Not sure what to do.

[coolcanoechic]

I have a sick hen and it is very possible it could be Marek's. I am working with a vet who is doing the best she can to help me. She is wonderful. Not all the symptoms point to it, but not all chickens read the book. I plan to bring my poor girl to the UNH Coop this week for a nacropsy. She is too far gone to make a recovery. Poor thing.
If she has Marek's, then all my birds have been exposed. What am I supposed to do with them? Do I wait and see if they get sick and then cull? Someone please tell me what I should do.
Thanks so much.

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

I'd wait for the necropsy to decide to cull the others- it could be other things.

I am sorry for your troubles.

http://msucares.com/poultry/diseases/dissymp.htm
here under nervous diseases, also certain vitamin deficiencies can cause problems

I haven't dealt with Mareks but if I did have a flock that had been exposed I'd simply cull the sick ones instantly and keep a closed flock. I'd personally not cull the whole flock immediately.

 

[coolcanoechic]

Thanks!

 

[myfinefeatheredfriends]

Well if none of your chicks were vaccinated as day olds then the ones that don't have it are still carriers of the disease meaning even though they themselves never showed any symptoms, if you introduce any new chickens to that flock, it could still spread to them. The decision is entirely up to you.

 

[coolcanoechic]

I have no intentions of bringing any other birds into the flock if my birds have Marek's. I would not want to go through this again. I have 4 other hens and they were purchased from breeders locally. They did not vaccinate for Marek's. I understand you cannot do it later when they are older. I only hope the other's do not get sick. They are all doing well at the moment. I practice biosecurity as well as I can. If this turns out to be Marek's, I will not be visiting anyone who owns birds, just to be sure I don't risk infecting them.

If I end up losing my flock, how long do I wait before getting more birds? I know that the coop and run will have to be totally scrubbed and disinfected, but what is a safe waiting period?

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

I have no intentions of bringing any other birds into the flock if my birds have Marek's. I would not want to go through this again. I have 4 other hens and they were purchased from breeders locally. They did not vaccinate for Marek's. I understand you cannot do it later when they are older. I only hope the other's do not get sick. They are all doing well at the moment. I practice biosecurity as well as I can. If this turns out to be Marek's, I will not be visiting anyone who owns birds, just to be sure I don't risk infecting them.

If I end up losing my flock, how long do I wait before getting more birds? I know that the coop and run will have to be totally scrubbed and disinfected, but what is a safe waiting period?

http://www.fao.org/docrep/014/al876e/al87600.pdf
this link has a chart for length of time germs hang around

http://www.poultryclub.org/poultry/health-and-diseases/

I wouldn't despair. I know of at least one breeder who have this pop up cull and keep going, with consideration to vaccination. They don't say, "Oh I can never have chickens again because this has been on my land." Frankly what I have read is that all the chickens in backyards have been exposed to Mareks at some point or another.

http://extension.unh.edu/resources/files/Resource000791_Rep813.pdf

 

[coolcanoechic]

I have read that about Marek's too. I'll be making an appointment today for the necropsy. The article on disinfection was very good. I'll save that in my favorites. Thanks for the advice.

 

[drumstick diva]

your vet could probably offer good advice on what to do with your flock survivors. You could search the site for "Mareks" and see what comes up.

 

[coolcanoechic]

Lol, I have done a ton of reading on every chicken disease and virus and bacterial infection than a person can take. Even though my bird does not have leg issues, she has skin leisions, loss of weight, and loss of sight, as well as a rhythmec head swaying. She is eating less and less every day since I cannot be here to put food in her mouth. I put tons of goodies in the pen with her every day in the hopes she will stumble into it and eat. I think it is Marek's and I hope I am wrong.
Tomorrow morning, I will be saying goodbye to Gwennie as I drop her off to the UNH lab.
Good bye my sweet Gwennie.

 

[coolcanoechic]

Gwennie was dropped off to the lab yesterday morning. She was barely hanging in there. They did a preliminary and said it is either the skin form of Mareks or an avian virus which I do not recall the name. Even after all the reading I have done, the virus name was not familiar to me. I think I will do more reading tonight.
They have to do more looking and testing before they can give an accurate answer. This is all I know so far. So I guess I have to start thinking about what to do with my 4 other chickens, but I will wait until the final analysis.