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

[Sonya9]

Sonya, I've always believed one thing. If they are not eating or not eating enough, I will give them whatever they like and as much as they like. Calories are important. She eats a piece of bread in the morning. I put a sprinkle of vits and electrolytes in her water.

Another thing you might want to try is liver. My marek's bird goes crazy for it when I put a little raw liver in her food, nutritionally it is a super food with very high levels of B vitamins, iron, and lots of other things. I suspect it is easier to absorb the nutrients in liver than from powdered vitamins.

I am going to pick up some chicken liver today at the store and freeze it in little baggies, beef liver is about the same but with much more copper. She only eats a tiny amount however my dogs are more than happy to polish off any extra so it doesn't go to waste.

Contrary to popular belief, the liver does not store toxins, chemicals and other toxins are stored in fat.

http://chriskresser.com/natures-most-potent-superfood

 

[seminolewind]

Thanks, Sonya. I just happened to have a few cans of cat food and one has liver and I bought them for her. She laid another egg today!!!!

 

[casportpony]

From the March CAHFS newsletter:


-Kathy

 

[ochochicas]

From the March CAHFS newsletter:


-Kathy

Based on their age, it sounds like the chicks could have contracted the disease before they had a chance to build immunity after being vaccinated. Either that or they were exposed before they were vaccinated and, again, never had time to build immunity before the virus started to replicate.

 

[seminolewind]

Quote:
I think that's a good explanation. My thoughts were along the lines of Marek's causing immunosuppression, which leaves these birds vulnerable to clinical or subclinical infection. Since I lost 3 eight week old Polish overnight, then 3 more to a one eye infection, then recently necropsies, and various illnesses in between, it all sounds to me like chicks may be vaccinated for Marek's, but may still become immunosuppressed and die easily from other infection, or be unthrifty due to subclinical (very low continuous) infection.

 

[lalaland]

a couple of months ago I dosed the flock with corid because of the number of droppings with intestinal lining. That took care of most of it, but there was still a little now and then, maybe once or twice a week.

Seemed more than "normal". I thought about Seminoles cocktail of tylan and sulphadiozoxine (I know that is wrong but you know what I mean), but the tylan was pretty expensive and I wasn't convinced mine were wasting....just probably/possibly some intestinal thing or enteritus. So I started tumeric. Dosed for about a month, and then nambroth told me about lead in tumeric. So then I reverted back to heavy dosing of probiotics because enteritis is, I'm thinking, an over abundance of the wrong kind of bacteria. So boosting the right kind....now I didn't order the "right" kind that has a certain probiotic that has been shown to do well with chickens, I just used what I had for cats. I put it in the water daily for the past two weeks.
today I picked up frozen poop clods in the coop.

Guess what? Not one single bit of red!

And the little cream legbar seems to be holding her own, so I am feeling pretty positive. I know, I know, its up and down, but right now its looking good.

 

[mightymax]

Quote:
Which once again just goes to show you that Marek's Disease is not only ubiquitous, it's also endemic !!!

WARNING, THE FOLLOWING IS ONLY MEANT AS FODDER FOR THE THINKING !!! NOT AS FOOD OR FACT !!!

I read an article some time back that suggested that the incidence (or it could have been 'prevalence', I don't recall right now) of Marek's disease was higher in areas of the country where the climate was more temperate, and thus more hospitable to the rearing of healthier (or not as immuno-suppressed) chickens to begin with. As I sit here typing this in my turtleneck, sweatshirt, double socks and sherpa lined slippers, I find that I may be prone to agree. This is the fifth winter I've raised chickens through in this particular area and I've noticed that the symptoms of Marek's hardly ever (if at all) display themselves during the coldest parts of winter here (which is approximately from the end of December up until the end of March, or so, usually). But when the height of summer hits (approx. the first of July) until the end of its reign (about the middle of Oct.), I've noticed that my chickens, if they're going to display any symptoms at all, will display them with fervor at this particular time. It's as if the virus comes out of hibernation and rears its ugly head precisely when the temperatures are most conducive to its cause (which, of course, is to replicate and infect as many birds as it can) !!! I know of several incidences where this has been the case and it once again has me thinking (oh no, not that !!!)... If the virus is, or becomes, more prolific with the increase of the temp., is there not 'something' (or 'someway') that we can come up with, to use its dislike of the cold to our advantage and devise a method (or a medication) to effectively put it into extinction? Thoughts ???
BTW, I just think of these questions. I never said I could answer them...lol !!!

But maybe with all of us on the job, someday we will !!!

-kim-
...and remember, it's only fiction, until it's no longer not !!!

 

[seminolewind]

Lala, kind of interesting with the Tumeric.

Kim, I think there's a bunch of people that say the deaths are seasonal. I'm not sure since Florida is spring, summer, fall, no winter. Of course it may have to do with the times of the year that people hatch the most eggs. I wonder if molting has anything to do with it?

I got another necropsy interim report, and this one said that the tissue on the slides is indicative of avian lymphoprolific disease. That narrows it down doesn't it??? LOL

 

[Sonya9]

But when the height of summer hits (approx. the first of July) until the end of its reign (about the middle of Oct.), I've noticed that my chickens, if they're going to display any symptoms at all, will display them with fervor at this particular time.

Does that time of year also coincide with the number of adolescents that are more susceptible to Marek's?

 

[mightymax]

Quote: @Sonya9 ...if by "number of adolescents that are more susceptible" you mean the number of chicks that are between 8 - 20 weeks old (the age at which the incidence of contracting
Marek's is highest), then yes it does. But then again, if you look at the breeding patterns of the vast majority of mammals that inhabit the northern hemisphere I'm sure you'll find
that in almost every instance, the female of the species is conditioned (kind of pre-programmed) to give birth (or hatch eggs, etc.) when the chance of survival for their young is at a
premium. In the northern hemisphere we call that time of prime survivability Spring. That's why mammals in America and in Europe will most likely be born sometime during the months of March, April or May, when the ground is no longer frozen, the rains, for the most part, have ceased, the days remain light for longer, in addition to being warmer and there is an abundance
of food due to the newly sprouted flora in the area. As to whether the birth of a new generation of susceptible chickens is what makes Marek's 'come out of hibernation' (so to speak), or
it's merely due to the fact that the virus can't stand the extreme cold and therefore must go into a sort of suspended animation, or dormancy, until the weather warms back up, is a good
question. It's a question for someone a whole heck of a lot smarter than me, I can tell you that !!! I'm still trying to figure out which came first...the chicken, or the egg

...lol !!!


@seminolewind...Lymphoprolific Disease ?!?!?! You're kidding me, right? Seriously, that's all they could come up with! And they call themselves 'Doctor's'...

LOL !!! Of what ???
Diseases that don't exist...

!!! Truth be told, Lymphoproliferative Disorder isn't really a disease by definition. It's more like a large umbrella that Doctor's pull out when they know
that someone higher up than they are is going to want some solid AND scientific sounding answers

. Basically (and I'm sure you already know this seminole, if you think like I
think you think

), what a Lymphoproliferative disorder is, is a catch-all phrase for any and all things that can cause the body's bone marrow to produce an excessive amount of Lymphocytes, or white blood cells, usually brought on by an opportunistic infection that was the direct result of a compromised immune system. But I know I don't have to tell you
that Seminolewind,...you've been telling that to people here on BYC for ages now !!!

GoodNight for now.

-kim-

P.S. Hey seminole...maybe we shouldn't discuss any 'interim' reports anymore...it makes those doc's look silly !!! LOL, LOL, LMFAO !!!