Airyaman
Songster
I have 5 flocks of various sizes. My three oldest flocks thus far have been healthy (knock on wood) but now there is apparently Marek's in my Speckled Sussex flock, which is almost 17 weeks old.
I guess that makes sense. It has been my "problem flock" as I've said in other threads. My avatar was my very first hatched chicken to die or even have issues at all. I was unable to send her off for a necroscopy, but when a 2nd pullet died, that one I did. According to the report, she had coccidiosis and lymphomas characteristic of Marek's. Oddly enough though, they did not do a PCR to confirm.
But now the other chickens in that flock with their various issues make more sense. The one with the ongoing wound on her face, the one with weird growths on her head, it all adds up. And now today I noticed another had very weird eyes. All of these signs (though the first could be anything) kind of confirms it. Even with the weird growths which I have not been able to match to any photos online could be chalked up to something else, but the one with weird eyes is much harder to ignore in confirmation of Marek's.
That really sucks. First of all, I hate the sickness and death. But it changes the whole future as I had planned to breed some of the same kind (CCLs) and breed some of my own mixes (was going to do JG roos with Black Australorps, some others maybe) but that is out. I don't want to hatch eggs just to wait until 9 weeks to watch many of them get symptoms and die.
Of course, there is always vaccinated chicks if I want to continue this hobby, but that goes against all of the my plans. Oh well, plans change.
It's amazing to me they haven't come up with a better way for the small time chicken keeper to vaccinate!
So as a reminder for those who haven't seen my other threads on my various Speckled Sussex problem chickens, and now my latest, here is what is happening to this poor flock:
Infected sinus, wound or...? Been on antibiotics since last week, not really getting better. She eats and drinks but her life otherwise is touch and go. This was from a 15 days ago and it's just bigger with a larger hole:
Weird growths. Cutaneous form of Marek's? I've still yet to see another online photo with these similar growths, but what else could it be? She is otherwise healthy and active. She actually weighs more than the two cockerels! She picked one of them off today (the one under her eye) and left a bloody spot but her eye is now more open!
So sure I could say, OK, is it really Marek's? Until this one:
So it's frustrating to just start this hobby this year and run into Marek's. I can't really isolate them anymore because they've been all over the yard around the coops and runs just like the other birds. I'm just going to have to deal with it and hope that the losses aren't too great.
I guess that makes sense. It has been my "problem flock" as I've said in other threads. My avatar was my very first hatched chicken to die or even have issues at all. I was unable to send her off for a necroscopy, but when a 2nd pullet died, that one I did. According to the report, she had coccidiosis and lymphomas characteristic of Marek's. Oddly enough though, they did not do a PCR to confirm.
But now the other chickens in that flock with their various issues make more sense. The one with the ongoing wound on her face, the one with weird growths on her head, it all adds up. And now today I noticed another had very weird eyes. All of these signs (though the first could be anything) kind of confirms it. Even with the weird growths which I have not been able to match to any photos online could be chalked up to something else, but the one with weird eyes is much harder to ignore in confirmation of Marek's.
That really sucks. First of all, I hate the sickness and death. But it changes the whole future as I had planned to breed some of the same kind (CCLs) and breed some of my own mixes (was going to do JG roos with Black Australorps, some others maybe) but that is out. I don't want to hatch eggs just to wait until 9 weeks to watch many of them get symptoms and die.
Of course, there is always vaccinated chicks if I want to continue this hobby, but that goes against all of the my plans. Oh well, plans change.
It's amazing to me they haven't come up with a better way for the small time chicken keeper to vaccinate!
So as a reminder for those who haven't seen my other threads on my various Speckled Sussex problem chickens, and now my latest, here is what is happening to this poor flock:
Infected sinus, wound or...? Been on antibiotics since last week, not really getting better. She eats and drinks but her life otherwise is touch and go. This was from a 15 days ago and it's just bigger with a larger hole:
Weird growths. Cutaneous form of Marek's? I've still yet to see another online photo with these similar growths, but what else could it be? She is otherwise healthy and active. She actually weighs more than the two cockerels! She picked one of them off today (the one under her eye) and left a bloody spot but her eye is now more open!
So sure I could say, OK, is it really Marek's? Until this one:
So it's frustrating to just start this hobby this year and run into Marek's. I can't really isolate them anymore because they've been all over the yard around the coops and runs just like the other birds. I'm just going to have to deal with it and hope that the losses aren't too great.
