!

Have a great day everyone, I truly hope your day is a fine one!

Deb