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

[ochochicas]

I can put a spread sheet together next month or during the summer. I've already started one for my own birds.

 

[lalaland]

Nam broth those are.great.data points. And o choc hoc as (sorry phone won't let me type your name correctly) that would be.fabulous!

 

[mightymax]

lalaland - So sorry to hear about your little legbar. I always get to feeling so sad and depressed when it looks like it's getting to be one of my really sick birds' 'time', but I almost feel that it's even harder (for me) to watch them slowly waste away while they're running around acting healthy. For me it's as if the whole time I'm watching them cluck and scratch and play, little pieces of my heart keep breaking off because of what I know about this disease...that there is no cure and that ultimately, all affected will die. Although you're probably not comforted by my macabre depiction of my chickens last days and might even call me barbaric or merciless, please know that my feelings about Marek's are my opinions only and I would never be so brash or caddy as to cast them like nets over everyone out there. So please accept my sympathies AND best wishes for you and your birds.


Nambroth - That list of questions you put together seems really complete and thorough !!! The only other information that I would probably want to know if I were doing research into breeding for immunity is perhaps the relationship of the (currently) sick bird to any other birds the person has and whether or not they're sick or showing symptoms, etc. I know you're trying to keep it fairly simple so more people will be apt to fill it out in the first place, so maybe that info. could be reserved for later, or as an optional adjunct questionnaire that can be accessed via a link or something. I don't know, it's just a thought. I would be very interested to know the total number of birds they have in their flocks too, just so we can see how really widespread this disease has gotten. I mean, you never know...someone who knows somebody, who has a cousin that has a friend with an "IN" with somebody who works in the mail dept. at some big Ag/Pharm/Gov/Research facility, might be reading this and give a shout out about us to their boss !!! Don't laugh...stranger things have happened, and we gotta keep the faith ya know !!!


With Many Thanks !!!

-kim-

 

[lalaland]

nah, Kim. I think you described it beautifully.

I took her out into my garden while I was weeding. She was happy to eat the grubs and worms I found, and happy to eat the sorrel. Also, again ate a lot of dirt. She kind of wandered around, scratched the dirt, and seemed content to mosey around. Alert, interested, and weak.

Strange thing is that her comb is always cold to the touch.

5/21 update: She did have normal droppings yesterday - smaller than normal but otherwise fine. This morning she is definitely weaker, didn't come out of the coop but had managed to get up to a higher roost. Crop full. I put her outside in the run. She talked, was alert, interested in her surroundings. I will cull her when she gets to that hunched in not moving part where she is just enduring. She is almost there.

 

[ochochicas]

Today my beautiful pullet Kettle Corn passed over the rainbow bridge at the age of 28 weeks. She outlived her sisters (except for the two resistant ones) and recovered from an earlier impacted crop that was probably Marek's related. She was also a good nurse to all the other sick pullets before they passed on.

Kettle was still alert and lively up until the end, although she quit eating earlier this week and had decided to give up the fight. She was one tough little cookie.

I will miss you Kettle.

 

[saltandpepper2]

Today my beautiful pullet Kettle Corn passed over the rainbow bridge at the age of 28 weeks. She outlived her sisters (except for the two resistant ones) and recovered from an earlier impacted crop that was probably Marek's related. She was also a good nurse to all the other sick pullets before they passed on.

Kettle was still alert and lively up until the end, although she quit eating earlier this week and had decided to give up the fight. She was one tough little cookie.

I will miss you Kettle.

I'm so sorry.... she was a beautiful bird!

 

[seminolewind]

Today my beautiful pullet Kettle Corn passed over the rainbow bridge at the age of 28 weeks. She outlived her sisters (except for the two resistant ones) and recovered from an earlier impacted crop that was probably Marek's related. She was also a good nurse to all the other sick pullets before they passed on.

Kettle was still alert and lively up until the end, although she quit eating earlier this week and had decided to give up the fight. She was one tough little cookie.

I will miss you Kettle.

Aw, I'm very sorry. She's a pretty girl and will make alot of friends at where she is going.

 

[mightymax]

Quote:
Ocho... I'm sorry to hear about Kettle Corn's passing. Although losing even a single bird is losing one too many if you ask me, I oftentimes find that I am more at peace with their passing if they've continued to live life to its fullest right up until the end. I have a much harder time with the ones that linger lethargically around the coop for days, but who I'm not quite ready to cull just yet...it's those birds that leave me awake at night. I guess it's partly because I feel guilty about the fact that I honestly don't believe that I can do anything more for them than I'm already doing to make the quality of their short little temporary lives any better and it pains me deeply to see the ones that linger looking so down. But just like the rest of you that live with Marek's, I'll wake up tomorrow morning and see my little downtrodden ones and say to myself with pride and positivity...They may be down, but they're not out yet !!!

Take Care Ocho.
RIP Kettle Corn

-kim-

 

[lalaland]

well said, Kim.


ochochias.....

 

[ochochicas]

Thank you all for the condolences. I agree that I do feel better after they have passed since a weight is lifted off my shoulders. The worst part for me is making the decision to cull them, but at the same time I don't want them to suffer.

To rub some salt in my wounds, Kettle's brother also died yesterday. Found him dead in the coop - assuming it was Marek's too. Unlike the pullets, the roosters seem to go quickly. They are fine one day and dead the next. I'm done trying to breed and hatch eggs for a while. This has been way to difficult of a year so far.

On a better note, I have three half grown pullets that are competing to take Kettle's place as the favorite. They are suddenly super friendly and run over to the coop door for me to pick them up. I didn't handle them much as babies since I was soooo worried about them getting the virus off me somehow. Now that they are double vaccinated and over 6 weeks old I'll just have to play with them all day long. LOL