Paralyzed hens

[seminolewind]

I'm sorry you're going thru this. Leadwolf1 is right. Also, one leg forward, one leg back is probably the most recognizable symptom. But Marek;s can present in alot of different ways. I had some 2 month old chicks that had the paralysis, panting, could not aim at food. I had some adults that wasted away. All Marek's. The chicks all died. With the adults, I have 20-30 the last few years and 7 have wasted away and died, several months apart. But the rest are fine.

I have a link to my Marek's story in my signature , if you're interested.

I'm really suprised at the amount of people here that have good information about Marek;s. I think knowledge is a good thing.

 

[babsbag]

I have only had one with the classic one leg forward and back pose. Most of mine have just had poor coordination, lack of balance, inability to stand, and wasting away. The last one I lost actually recoverd for a few weeks and then relapsed and passed within a few days. I baby these guys, tried all the vitamins, all the herbs, hand feeding, antibiotics, you name it. But for me the sick ones have always eventually died.

The good news is that I have alot of chickens that all live together and less than 5% have been affected. Marek's should have attacked all of them, but it didn't. I was told that I should just cull them one when the first one got sick; that there was not hope. I am glad I didn't listen.

After I lost my 5th one to Marek's I vaccinated the entire flock, even the old birds. All replacement birds I buy are vaccinated. I have had 2 birds since them with Marek's. One was vaccinated at a hatchery, and one was hatched here by a broody hen. I did not have necropsies done on either of them,. but the symptoms fit what I have seen before.

 

[wildrose41]

I've never vaccinated a chicken. Is it hard? How much is the vaccine and I see you can only get it in 1000 dosage.
So it looks like some may not succumb to this. That's good to hear. Anymore I will make sure if I ever get any more chicks they will be vaccinated!

Is there anything you can buy to dust on the chickens since this is passed on through their dander?
I pick up some "Oxine" yesterday so am treating the coop today. I asked for it by Oxine and no one knew what I was talking about. Luckily one shop owner knew what I wanted and I bought under the name BioSentry 904 Disinfectant.

Babs did you disinfect everything?

 

[wildrose41]

Another article I read:




http://www.wilderness-survival.net/chicken-diseases/

Marek's Disease


Marek's is one of the more serious diseases that your chickens can get, and it's usually fatal. It's a form of herpes that effects the nerves and sometimes the internal organs of your birds. The most commonly seen symptom is paralysis in the wings or legs, and sometimes your chicks will have strangely colored or shaped eyes. The disease can spread from one farm to another through dust in the air, so you don't actually have to have contact with a diseased bird in order to spread it.
The best way to protect your flock against Marek's is with vaccination of your chicks. Young chicks only need one treatment, and some chick seller's will have already vaccinated their chicks before sale. If not, it is something you can do yourself if you don't mind giving needles to your birds. Once they reach 5 months of age, most chicks would have already developed their own immunity to the disease.


If this is the case, why did my 7 month old hens come down with it? I do have neighbors with chickens, so it's possible the winds brought it here to my property?

 

[wildrose41]

WOW now this is a job!

 

[babsbag]

It is easy to give the vaccine, right under the skin in the back at the base of their head/neck. I did about 50 birds the first time. I loaded all the syringes ahead of time and took them to the coop with me in the morning. As I did the vaccine I pushed them out the door. I have only seen the 1000 dose vial. Going to do fowl pox this week

I don't recall the price, but I don't think it was expensive but not something I could buy locally. I use Twin City Poultry as their shipping prices are the best I have seen. I also ordered the 22 guage needles as those are hard to find locally as well as they are so small.

As far as 5 months... all of the birds I have lost have been older than 5 months. I wanted to believe it wasn't Marek's but UC Davis wouldn't let me live in that fantasy land for long.

There are other chicken ailments that can cause similar symptoms, lymphoid leukosis being one of them. The other is Newcastle. Neither are diseases you want. In some states Newcastle is a reportable disease.

I am hoping good things for your birds and you.

 

[wildrose41]

Babs, thanks for all the info.
What's the dosage for an adult bird?

 

[leadwolf1]

Everyone gets the same, .2 mls

 

[wildrose41]

Despite my pain in doing it, I culled Hallie the other day. I just couldn't stand to see her suffer like Hollie did now that my knowledge of this disease was first hand. I won't know results of necropsy until some time next week, but I know what it was.
The 3 older hens are doing well btw. Another thing I have learned out of all this is NEVER put young chickens in with the older ones until they are at least of laying age. It would have giving my little girls more of a chance to build up a better immune system. Unfortunately, I thought I had, but I had pushed it just too soon.

To live, to learn, to live and learn.

 

[leadwolf1]