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

[casportpony]

@ochochicas ...You're right. My bad. I totally forgot about it migrating to the muscles !!!

I even had a hen die from that form. She had an outwardly protruding tumor on her right pectoral muscle !!!

I must still be asleep...lol !!! Thanks and my apologies to casportpony...

-kim-

No need to apologize.

-Kathy

 

[casportpony]

So I started another thread:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/963126/interesting-or-abnormal-avian-eye-pictures#post_14998783

-Kathy

 

[casportpony]

This is a Marek's skin tumor that I found during a necropsy on me beloved Wingman.


-Kathy

 

[suliah]

Marek's help...

So I got a batch of 8 chicks from a local guy (craigslist). Only later found out the chickens were NOT what he was selling them as, and that he intentionally gave me extra roosters because he could tell them apart but I didn't know better at the time... Anyway, I digress.

Of the 8, there were 2 buff polish, 2 appenzeller spitzhauben (really they were probably silver spangled polish cross, definitely not pure spitz), 2 wheaten marans (both roos, jerk) 1 blue laced red wyandotte and 1 black copper marans (yeah, probably not).

At about 8-10 weeks 1 of the wheaten marans started growing SUPER slow, then at 12 weeks got wry neck. I thought she was a girl because *he* was so much smaller than the other, but he was just that far behind.

both of those roosters died at around 13 weeks.

a couple weeks later my polish buff hen got 1 paralyzed leg. I brought her inside. Then the other paralyzed. after 2 weeks of getting worse I finally culled her.
The female spitz (Stella) had been behaving weird, pecking at air, not walking (just staying in one place) almost like she was blind. She kept getting stuck outside the henhouse and couldnt find her way back in during the winter, so I brought her inside. She's been my house chicken since mid-January, and with extra care has been stable. Then this last weekend started getting the wry neck, it's now twisted all the way down. I'm trying very hard to keep her alive, vitamins and eye droppers full of water. My kids have grown VERY attached to her.

Is it marek's? If/when she dies my boyfriend has said we need to take her for a necropsy to find out for sure. But does that sound right?

And if the wyandotte and BCM that came with them are still healthy, are they naturally immune?

HELP please!

 

[mightymax]

Unfortunately, it sure sounds like Marek's to me, but I'm with your boyfriend on this one...you can't be positive until you have a necropsy done. And again, unfortunately, your other two chickens are probably carriers, if not themselves, going to 'come down' with Marek's Disease. I'm so sorry to have to tell you that, but a great number of us here on this site live and have lived with this disease in our midst for quite some time and we're still the same loving and happy owners that we used to be when we first started out with chickens...most of us anyway.
Again, my sympathies on your birds that have passed. And my best wishes for those still alive. There's alot of good info here on this site. And support and comfort too. Stop by anytime.

-kim-

 

[seminolewind]

Unfortunately, it sure sounds like Marek's to me, but I'm with your boyfriend on this one...you can't be positive until you have a necropsy done. And again, unfortunately, your other two chickens are probably carriers, if not themselves, going to 'come down' with Marek's Disease. I'm so sorry to have to tell you that, but a great number of us here on this site live and have lived with this disease in our midst for quite some time and we're still the same loving and happy owners that we used to be when we first started out with chickens...most of us anyway.
Again, my sympathies on your birds that have passed. And my best wishes for those still alive. There's alot of good info here on this site. And support and comfort too. Stop by anytime.

-kim-

X2. We can guess , but your boyfriend is right, a necropsy will be sure.

How to Send a Bird for Necropsy​

 

[KayTee]

x3 - We can guess all we like, but science is the only thing that can confirm our guesswork.

 

[suliah]

Thanks, i appreciate the help and sympathy. Is there a point in trying to save my Stella or should i just let her go and send her for necropsy?

 

[suliah]

To add, i have 11 other chickens that were all 8 months or older when these sick ones were introduced. They seem completely unaffected. Is that normal? They were not vaccinated, bought from tractor supply. Will they get sick?

 

[ochochicas]

Sorry to hear about your sick chicks. It sounds like Marek's to me as well. My only advice, like the others, is to send your pullet in for necropsy to find our for sure. You'll have peace of mind afterwards and can move forward with out the "mystery" looming over everything.

Your older birds may be OK. That said, I did have one 11 month old hen that started limping slightly. I found her dead in the coop a few days later. No doubt in my mind that it was Marek's. I also had a 9 month old that we culled in December due to wry neck. We assumed she got into a toxin of some sort, but now I'm wondering if she didn't have a Marek's tumor in her brain or something.

I, too, had a beloved pullet that I treated in the house for over 2 months before sending her for necropsy. Now my whole house is infected with Marek's. I don't regret trying to save her initially, but I do regret not making the decision sooner to end her battle. I currently have three more sick pullets. Two I'm pretty sure are sick with Marek's and the third seems to have something else. The older one gets to spend one more day basking in spring sunshine before we cull her. The smaller one we will probably cull as soon as the healthier one is ready to rejoin the flock. When they have lost so much weight and have not energy to even walk outside for scratch grains, it it time to let them go.

You will still be able to get more chicks in the future, but make sure they are vaccinated and that you keep them isolated for at least 6 weeks when you get them. Marek's is horrible, but you'll learn to deal with it and move forward. It is devastating at first, but it gets a bit easier as time goes on.