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

[salt and pepper]

Thank you so much for the help =)

 

[schnebbles]

well, now I wish I'd done the necropsy. It occurred to me that if I needed to get rid of my babies (If I ever leave husband), that I won't be able to find them a home! great.

 

[Haunted55]

http://tvmdl.tamu.edu/tests_service...sease-(PCR)&unit_id=1187&unit_effdt=02-JUN-10

You can always have testing done on live birds with a blood sample or ask if they do the feather testing here. I know there is at least one lab that does so and it may be this one. While some of the older tests done with the feathers didn't detect all of the different strains of Marek's, I just read something a while back about the new tests being much better at it. No idea of cost or even where to get it done right now.

 

[schnebbles]

that sounds easy. I'll have to look into that just in case. It would be good to know, now that I've discovered different reasons for wanting to potentially know if my birds have been exposed.

 

[BigECarter]

Marek's has hit my first flock hard - I have lost 5 of 9. I still have one of the four lavender orpingtons. The pullets went downhill fast, where one roo faded slowly, and the other roo is growing well. But... Apollo spends a lot of time laying down and has diarrhea, and has not started crowing yet. So, I am guessing that we aren't through the worst yet. My question is - should I do something for the diarrhea? The pullet I had necropsied had signs of coccidia damage - I have treated the flock twice with Corid. I could do another round, but wonder if I am risking creating a Corid-resistant strain of coccidiosis.

From what I read on this thread, I should expect to have more health problems with the survivors. So what extra "babying" is advised? Frequent worming? Treat with Corid every time I see diarrhea? Leave it alone and let the strong survive?

 

[schnebbles]

I don't know but I'm so sorry this is a horrible thing. I'm still hoping that's not what killed my girl. I watch my chickens very close now. How old is your flock?

 

[BigECarter]

Four months, according to the breeder, but I suspect he may have given me the wrong hatch month, so they may be 5 months. We've been losing them at a rate of one every two weeks.

 

[casportpony]

Marek's has hit my first flock hard - I have lost 5 of 9. I still have one of the four lavender orpingtons. The pullets went downhill fast, where one roo faded slowly, and the other roo is growing well. But... Apollo spends a lot of time laying down and has diarrhea, and has not started crowing yet. So, I am guessing that we aren't through the worst yet. My question is - should I do something for the diarrhea? The pullet I had necropsied had signs of coccidia damage - I have treated the flock twice with Corid. I could do another round, but wonder if I am risking creating a Corid-resistant strain of coccidiosis.

From what I read on this thread, I should expect to have more health problems with the survivors. So what extra "babying" is advised? Frequent worming? Treat with Corid every time I see diarrhea? Leave it alone and let the strong survive?

Sorry for your losses...

Probably a good idea to understand which worms cause the most damage, how to target those worms and them keep then wormed. For example, I'm not positive, but I think that Safeguard is effective against Capillary worms when used 5 days in a row at 50mg/kg, but I'm still researching this.

The same is true for antibiotics... I'm still trying to figure out what antibiotics work on the different types of infections.

-Kathy

 

[casportpony]

This link has some interesting info on medications:
http://www.octagon-services.co.uk/articles/poultry/gamebirds.pdf

-Kathy

 

[schnebbles]

I'm sorry that is so hard. Mine died 2 weeks ago and she was 5 months. I hope it was something else.