Silkies with mareks

[Katieskerlong]

My chickens have been showing weird symptoms and I had 2 become paralyzed and die shortly after. A month went by since then and then one of my older silkies was found the same way. Unable to move and labored breathing before dying shortly after. I decided to send her body off for a necropsy and they’re pretty certain it’s mareks. I decided to pay for the additional lab work so I should find out hopefully soon whether it’s confirmed or not. I have a flock of 30 and they’ve all pretty much been exposed. I’m not sure what I should do. I’d like to clean their pen out anyway and deep clean with bleach or something but I’m not sure it’ll make a difference at this point. I have some who seem lethargic but everyone’s still moving around and eating. I suspect a few are carrying it at least. I’m pretty disappointed. Has anyone experienced this?

 

[Eggcessive]

Sorry about your deaths and possible diagnosis of Mareks disease. Please let us know what the final testing shows. There can be some other things that mimic Mareks, and I hope that you get better news. Many people here on BYC deal with having a Mareks positive flock. Of course, I would close your flock to ever giving away or selling birds. Many people breed their healthy birds to get chicks who may have some immunity to the disease. While you cannot totally isolate Mareks virus which is carried in the dust and dander, you could separate any with symptoms. I think that Vircon B tablets available from Amazon, can be mixed with water in a spray bottle to disinfect equipment . You can’t sterilize chicken coops though. Read all you can here. There is no cure for Mareks, despite some claims. Vaccinating baby chicks is controversial. Some do and then isolate those chicks for at least two weeks to develop immunity, while others feel that is not for them. The virus an mutate constantly, and many prefer to have chickens show the symptoms, rather than mask symptoms. All chickens exposed to Mareks, no matter if they have been vaccinated or not, are carriers for life whether or not they ever have symptoms.

 

[Eggcessive]

Here are 2 good articles worth reading:
https://vetmedbiosci.colostate.edu/vdl/colorado-avian-health-program/mareks-disease/

https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/the-great-big-giant-mareks-disease-faq.66077/

 

[MapleLaurelFarms]

I'm really sorry to hear about your struggles. Very longtime chicken owner here, and we recently dealt with the same thing this past winter and lost our entire flock very quickly. State necropsy said likely Marek's, but I didn't pay for the additional labwork ($250 USD!) because I'm planning to move forward as if it was Marek's. If it's not, then I'll just be thankful and prepared anyway.

We deep cleaned the coop, covered the dirt so the chickens can't roll and bathe in the old dirt, added additional flooring, and have sterilized (as best we can) everything. I'll also sterilize again before adding any new birds.

We have a small hobby farm and acreage with no plans to ever move, a very nice coop and run that we've handbuilt through the years until it's a fortress lol. There's no option for me but to move forward the best that we can with what we've got.

In my opinion, it's very cruel to bring in unvaccinated chicks/chickens into a known Marek's postive flock or area. I'm only bringing in vaccinated chicks now - they're FINALLY arriving next week!!! We also have meatbirds, also vaccinated, arriving in July. So we'll see how it goes.

From what our state vet told me, except in very rare cases, an adequately administed "broad-spectrum" Marek's vaccination WILL keep the virus from causing tumors and lesions in chickens. Although chickens will still be carriers, I'm going to do all that I can to keep another chicken in my care from suffering needlessly.