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

[lalaland]

Seminolewind, I think your idea of the cocktail really made a difference. Granted, I only gave her the sulfdimoxxxx but she is still doing better. Running around, etc, but still very thin. How long did you keep your girls on the cocktail?

Has anyone noticed sort of a puffy eye area on their hens? Both the little legbar and one of the 5 year ol welsummers are definitely puffy. just a circle around the eye, not the whole face or nostril area. Not sure if the welsummer is laying or not, but today she went into the coop and is resting on a roost -- it is gale force winds with rain here, and chilly, so it is a smart move on her part. But probably means she isn't well, or is running down.

 

[ochochicas]

Seminolewind, I think your idea of the cocktail really made a difference. Granted, I only gave her the sulfdimoxxxx but she is still doing better. Running around, etc, but still very thin. How long did you keep your girls on the cocktail?

Has anyone noticed sort of a puffy eye area on their hens? Both the little legbar and one of the 5 year ol welsummers are definitely puffy. just a circle around the eye, not the whole face or nostril area. Not sure if the welsummer is laying or not, but today she went into the coop and is resting on a roost -- it is gale force winds with rain here, and chilly, so it is a smart move on her part. But probably means she isn't well, or is running down.

I have had the puffy eye thing. It started with two roosters I got in fall. 'm assuming the roosters were exposed to Marek's once they got to my house (I didn't know at the time that I had it).

One rooster became very lethargic, puffy face, wouldn't eat, and had the green-death-poo. I took him in the house and he would not eat. He hated people. I was syringe feeding him his medicine one day and he just fell over and looked like he was dying. I think the stress of me handling him pushed him over the edge. I left him on the floor, and a few hours later he started crowing! I was giving him ground up chick starter with tylan and oxytetracycline. I also gave him a dose of Wazine just in case.

I moved him outside into the quarantine coop with his brother. He immediately started eating. His brother got the puffy eyes a few days later, but they both recovered and were breeding hens before I knew it. One brother became aggressive and was rehomed for "dinner". The second rooster died a few days later of unknown causes. He was looking and acting completely normal the night before and was in good weight. I'm suspecting Marek's but he didn't show any signs and I didn't have a necropsy done.

Since then I have had a couple of hens that have gotten puffy around the eyes, but they also have some ocular discharge and mild sneezing. One of the hens is "typhoid Mary" who I'm pretty sure is the Marek's carrier that infected my flock. I give her Tylan 200 (.2 ml orally twice a day) and she's better in 5 days.

 

[alibabba]

little pullet had one puffy eye. No infection or oozing or sneezing or crusting at all. I thought it had to do with the fowl pox she and the cockerel had. ( They both are way down with Neuro Marek's I assume, if it was visceral, they would be dead, but that may be going on slowly of course in the background)

The cockerel has had most trouble with crook neck...stargazing paralyis. He can now stand but his neck is a bit worse. and now the hen seems to be having this also. They have both been very ill for a while with ups and downs.

Ideas on how to treat this? Muscle relaxants, massage, acupuncture (jk)

I am going to give up when they do its going on 8 weeks of this. They still peck food and are fairly alert and interested in goings on when not resting.

 

[lalaland]

thanks. That kind of confirms what I was thinking, that the puffy eye is a visual symptom alert. It is strange because it is barely puffy, just a ring around the eye cavity that isn't there normally.

The little legbar is still active. Every time I've checked her she has had a nice full crop but she is still skin and bones. I'm at a loss about how to counteract or what to try to help her put on some weight. Seeing her makes me glad I didn't cull, and I am so thankful for having learned via Seminolewind and this thread about trying the sulfa. I still anticipate her having a short life, though.

 

[ochochicas]

thanks. That kind of confirms what I was thinking, that the puffy eye is a visual symptom alert. It is strange because it is barely puffy, just a ring around the eye cavity that isn't there normally.

The little legbar is still active. Every time I've checked her she has had a nice full crop but she is still skin and bones. I'm at a loss about how to counteract or what to try to help her put on some weight. Seeing her makes me glad I didn't cull, and I am so thankful for having learned via Seminolewind and this thread about trying the sulfa. I still anticipate her having a short life, though.

Maybe her crop is impacted or it is not emptying. My pullet Kettle Corn had the same problem. It finally cleared up and she got better after a couple of weeks, but now she is sick again.

 

[rebrascora]

So very sorry to hear of your loss Mightymax. At least Ronnie is no longer suffering and hopefully you have some good mmories of her. Sometimes I think it would be much easier all round if they just died suddenly and without warning. The attacks and remissions are so unpredictable and make it so difficult to work out what treatment is best and whether/when to cull, it places an undue burden
on the owner and causes immensely more heartache. You get so much more attached to them when you are handling them each day and they learn to trust you and you build such a special bond. It makes you realise what amazingly wonderful people, terminal illness nurses are to do that for a living!

I'm pleased to report that my girls are still doing incredibly well and although they are not without some disability, they no longer need any special care from me. I do still give them special treats and attention every now and then though.... I just can't resist!. They both muscle in with the others for food and Hope is feeling really quite heavy. Hoppity is always going to be lightweight but I worry about it less because it reduces the strain on her one good leg.

My broody reared and unvaccinated chicks are 5 weeks old now and very strong and healthy so far and fully integrated into the flock. Unfortunately they are all cockerels by the look of it and will therefore be for freezer camp unless they succumb to Marek's first. Of course I have had a much lower incidence of Marek's in my young males and those that did show symptoms, recovered fully and quite quickly.

Anyway, I just wanted to continue to add a bit of optimism to this post, to counteract some of the doom and gloom and sadness that many of you are experiencing. I know it won't last forever, but will rejoice in it whilst I can.

 

[mightymax]

Except for one rooster who had the ocular form of Marek's, I haven't noticed any swelling of the area around the eye(s) in my chickens, but since most of them are silkies with
big, pronounced 'do's', it's amazing if I can see their eyes at all...lol !!! But seriously, the swelling clue makes sense if you think about it because in humans that skin becomes
puffy when...(discounting for those who have allergies or are chronic criers) we get puffy eyes when...what ??? We... 1. Don't get enough good sleep or rest, and/or 2. Don't consume a good, balanced diet (or DO consume a poor one

), and/or 3. Engage a stressful life or environment (some people prefer to say 'entertain' a stressful blah, blah, blah...instead of my use of the word 'engage'...but I just can't bring myself to use it like that because I, like all of us, have experienced some very stressful situations in my life and at no point during those periods did I find myself particularly 'entertained' by the events that created them nor would I ever consider them to be of a particularly 'entertaining' value, like a funny movie, per SE; therefore I use the word 'engage'...ahhhh, but I digress...). Anyway, it makes sense to me that if our Marek's chickens are engaging in numbers 1,2 & 3 (which they usually are if they're in the throws of Marek's), then they could potentially be getting their 'puffy eye syndrome' (PES) as a result of Marek's. Perhaps not directly, but most definitely in a roundabout way. Good call lalaland, it's always useful to have clear visual queues as to how our chicks are feeling !!!

-kim-


P.S. To all of you who expressed your sympathies at the passing of my latest chicken...Ronnie. Your kind and supportive words brought a smile to my lips and a lift to my soul at a time when it felt as though nothing could lift it. Thank You !!!

 

[ochochicas]

So very sorry to hear of your loss Mightymax. At least Ronnie is no longer suffering and hopefully you have some good mmories of her. Sometimes I think it would be much easier all round if they just died suddenly and without warning. The attacks and remissions are so unpredictable and make it so difficult to work out what treatment is best and whether/when to cull, it places an undue burden
on the owner and causes immensely more heartache. You get so much more attached to them when you are handling them each day and they learn to trust you and you build such a special bond. It makes you realise what amazingly wonderful people, terminal illness nurses are to do that for a living!

This! It would be so much easier on us and them if they would slip away quickly during their sleep. My roosters that have passed from Marek's have all gone quickly during the day in the coop, bless their hearts. It is the pullets that keep hanging on and keep me guessing.

 

[Nambroth]

l...we have a tendency to give our pets names. Names like LuLu Littlebutt and Roaring Rodney Roostertoes.

-kim-

Oh my gosh Kim, I apologize for getting off topic but now I want to name my next rooster Roaring Rodney Roostertoes.

 

[seminolewind]

Seminolewind, I think your idea of the cocktail really made a difference. Granted, I only gave her the sulfdimoxxxx but she is still doing better. Running around, etc, but still very thin. How long did you keep your girls on the cocktail?

Has anyone noticed sort of a puffy eye area on their hens? Both the little legbar and one of the 5 year ol welsummers are definitely puffy. just a circle around the eye, not the whole face or nostril area. Not sure if the welsummer is laying or not, but today she went into the coop and is resting on a roost -- it is gale force winds with rain here, and chilly, so it is a smart move on her part. But probably means she isn't well, or is running down.

I have been giving sulfadimethoxine and whatever I have that treats e. coli and enteritis, and possibly staph (and cocci) because those seem to be the most opportunistic bugs for immunosuppressed birds. And worms or cocci can also be able to cause enough damage for enteritis to move in. I keep them on 7 days in the water. I've done Tylan, amoxicillin , now LS-50 (Lincomycin/Spectramycin). Baytril appears to leave one of those out but I can't remember which one. I like sulfadimethoxine because it treats cocci and is also an antibiotic.

My now 8 week old silkies started with one no eating at 3 weeks, so she got the cocktail and tube feeding until she acted normal. Then I had 3 more, one at a time that had no appetite, standing separately, not eating with the rest. So cocktail went in their water and still is and seems like all 10 are food vultures now and acting normal.

I have to say that about 4 years ago I had a batch of 8 week Polish who were great and I had vaccinated, 3 dropped dead overnight and hemorrhaged , I put them on Corrid not knowing what to think, then switched to sulfa.... . Only to turn around and fine 3 more with a one eye infection and died! I added Tylan at that point and it stopped. So just be aware of the other ailments that can happen. Marek's birds are notorious for getting cocci and you would never think because you figure they are older.

The one other ailment that supposedly kills a lot of birds is aspergillosis which can be a silent killer without respiratory symptoms but there's nothing that can be done about it.