St. John's Wort

[MoodyChicken]

This isn't an emergency, just a helpful tidbit of information to help. Despite what you may have heard, there IS a cure for Marek's Disease. It is a homeopathic remedy called "Hypericum." Hypericum is a small creeping herb that, when used hollistically, numbs nerves and dulls pain. When given to a bird suffering from the symptoms of Marek's Disease, it will cure the bird by working on the theory that "like cures like," in other words, by giving the bird the symptoms it will take the symptoms away. I've used this herb with great success to fully cure birds of Marek's Disease. You can fnd Hypericum at health food stores, $8 for 100 tablets. Hypericum must be diluted before it can be used:

- 1 tablespoon of DISTILLED water per tablet Hypericum (must be distilled water, tap water is ionized and will deactivate the Hypericum)
- MUST be mixed in a GLASS or PLASTIC bowl (metal with react with the water and herb)
- drip 5-10 drops (bantam) or 10-15 drops (large fowl) on the afflicted bird's tongue. Be sure the bird rubs its beak together because the Hypericum MUST touch the sinuses (located on the roof of the mouth) in order to work
- treat every 12 hours (morning and night) with a fresh batch
- recovery may be as quick as 1 day or as slow as several months

The treatment works best if you begin treating early. If you delay treatment, the Hypericum may not work or it may be a very slow recovery. IF YOU OVERDOSE YOUR BIRDS ON HYPERICUM, don't worry. The bird will exhibit extreme symptoms, and make a drastic improvment within a 24 hours. Hypericum is also helpful for pain. Only treat birds that are showing symptoms.

HOW CAN I TELL IF MY BIRD HAS MAREK'S DISEASE?

Check your flock history. Marek's Disease affects birds as early as 6 months of age. Symtoms occur most commonly between 6-8 months of age; however, any age bird can become sick, it just becomes less common with age. The incubation period is 2 weeks.

SYMPTOMS INCLUDE: sudden death (fairly common), depression (common), gradual weight loss (fairly common), neck paralysis (not common), paleness (in conjunction with other symtoms), wing paralysis (common), leg paralysis (most common), star-gazing (fairly common), extreme sudden emaciation (rare), mishapen pupil (not common), gray iris (not common), crazy behavior (rare), unresponsive (common), internal tumor growth (not common), tumors on feather follicles (not common), fearful (not common)

Hope this helps someone!!!

 

[MoodyChicken]

Marek's Disease is found in the soil, so if one bird has it it's safe to assume that all your birds have it. You can place new birds on land that has never had chickens before and they will still get it. The good news is that most birds are naturally resistant, and symptoms only occur in genetically susceptible birds or birds with weakened immune systems. Keeping a surviver will not hurt your flock. Survivors are actually more likely to breed more resistant offspring. Yes, they shed the virus, but it's in the soil, so your flock has already been exposed.

 

[seminolewind]

Sorry if I understood this thread to be from those chicken owners who think of their chickens as pets or pets with benefits. I would think anyone trying the Hypericum is here because they are seeking something to save their beloved chickens .

There are many diseases in the world that have no recourse but protection from a vaccine. It's unfortunate that in over a hundred years, science has only come up with a Marek's vaccine that works for symptoms only and the chicken can be a carrier for life if just exposed.

Like Trident and me and many others, members with pet chickens are looking for something that will help their chicken survive. A vaccine is really the most likely thing to ensure their life. Not perfect but very good. The other thing I've had success with ONE time was with a pullet with paralysis that did walk again after 6 weeks. I have to say it was because she had the time to recuperate , and kept her weight and ate well. It may have been a rare occurrence. I don't think she recovered because of the naps we had together, LOL.

I vaccinate because I don't want a chick to suffer from Marek's and die. I don't use Hypericum, but I have the same goals as people on this thread do.

Way back, the OP had stated that this Hypericum was a cure. It is not. It's something that may or may not work. The goal here, I imagine , is to verify that it really works. That can only be done with a pathologist and a PCR before and after the Hypericum treatment. I look at this as the next step following layman documented trial and error. Not making people feel bad that it worked or not and posting their results.

 

[tridentk9]

While talking to the vet he stated that when a chicken has Marik's Disease that's it for the chicken. He also stated that diagnosis with out tests like PCR may come out incorrect (speculations of MD but may be something else) and the chicken is medicated anyways with hypericum and they come out ok afterwards.

I guess what I'm looking for is if someone tested their chicken and it came back conclusive for MD and they then medicated the bird with Hypericum and the bird pulled through.

- Hlorap

Latent periods are not unusual with Marek's Disease. In other words- even non-medicated chickens will show symptoms, appear to recover (or not get worse), show symptoms, recover, and so on. With or without hypericum or any other current therapy, this cycling is normal.

In these latent periods it is even possible for some individuals to not shed the virus and to test negative for Marek's Disease Virus. Most will still test positive and most will shed MDV but a few may appear "cured", though it is just temporary until the immune system is stressed enough to allow MDV to resurface from it's hiding place.

 

[MoodyChicken]

Quote:
It actually cures. I had a bird who had classic symptoms. I treated her with the Hypericum and she made a full recovery. A year later she died from old age and we had her body necropsied. All the lesions caused by Marek's had completely healed. Our vet looked it over and confirmed that it actually cured the bird.

I do agree with you though. I think it depends on the individual bird. Another bird I treated later recovered, but he still limps. In his case I think the virus has simply gone into remission.

 

[nzpouter]

We are talking hypericum, the plant with yellow flowers?

We have those in the garden, wonder if the chickens will self medicate...

 

[MoodyChicken]

Quote:
A vet told me this. I've used it, it works most of the time. The industry doesn't use it because it's more economical to replace the bird, not fix the problem.

 

[AHappychick]

I wanted to add that today I discussed this coarse of treatment with my vet, after hearing that I was doing it the first time he did more research on it. He said although there is no cure that this treatment is being used and has been successful, but that it is unknown in the medical community whether it just helps support them as they go through the mareks it or if it can cure, he leans towards the first but no one knows for sure. I am so thankful of this post since for me it seems to be working, and as the vet said certainly cant hurt. Thanks Moody

 

[mypicklebird]

Quote:
I would interpret this necropsy as a bird that did not have Marek's. Not a cured bird. The diagnosis of Marek's is based on histopath & necropsy. You can't really diagnose it on a live bird unless you 1) have classic occular Marek's 2) have external tumors that can be biopsied 3) exploratory or endoscopy to obtain internal tissue samples. How can you know the bird hard Marek's to start with? I assume it had symptoms consistent with Marek's? Like a limping bird or a partial paralysis? Many things can cause this, and many will get better with supportive care and time. Who is the vet that recommends Hypericum for Marek's? Avian & Exotics specialist? Alternative care practice? I would love to know.

 

[IndigoPhish]

Hi, I have completed a diploma in Animal Homeopathy (but am not practicing) and I am the 'mother' of a Marek's survivor. At least, I think its Marek's. She limped on one leg, and kept tripping over herself as if she couldn't feel her feet, and she didn't want to eat or drink and was very thin (I could feel her keel). Then the other leg stopped working.

I tried Hypericum but I don't think it worked for her. In fact, I am fortunate to have 200+ remedies at my disposal. The difficulty with homeopathy is that you are treating symptoms, not a disease. So it didn't matter much to me whether she had Marek's disease because I was choosing my remedies based on the symptoms she was exhibiting. However, when your animal can't explain if there is pain, or what kind of pain or where, or concommitants (symptoms elsewhere in the body seemingly unrelated to the disease), or whether she feels better or worse by doing certain things (e.g. better for motion, worse for eating, better for warmth) - when your animal can't describe any of these, you are left with very few things to work with.

Hypericum is a leading homeopathic remedy for nerve problems (jam your fingers in the door, Hypericum would probably help) but it doesn't mean that it will 'cure' all birds that have paralysis of their extremities. There are in fact, many homeopathic remedies that can help with paralysis. Some for ascending paralysis, some for paralysis of one side of the body, etc. The difficulty is finding the right one.

Even with training, I tried probably 15-20 different Rxs over a period of several weeks and it was depressing. Especially when the second leg gave out. The only thing that stopped me from taking her to the vet to be put down (the vet had initially suggested Marek's when the limping began) was that I wanted to try a few more remedies before I admitted failure. Plus, after Tammy gave up on food and water in the beginning (I syringed stuff into her and gave her Rxs for depression), by the time she was 'legless', she was eating loads and preening herself. I've since decided preening might sometimes just be a way of appearing normal so you don't get picked off by a predator. I'm sure a chicken expert can confirm or deny this.

It is now 5 weeks since I first noticed her limping and she's walking slowly but is back to hanging out with my other 4 birds. After she showed signs of improving, I stopped giving the homeopathic Rxs but after a week without them, she stopped eating/drinking so I reinstated and she started eating again. I do not know whether she is over her limping problems but I am hopeful. Sometimes when you get a remedy close to the correct one, you have a initial improvement but the remedy can't 'hold' and the disease takes control again.

I would recommend to anyone with birds that have an 'incurable' disease as I understand Marek's to be, that they see an animal homoepath. I'm not suggesting you bypass your vet, but after they've told you its incurable and only have one answer (euthanasia).

Animal homeopaths probably don't have a lot of experience with poultry (I am only a Mother Hen of 6 months and know little about them myself) but if you observe your bird well before you see them, you might be able to give enough information for the AH to give the right rx. It might even turn out that there are 3-4 leading rxs for Marek's and Hypericum is one of them. This might explain why a number of you seem to have success with Hypericum despite not knowing much about homeopathy!

The remedy that I think helped my Rhode Islander, for what its worth, was Gelsemium. Keynotes of the Rx include trembling, weakness and drowsiness (eyes were heavy lidded) but that was about the only things I had to go on and it may not work for your bird. However, next time you have the flu and exhibit these symptoms, it might be the Rx for you

Homeopathic Rxs need to touch the mucous membranes but they are pretty robust. Some homeopaths report good results despite handling the pills, dropping them on the floor a couple of times and then putting them in a large trough of dirty water. For my hen, I put a pill in a small jar, banged the lidded jar on the table a couple of times (to make sure the rx energy is transferred to the water), then I aimed the syringe at my hens beak and she swallowed some of it down. I also poured it on her food to moisten the pellets.

I hope this helps some of you. There are plenty of people who think homeopathy is pure quackery (no pun) but the great thing about treating animals with it, is that you can't put it down to placebo effect. If there is no other reasonable explanation or serendipitous coincidence then maybe its those little sugar pills that you put in their water.

Good luck.