St. John's Wort

[heartsizedfarm]

Need to know what comes of this.

 

[cjpines]

FYI, I think if you ask the labs at UC Davis you'll find that Marek's is one of the top 5 causes of death. If not top 5, definitely top 10.
Since you're in CA you should know that necropsies are free for us and they'll even let us use their FedEx number to ship them.

• http://www.cahfs.ucdavis.edu/
• https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/799747/how-to-send-a-bird-for-a-necropsy-pictures

-Kathy

Yes, thanks I have your information. But we decided to bury her. If any more die then definitely they will go to UC Davis, I have your info for Fedx Ex number. Thanks again.

 

[Nambroth]

Had to put down our bird with Marek's. We took her to the vet after 5 days of being sick. She put her on Hypericum. She stayed on this herb for 4 days and suddenly regressed. Possibly if taken right away it would of worked?

Even when started earlier, I haven't had it work. Like Kathy said, don't beat yourself up; when Marek's is visceral, it is essentially a very aggressive cancer. Even with all of our modern medicine and science, we can't save people all the time either if it's very far advanced. I'm really sorry for your loss.

 

[casportpony]

Yes, thanks I have your information. But we decided to bury her. If any more die then definitely they will go to UC Davis, I have your info for Fedx Ex number. Thanks again.

I understand. Some I send off, others I'd rather bury.

-Kathy

 

[cjpines]

Even when started earlier, I haven't had it work. Like Kathy said, don't beat yourself up; when Marek's is visceral, it is essentially a very aggressive cancer. Even with all of our modern medicine and science, we can't save people all the time either if it's very far advanced. I'm really sorry for your loss.

Thank you so much for everything you have said and Kathy too. Appreciated.

 

[CarolinaBoy]

My rooster came down with what we think is Marek's disease. We have done the exact mix according to Moody in one of the first posts on this thread. That rooster was laying down with his head down on the floor in front of him and not moving and had a serious limp to the point he could not walk on his right leg hardly at all, hopping when he did move. We also googled pics and saw skin lesions or deterioration… he had that too.

This started about a week and a half ago. He is now limping slightly, has his feisty attitude back, but still has a slight limp. We didn't know what he had when we first saw it, as we have only been doing chickens for a year and a half now. We put him in our homemade brooder with our bantams… now my smallest little rooster, a bantam, has it and a silky bantam hen has it. We are currently treating them as we did Pecker Head… and yes, that is his name. We also gave PH antibiotics in his water, as instructed by the package directions. We force fed him this several times daily too with the eye dropper we used to give him the Hypericum… washed off first of course. We also have been stretching his leg and rotating it gently in its socket. So far so good.

I don't know how far this will go in the flock. I reckon time will tell. I'm still not sure how long we need to treat our birds with the Hypericum though. So far, PH has been going on since Wed. OR Thurs. a week and a half ago. I am praying that Moody was right and this is a cure!?

 

[cjpines]

My rooster came down with what we think is Marek's disease. We have done the exact mix according to Moody in one of the first posts on this thread. That rooster was laying down with his head down on the floor in front of him and not moving and had a serious limp to the point he could not walk on his right leg hardly at all, hopping when he did move. We also googled pics and saw skin lesions or deterioration… he had that too.

This started about a week and a half ago. He is now limping slightly, has his feisty attitude back, but still has a slight limp. We didn't know what he had when we first saw it, as we have only been doing chickens for a year and a half now. We put him in our homemade brooder with our bantams… now my smallest little rooster, a bantam, has it and a silky bantam hen has it. We are currently treating them as we did Pecker Head… and yes, that is his name. We also gave PH antibiotics in his water, as instructed by the package directions. We force fed him this several times daily too with the eye dropper we used to give him the Hypericum… washed off first of course. We also have been stretching his leg and rotating it gently in its socket. So far so good.

I don't know how far this will go in the flock. I reckon time will tell. I'm still not sure how long we need to treat our birds with the Hypericum though. So far, PH has been going on since Wed. OR Thurs. a week and a half ago. I am praying that Moody was right and this is a cure!?

All I can say is what my vet told us when our chicken was sick. She said to give, 2x a day, Hypericum for three days. She was laying on her side and the vet said if she improves to sitting up with her head up discontinue dosage. If no improvement in 3 days stop dosage and call her. As others will say, there is no cure for Marek's if indeed your birds have it.

 

[chooks4life]

My rooster came down with what we think is Marek's disease. We have done the exact mix according to Moody in one of the first posts on this thread. That rooster was laying down with his head down on the floor in front of him and not moving and had a serious limp to the point he could not walk on his right leg hardly at all, hopping when he did move. We also googled pics and saw skin lesions or deterioration… he had that too.

This started about a week and a half ago. He is now limping slightly, has his feisty attitude back, but still has a slight limp. We didn't know what he had when we first saw it, as we have only been doing chickens for a year and a half now. We put him in our homemade brooder with our bantams… now my smallest little rooster, a bantam, has it and a silky bantam hen has it. We are currently treating them as we did Pecker Head… and yes, that is his name. We also gave PH antibiotics in his water, as instructed by the package directions. We force fed him this several times daily too with the eye dropper we used to give him the Hypericum… washed off first of course. We also have been stretching his leg and rotating it gently in its socket. So far so good.

I don't know how far this will go in the flock. I reckon time will tell. I'm still not sure how long we need to treat our birds with the Hypericum though. So far, PH has been going on since Wed. OR Thurs. a week and a half ago. I am praying that Moody was right and this is a cure!?

Hello and

, sorry it's bad news that brings you here, but that's often how it goes.

As for whether this is a cure, that will take longer to know for sure, and hopefully you can contribute to that knowledge by letting us know how it goes with you down the track.

All I can say is what my vet told us when our chicken was sick. She said to give, 2x a day, Hypericum for three days. She was laying on her side and the vet said if she improves to sitting up with her head up discontinue dosage. If no improvement in 3 days stop dosage and call her. As others will say, there is no cure for Marek's if indeed your birds have it.

Some say that but some others say there is no such thing as incurable disease, only disease for which we have not yet found the cure.

Best wishes.

 

[Nambroth]

Then let's rephrase that.

There is currently no known cure for Marek's disease. Nothing that will remove the latent RNA virus from the body and prevent the shedding of live virus and/or the occurrence of later symptoms or repressed immune system in an infected bird.

There are therapies that might reduce or possibly eliminate SYMPTOMS in a Marek's symptomatic bird.

Therapies that might reduce or eliminate symptoms are GREAT, but it is important to make the distinction between a cure and a removal of active symptoms. Removal of active symptoms may save or improve the life of a Marek's bird. This is great! But nothing yet has been found that can literally remove the virus from the bird's body. The distinction is important for how one deals with bio-security and addition of future birds to the situation!

Maybe there will be a true cure someday, but right now this is what the situation is (sadly!).

 

[chicknmania]

Then let's rephrase that.

There is currently no known cure for Marek's disease. Nothing that will remove the latent RNA virus from the body and prevent the shedding of live virus and/or the occurrence of later symptoms or repressed immune system in an infected bird.

There are therapies that might reduce or possibly eliminate SYMPTOMS in a Marek's symptomatic bird.

Therapies that might reduce or eliminate symptoms are GREAT, but it is important to make the distinction between a cure and a removal of active symptoms. Removal of active symptoms may save or improve the life of a Marek's bird. This is great! But nothing yet has been found that can literally remove the virus from the bird's body. The distinction is important for how one deals with bio-security and addition of future birds to the situation!

Maybe there will be a true cure someday, but right now this is what the situation is (sadly!).

Whether theres no "cure" for Marek's disease, or not, I can speak from personal experience, as can many others, that Hypericum is a miraculous cure for many chickens as far as whatever it is that ails them. People are WAY behind the times in figuring out the diseases of birds, and the cures, because frankly? No one used to care. So MY personal take on it is this. Do whatever you think you need to do. If Hypericum helps you (which it very well might) go for it. If it doesn't, at least you tried.