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

[ochochicas]

The thing that bothers me the most is that I live in Washington and Marek's is everywhere here. Despite this, there are people who refuse to vaccinate because it isn't "natural" and they tell others it is wrong to do so. On top of that, these same people have Marek's positive birds in their flocks and will sell birds to people without telling them. They are just spreading the disease around and think it is OK.

I know where my Marek's came from...A guy sold me a pullet last summer. I kept her quarantined and everything seemed fine. He asked me to keep in touch and let him know what color egg she ended up laying. Months later, I called him and we talked for a long time. I asked him if he was breeding more birds. He said no because he had two pullets die from "Marks". I asked him if it was recently, and he said it was last May. I got my pullet from him in June, so there is no doubt she was exposed and is probably a carrier now. Granted, he didn't do it on purpose and he isn't the most knowledgeable/educated person out there. However, there are a lot of other people that will rehome birds from a Marek's flock and smile as they stick your money in their pocket. It is very frustrating.

 

[seminolewind]

Well at least he knows he has it and doesn't breed anymore. And told you about it. I know that's not real comforting, but it is a bit surprising .

 

[sararoni]

Does the mareks virus survive hot composting? I am not positive my chicken has mareks and it didn't spread to the others but I am getting new chicks in a month and I already piled all old beddings to compost

 

[seminolewind]

Hi. If you have or had a chicken with Marek's, you should buy them vaccinated or vaccinate yourself and keep them quarantined for at least 3 weeks, 6 is better. If you had a chicken with Marek's all the others and all of your property may have Marek's. You may want to send the next dead one for a necropsy-that the only way you can know for sure.

I'm pretty sure at a hot enough temperature the virus will die.

 

[sararoni]

Hi.  If you have or had a chicken with Marek's,  you should buy them vaccinated or vaccinate yourself and keep them quarantined for at least 3 weeks, 6 is better.  If you had a chicken with Marek's all the others and all of your property may have Marek's.  You may want to send the next dead one for a necropsy-that the only way you can know for sure.

I'm pretty sure at a hot enough temperature the virus will die.

The chicks are from Mcmurray and I paid for the vaccine too. I just would hate for all the composting beddings to be thrown to trash but couldnt find anything online about what temperatures the virus survives.

 

[seminolewind]

I hope someone else knows if composting is okay to use. I would think so, but really don't know.

 

[ochochicas]

Do you all keep sending bird in for necropsy even after Marek's has been confirmed in your flock? Or do you just assumed they have Marek's and cull them? I have two more pullets that are sick and I'm pretty sure we'll have to cull them this weekend. One has enteritis type symptoms and the other one won't eat and now has a droopy wing. Man, this sucks. These two pullets are sisters to the two pullets that died last month (4 and 8 months old).

 

[ochochicas]

And another question - have you ever had a Marek's bird die from neurological problems? We had a hen that started to walk in circles and quickly progressed to not being able to stand up. We assumed it was a toxin or vitamin deficiency, but now I'm starting to wonder.

 

[seminolewind]

I've had an ocular marek's bird waste away and die. Mostly my marek's victims wasted until I euthanized them. Then , if they're marek's exposed, and get sick, sometimes it's not easy to distinguish if it's marek's or some other illness due to immunosuppression.

 

[lalaland]

I probably won't send any more in for necropsy unless I suspect something other than mareks or immunosuppression - so maybe if i thought botulism or whatever, maybe I would go for necropsy.

What are the enteritis type symptoms you are seeing? I had phenomenal luck with corid followed by heavy probiotics in the water for a couple of weeks, and liberal doseage of garlic (free fed every other day for a week). What I was seeing was an awful lot of intestinal sloughing and abnormal droppings., and the droppings have been totally normal for a couple of weeks or more now.