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

[emount]

Thanks again. I'm very glad to hear that you had such a good survival rate in your chicks in only 3 years. This is encouraging.

I had 3 first-time broodies in the last couple of months, but 2 of them were terrible at it and didn't hatch any eggs. One of them hatched a single chick, because one of the bad hens smashed most of the good broody's eggs. She laid her first egg today, since having her chick. It's been about 8 weeks and no symptoms in the chick yet, though I know it could take months.

My sister has a few eggs in the incubator for me and I have no broodies right now, so those chicks will be under a heat lamp. I will try hatching anytime I get a broody bird in the future. The guy who wants the eggs from me has a cochin rooster and 2 hens to give away, so I'm going to bring them home and hope they will be broody eventually. I think they are too young right now.

When I told him about my birds that died and that it could possibly be Marek's, he mentioned that he also has had some suspicious deaths in his flock, and he wasn't aware of Marek's symptoms, but that the cochins have been kept separate from the rest anyway, so they shouldn't have any problems. I start to wonder how many people around here have Marek's and don't know it, like you said. I kept telling myself, when it first started happening, that the chickens just must have hurt their leg or eaten something bad or that maybe I bought inbred chicks, but there were too many dying in a short period of time for it to be a coincidence. Denial doesn't help anything, except it can help spread disease. All I can do for now is wait and see what happens for the rest of the year. Hatch some chicks and see how they do.

 

[JeanR]

So many threads on Marek's....... Just wanted to pos t(again) that Marek's is not carried in eggs, so with careful handling, there is no danger of hatching a chick already infected. .
And the infected birds with symptoms are not suffering pain, but rather, frustration, when they cannot move or reach food and water. They will eat and drink until throat is paralyzed (or recovery occurs), then they starve (quickly). Recovered birds are carriers, but no symptoms..

It is a terrible scourge--I chose vaccination at hatch and keep no unvaccinated adults . It is easy to do and not expensive. From hatcheries you can purchase vaccinated chicks--worth it. But it is a choice. AND like all vaccinations, not 100%. Best to never have it on your premises!! Good luck....

 

[ochochicas]

Thanks again. I'm very glad to hear that you had such a good survival rate in your chicks in only 3 years. This is encouraging.

I had 3 first-time broodies in the last couple of months, but 2 of them were terrible at it and didn't hatch any eggs. One of them hatched a single chick, because one of the bad hens smashed most of the good broody's eggs. She laid her first egg today, since having her chick. It's been about 8 weeks and no symptoms in the chick yet, though I know it could take months.

Before I knew my flock had Marek's, I raised about 3 clutches with broody hens. Every single one of the chicks ended up dying from Marek's. I hope your baby does better than mine did. My flock has a very virulent form of Marek's that is very deadly.

Now I vaccinate my chicks at hatch and put them out with the broody in an isolated part of the yard. I'm sure they are still coming into contact with the virus at an early age, but with the vaccine on board and the limited exposure early on, my survival rate has been much higher. I lost one cockerel to marek's that was vaccinated, and I've had 3 others that showed leg and wing paralysis at about 10 weeks of age. They recovered and grew up normally. They were processed later for food (after reaching maturity). My other birds are all healthy and normal, although I'm sure there are still carriers in my flock. I'm just happy I can have chicks again without all of them dying.

 

[emount]

Thanks for sharing your experience.
I'm so sorry you had to go through that will 3 clutches of chicks.

I keep wanting to believe that I don't have Marek's in my birds.

The chick is still healthy at almost 10 weeks old. There are 8 more eggs in the incubator that will be hatched in a week and I'm hoping to hatch 18 more after that. I've decided not to do vaccines this year, because I want to confirm whether I actually have a disease in my birds. If the chicks get sick, then I will know that there is a disease and will get one tested to confirm it. If they don't get sick, then I'll give it another year and another batch of chicks, just to make sure, and then go on as if they don't have a disease. It is possible that something else caused the problems, but I'm going to be very careful and assume that it is Marek's unless I have two years of chicks that don't have any symptoms.

 

[emount]

I just wanted to update. We hatched about 40 chicks this year, mostly eggs from other people, and had no symptoms of anything. The single chick that the broody hatched is a healthy laying hen now.

The problems that I had last year that made me suspicious were with a single batch of chicks that I didn't hatch myself and that lived in a different building from my other chickens for most of their lives, a building where I had kept cornish x that I got from someone I didn't know and they were not very healthy. I cleaned the building after, but not the run and I wonder if they ate something from that run that made them sick. The two birds that had leg issues were both easter eggers, so maybe it was genetic? I don't know. At this point it's not looking like Mareks.

 

[rebrascora]

That is great news. I'm so pleased for you and hope your flock continues to be healthy.