Ok I’m almost certain my cockerel has mereks

[J99]

Over time and watching my flock and doing a million remedies on different chickens , I’m about certain we have mereks disease. I have 31 chickens and a rooster and four ducks. I have no choice now but to cull the ones that can’t recover and vaccinate all new chicks and wait it out
But my beautiful handsome wyondotte cockerel ( my only male) has a paralyzed foot . I watch him, I give him food and water beside him , what do I do? I just have to kill him now???

 

[azygous]

Damned Marek's. There are many avian viruses, but Marek's has to be the most heart breaking. While it kills its fair share of chickens, it maims and cripples many more, and that forces the decision to euthanize and that is torture on top of anguish.

Can he still function? Does he manage to get around on just one good leg? Can he access food and water okay? Where does he sleep? Do the others pick on him for his disability? These are the deciding factors to euthanize in my criteria.

You would be doing yourself and your sanity a favor by getting a necropsy on the next chicken to die so you can verify Marek's. Call your state agricultural lab for instructions and other info.
University of Kentucky
Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory
Phone: 859-257-8283
Fax: 859-255-1624

 

[J99]

He’s been getting around really good then resting on his elbow as you see in the picture he even was going out to the big yard but yesterday and this morning he’s staying put he stopped perching and sleeps below the perch on a box , well now he’s not moving from there this morning , so I put food and water very very close to him . The other chickens have not picked on him yet, he had total dominance of the flock before this happened so they still respect him right now
Gosh this sucks I love him a lot smh
I know it’s mereks or at least I’m 99 percent sure and it breaks my damn heart I’ve lost several golden laced polish but the buff heads seem strong but we won’t know for quite some time of course it can continue to happen so we just wait and see and if certain ones go down it’s going to be heart breaking and Russel is one of them

 

[Eggcessive]

University of Georgia has some testing available on serum (spun down blood sample) and also on a feather shaft on living birds for fairly reasonable prices. Usually testing is normally done on birds during a necropsy, but you may want to check into this other testing on your live bird. Here is a thread with info, and plaeas read the whole thread to get all information:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/mareks-testing-in-living-birds.1206105/

 

[J99]

Thank you but I don’t have the means to do this and since it’s incurable , what’s the sense in it anyway? I just have to make sure until all these birds die and my cops cleaned out perfectly, that every chicken or chick that comes along has to be vaccinated. That’s the course I’m taking

 

[Eggcessive]

You would save a lot of money on vaccines getting a diagnosis first. The vaccine is sold in 1000 dose vials. It has to be used within an hour on day old chicks to be effective. Chicks who are vaccinated must be kept away from any dust or dander for at least 2 weeks to develop immunity. They still will become positive for Mareks, be infectious to new birds, and some still have birds who develop symptoms.

The reason I would spend the $18 for the blood or feather test is that you could relax if the results are not positive.

As far as your cockerel, I would make him comfortable and let him guide you along on what to do. When I have a sick bird who will not eat or where the flock is hurting them, I put them down. Mareks is a lousy disease, but many people handle it in different ways. Reading some of other’s threads about having Mareks in their flocks, may help you.