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

[JeanR]

Yes, there are so many exceptions, but we can do our best to keep immunized (or immune) birds, but my statement ONCE YOU HAVE it on your premises--you can expect to ALWAYS HAVE IT, is a warning.. So, yes, from egg shells after chick has hatched is possible--or from a mother-setting hen who may also be vaccinated and immune, but LIVES on your premises and may have some dander in her plumage from a long ago virus--(no way to know this) could still have exposed the newly hatched chicks. BUT MAYBE NOT, worth all efforts to protect the chicks! We must try to do our best--and I do not even visit friends with unprotected chickens! Or take them out to see my birds!!!! I used to show my birds, and NEVER brought one home from a show, even if a top winner. All birds entered were sold prior to the show and new owner took them from the show--or they were shipped after the show, from the SHOW! Clothes are always different from ones worn at home, even shoes--and washed! And do not visit poultry friends on the way to or from a Show. Folks who hatch, raise and sell MANY chicks/birds would not be my choice from which to purchase birds. Hatcheries may be free of the virus or not, but for small exra cost, wil vaccinate at hatch, but they still could be exposed at the hatchery and vaccination might be too soon to protect--but worth it to try to avoid Marek's!

Never heard of it years ago. Commercial chicken farms--the thousands of birds crowded or flocked together--have brought us a number of Poultry Diseases that now affect home flocks. Coccidiosis was the main problem, in the 1930s (when I first met chicken laying flocks)--and is now easily avoided or easily treated.

Good luck to everyone who keeps, enjoys, and hatches chickens/chicks of any breed or type!

 

[lalaland]

with mareks in my flock, I am taking a break from chicks this spring - and i know I am going to have to learn how to vaccinate. That alone should prevent me from getting chicks for years !

Had to get out my broody breaker cage earlier this week. it is a wire cage with no floor pan - I set it up off the ground, with a cover to provide sun and rain protection - and those hens that are determined broodies go in it each morning til I put them on the roost at night. Usually takes a two days to break them out of the broodiness, sometimes 4. I dislike doing it, but...since no one is going to be allowed to hatch this year, it has to be done.

However, next year I hope to allow some hatching to take place...and so either will have to vaccinate or see how everyone does. (build for immunity?).

 

[ochochicas]

Maybe you could hatch duck or quail eggs instead. They are immune to Marek's, right?

 

[seminolewind]

Ocho, I thought that last year and got geese. They're nice, but they are not chickens.

Yes, there are so many exceptions, but we can do our best to keep immunized (or immune) birds, but my statement ONCE YOU HAVE it on your premises--you can expect to ALWAYS HAVE IT, is a warning.. So, yes, from egg shells after chick has hatched is possible--or from a mother-setting hen who may also be vaccinated and immune, but LIVES on your premises and may have some dander in her plumage from a long ago virus--(no way to know this) could still have exposed the newly hatched chicks. BUT MAYBE NOT, worth all efforts to protect the chicks! We must try to do our best--and I do not even visit friends with unprotected chickens! Or take them out to see my birds!!!! I used to show my birds, and NEVER brought one home from a show, even if a top winner. All birds entered were sold prior to the show and new owner took them from the show--or they were shipped after the show, from the SHOW! Clothes are always different from ones worn at home, even shoes--and washed! And do not visit poultry friends on the way to or from a Show. Folks who hatch, raise and sell MANY chicks/birds would not be my choice from which to purchase birds. Hatcheries may be free of the virus or not, but for small exra cost, wil vaccinate at hatch, but they still could be exposed at the hatchery and vaccination might be too soon to protect--but worth it to try to avoid Marek's!

Never heard of it years ago. Commercial chicken farms--the thousands of birds crowded or flocked together--have brought us a number of Poultry Diseases that now affect home flocks. Coccidiosis was the main problem, in the 1930s (when I first met chicken laying flocks)--and is now easily avoided or easily treated.

Good luck to everyone who keeps, enjoys, and hatches chickens/chicks of any breed or type!

1930's?????

 

[JeanR]

Yes, at my Father's knee, (actually, late 1920's) helped with the laying flock, Depression kid, and the layers produced EGGS that paid the mortgage. My Father peddled them on his lunch break to offices in town--and got premium price from those who could afford them and appreciated Fresh eggs.! Every evening my folks candled, weighed and packed into cartons, those beautiful eggs that my Father carried in Market bags, to town and work, a 30 minute ride each morning on an Interurban Streetcar, station, a 10 minute walk from our place. Learned the breeds of Layers, as every 2 years (about) a new flock of Point of Lay pullets came into cleaned house, with 3 large sections plus a feed room. And I was allowed to collect eggs on weekends at a very young age! Recorded on a wall chart daily! I knew White Leghorns, Barred Plymouth Rocks, Rhode Island Reds, Black Minorcas, New Hampshire Reds as the different flocks over those years. Oriental restaurants came out with crates and removed the retiring flocks--ready for new Point of Lay pullets! The Black Minorcas were the "Coccidiosis" flock and treatment was with some red liquid in huge blue glass containers--and although the eggs were large and WHITE, I have never really admired BLACK chickens, since--odd how we get "programed" very young! But Marek's was never seen until that sad hen that arrived at my farm, in 1993 or '94?? Learned the words "Range Paralysis" and after computer/network , have been finding information about it ever since. Had few infected birds (sudden death, must have been several losses to Marek's, without the classic symptoms), which are not always expressed, as there are different forms of symptoms and sites of infections). We learn, we share--and WE VACCINATE! I have been fortunate to have Vet Techs--3 different friends over the years, come on hatch day (they put it on their calendar when chicks are due). Takes 2 to do it, one to hold the chick and one to use the needle. Makes a big lump --do mine in the thigh, subcutaneous--no pain, but the chick does not like to be held, leg out and peeps, so- gentle holding. The lump is absorbed before the next chick is vaccinated and no further reactions! Takes just a short time to do a dozen chicks, rarely do I have more at a time--and will vaccinate just ONE CHICK, if that is the hatch. Cost for 4 vaccinating sessions is not as much as cost for one well grown "show" pullet--OR a box of day olds shipped from a hatchery! One small incubator hatch, my Vet Tech could not leave the Clinic where she worked, and asked if I could bring them in? I took the box of chicks in, and the other Vets at the Clinic were so interested to watch the vaccination. Few Veterinarians "do" chickens. Now that Vet Tech is an Electrician with great paying job--and is breeding and raising Hair Sheep and several rare breeds of Poultry! Poultry can lead us into unforeseen and great experiences! Learn and ENJOY--it will keep you "young"! Good luck......

 

[lopinweapon]

Jean R that was just great!

 

[lalaland]

Jean, I would love to hear whatever you remember about what and how your family fed chickens in the 20's. What do you do differently today than your family did with chickens growing up?

I'm all ears! (ok, I guess I'm all looking at the computer screen, but boy am I paying attention)

 

[mamidei]

Does this look Marek's related to anyone? I isolated her a few weeks ago for suspected feather picking, hoping to give her a chance to recover. The area has spread and is "swollen". I'm
Stumped.

 

[marneypoo]

Although the statement "Exposure is after hatch" is correct, as well as it's not carried IN the eggs...but the skin cells can be ON the eggs you hatch, therefore exposing newborn chicks to the virus.

So if I unknowingly order hatching eggs from another farm that has Marek's, I could be carrying it to my birds. Is there a way to protect from this happening? Would dipping the eggs in Oxine or another disinfectant help? This was one of the things I always wondered about when people with infected birds talked about hatching and vaccinating new chicks.

 

[ochochicas]

Quote: Yes, my understanding is that you can wash the eggs with Oxine. Literature supports that idea that Marek's on the eggs does not survive incubation. However, if there was dander/virus on the eggs when you got them, there is a chance you could spread it to your birds before you washed them if you didn't practice good hygiene.