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

[seminolewind]

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.

It's good that you posted here. We're all in this together.
The eye thing could be Marek's. Your birds are at shows with other birds, and it would be easy to pick it up there. If you sell her you could be giving someone else the virus. The only way to tell is by a blood sample to Texas A&M or necropsy by state lab. If she has Marek's, your whole flock carries it as well. Even if they're vaccinated.

So, it's not for sure she has Marek's. It sounds like she does. But testing has to be done to know for sure.

 

[seminolewind]

Quote: X2. Think simple first.

 

[IrishAcreFarm]

Thank you all for your responses, I really appreciate your input!! They are currently on Purina medicated chick starter/grower. I have not tried any vitamins for them, what type ddo you recommend? I am willing to try anything to give them a better chance! I love all my chicks ( and chickens ) so whatever is suggested will be appreciated. I do have two delawares inthe batch and boy are they hardy! They do tend to be rambunctious so it is possible the chick I am worried about got jumped on. Thanks again all!

 

[IrishAcreFarm]

Oh, I dont know the mateks vaccine they were given, so I plan to call Meyers tomorrow to check. Thanks again! Are some better for protection?

 

[TaraBellaBirds]

I am so glad I did my research before I ordered my first flock. All of my birds have been vaccinated for Mareks. I understand that once you have vaccinated birds any unvaccinated are at risk. I also know that although they are vaccinated a small percentage of chickens still come down with the disease I am knew to this personally although both sets of my grandparents raised poultry for a living. My Grandmother has been great for basic advice but they never really dealt with what faces the modern homesteader! Is there anything of importance I am missing?

 

[Haunted55]

Thank you all for your responses, I really appreciate your input!! They are currently on Purina medicated chick starter/grower. I have not tried any vitamins for them, what type ddo you recommend? I am willing to try anything to give them a better chance! I love all my chicks ( and chickens

) so whatever is suggested will be appreciated. I do have two delawares inthe batch and boy are they hardy! They do tend to be rambunctious so it is possible the chick I am worried about got jumped on. Thanks again all!

since you have them on the medicated feed for cocci prevention,[ good job by the way!] I need to tell you that giving a vitamin supplement to your birds could, could is important, make them more susceptible to getting coccidiosis. Not written in stone, but there is a chance of it. If it is one bird, affected, take him out of the mix and if you want give him a Sav-A-Chick suppliment in it's water or whatever you can get. Don't treat them all. If you think it may be just injured from chick play, then again, remove for a few days and let him get the rest and recoup time he needs to get back into the game, lol. I say him, but I mean he, she, it, Da Bird.

Oh, I dont know the mateks vaccine they were given, so I plan to call Meyers tomorrow to check. Thanks again! Are some better for protection?

Some of the hatcheries use 3 types of vacines to vaccinate for Marek's. Others just use the turkey Marek's vaccine. In my mind, it is always better to get the most bang for your buck you can. They all protect against Marek's in slightly different ways and together they are a very strong deterrent to the virus. MD-vac, Rispen and for the life of me, I can never remember the other one! Lol, chronic brain cramp for that.

 

[Haunted55]

I am so glad I did my research before I ordered my first flock. All of my birds have been vaccinated for Mareks. I understand that once you have vaccinated birds any unvaccinated are at risk. I also know that although they are vaccinated a small percentage of chickens still come down with the disease I am knew to this personally although both sets of my grandparents raised poultry for a living. My Grandmother has been great for basic advice but they never really dealt with what faces the modern homesteader! Is there anything of importance I am missing?

Hats off to you for doing the research before getting your birds!! If more people did this, there wouldn't be threads like this one on BYC. I will ask what you mean by the unvaccinated birds. Do you mean they can catch the Marek's from the vaccinated birds or do you mean that they are open to the chances of just getting it from where ever.

Common sense is the biggest and best tool in your arsenal against problems with poultry. Be it disease, predation, housing...you get the picture as can be seen by your actions already. There are somethings that will hit out of the blue and that's why BYC is so awesome. You hit one of these snags and start a thread with symptoms and questions and nine out of ten, you will get an answer from someone who has been in your shoes. Then it is either sift through the advice given or follow what's been suggested. Read, read and read some more. Never just take advice blindly unless you know for certain you can trust that person's knowlege. Many people on BYC want to help and try very hard to get the right information out to someone in need. Most do very well, some are just repeating what they have read and have no practical, working knowlege of a treatment. Most of the time these pieces of advice are a no harm, no foul and will cause no lasting problems. A few I have seen.....umph! Sure, they'll take care of the symptoms, permanently. Keep a journal of treatments and disease, injuries, etc. and how they worked or didn't. Keep special attention on dosage of drugs and the outcome from their use. And then! Go back and read some more, lol! I cannot stress this enough. If you read about the different things that can affect your birds, understand it, then you have a working base to jump off from. Like I know Duramycin-10, a tetracycline drug is really good as a first antibiotic for respiratory diseases in poultry. The reason? Tetracycline is able to get into the smallest blood vessal quickly and will act against a wide selection of infections. It is also great for treating infections in the feet as it will make it's way into the small vessals found there. Will it work for every disease or infection, no probably not, but it is a good first line choice to have on hand. For instance...if you ever run into a situation where you think botulism may be a reason for symptoms, DO NOT give tetracycline! It can make the infection worse to the point of quick death, no time for treatment. To give the shortest reason, the tetracycline actually feeds the botulism. I did just a little while back and then found I was making a huge mistake. Someone was certainly smiling on me, as my duck is still alive and getting better everyday. I think the only thing that saved her was the activated charcoal I had already given. Okay, sorry, my fingers do run on....

 

[TaraBellaBirds]

Haunted55 vaccinated birds shed Mareks in their droppings and from what I understand the virus can regenerate in the soil and infect unvaccented birds. Thank you so much for the tips. Do you give antibiotics/vaccines yourself? This is something I have heard that some do and I will research in the future. I am an adamant researcher, the funny thing is that most of the searches you do on chickens will lead you right to this site! Thanks again.

 

[Haunted55]

Haunted55 vaccinated birds shed Mareks in their droppings and from what I understand the virus can regenerate in the soil and infect unvaccented birds. Thank you so much for the tips. Do you give antibiotics/vaccines yourself? This is something I have heard that some do and I will research in the future. I am an adamant researcher, the funny thing is that most of the searches you do on chickens will lead you right to this site! Thanks again.

Actually, the vaccination cannot cause Marek's in unvaccinated birds. This has been used by a lot of people to explain why they refuse to given the vaccine to their chicks and unfortunately for those birds it just isn't true.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/39918/mareks-vaccine/30

I can tell you what can happen if you put unvaccinated birds in with vaccinated ones....If the chicks you picked up, from whatever farm supply store you use, have not been vaccinated, there is a very good chance they have been exposed to the Marek's virus. Stop and think about how these birds are displayed in the stores. Not a very good biosecurity system in place is there. Or in my case, the birds came from the hatchery already exposed, add in vaccinated birds who are trying to build immunity....what you get isn't a very nice thing at all. It isn't the birds that were given the vaccination that were the problem, it was the unvaccinated, already exposed chicks that set off the bomb and explode it did. The reason you have the chicks separated when you get them is so their immunity can be built up to max before they have to face this virus. Maximum biosecurity is a must while this process is going on.

And another interesting one.
http://www.thepoultrysite.com/articles/1105/mareks-disease-important-lessons-learnt

This may be the optimum view to take, but what one of us is going to do this? Some of my original hens are still my favorites and I can't bring myself to do it. There is good info contained in the article and if you research like I do, you will want anything and everything you can find to become more sure about your approach to this and other poultry diseases. Happy info hunting!

 

[TaraBellaBirds]

Awesome info! Thank you for posting your source. I have been ordering from Murray McMurray and so far and completely satisfied with birds and service. We just basically decided that any birds we get are worth the $.16 to vaccinate. Later on I hope to pick up some heirloom breeds that MM don't carry and those will be quarantined for a time. We are blessed that our home used to be a chicken farm with three buildings already setup! I am sorry for the decision you are forced to make. It seems as if you know what would be best for your flock but that doesn't make it any easier does it? Good luck in whatever you decide.