St. John's Wort

[chooks4life]

Ah, sorry to hear it. There's always those that just can't be saved. Good on you for trying anyway.

Best wishes and hope it goes better in future.

 

[chicknmania]

Thank you,

 

[mendocinobirds]

St. Johns Wort does work and save birds lives. But only in a smaller percentage and they do carry damage from Marek's after that. Id like to build immunity to Marek's

 

[behealthy]

Hi everyone, I would like to know if St John Wort is effective to treat ocular marek's (The case of the grey/iregular shape iris). 2 out of 3 of my chickens have it and they all seems to be wasting away at the moment. I really hope that st John wort would help? Thank you.

 

[chicknmania]

Hi everyone, I would like to know if St John Wort is effective to treat ocular marek's (The case of the grey/iregular shape iris). 2 out of 3 of my chickens have it and they all seems to be wasting away at the moment. I really hope that st John wort would help? Thank you.

You can only try it. Sometimes, it works and sometimes not. It will not hurt them to try. I think the Hypericum 30 capsules are best, but people have different preferences

 

[casportpony]

Quote: Has anyone actually successfully treated ocular Marek's with it or anything else?

-Kathy

 

[chooks4life]

You can only try it. Sometimes, it works and sometimes not. It will not hurt them to try. I think the Hypericum 30 capsules are best, but people have different preferences

X2. All you can do is try it.

I linked to an article detailing the proven benefits of SJW a few pages back, @behealthy .

If you do try it, please let us know how it goes.

There's another thread on this forum about a woman using human anti-viral meds against Marek's, you may want to try that if you can get it, though the potential side effects are worlds worse than anything SJW can do. Pros and cons.

But don't try both at once, SJW is very good at making other medications not work.

Here's that thread:
Quote:
Asides from that, building resistance (I don't know if total immunity is yet possible) is the long-term way to go, in my opinion and experience. It's been quite a few years since I lost any bird to Marek's or even saw a case among my own chooks, I definitely recommend not vaccinating against it, and just selecting against the susceptible lines. It worked like a charm.

Best wishes and good luck!

 

[chicknmania]

Why is it that it seems to be the pullets who are the most friendly and tame, that get this disease??? Now Peanut's sister, Peaches, has what I am pretty sure is the start of Marek's. She always flies to our shoulders when we come out to the barn for any reason, she likes to ride around. Yesterday she flew to my shoulder and fell off, but I didn't pay much attention, I was in a hurry and I was wearing a slippery coat. This morning I noticed the others picking on her, and she was walking slowly and a little off balance. I fed her in my lap, where I noticed the balance issues again. When I saw her sit down to eat at one of the feeders, I decided to catch and confine her, which I have done. I gave her a big dose of Vitamin B & K in a strawberry, which she ate. I guess I will try to start her on the SJW.

 

[chooks4life]

Sorry to hear that. Sometimes very docile natures can be related to animals lacking the vigor of fitter animals, it's not uncommon to see docility correlated with lower immune function in quite a few species.

At least you know what parent lines produce future victims, I guess? Looking on the brighter side of a very dark cloud? I don't recall offhand if you've ever said you even bred these yourself.

Best wishes and good luck.

 

[chicknmania]

Thank you . Yes, we bred them here. But weirdly, her grandmother is the oldest hen in the flock, she's 9. . So here's my question, and I may post a separate thread, also, but this is baffling me, so any thoughts would be appreciated.

This pullet, Peaches, is 4 mos old. Her sister was Peanut, the pullet I described most recently in this thread. So when Peaches started acting weak and sitting down to eat this past Saturday, I thought she probably had Marek's too. But, she is different. I pulled her and put her in a hospital pen and started her on Hypericum, and Rooster Booster liquid K & B concentrate, this past Saturday.. She improved immediately. The only symptoms she's really shown though, are weakness, a slight listing to the left, a balance problem, and seizures. She's had seizures twice, both in the morning, after eating and having her vitamins. she had such a big improvement from Saturday that this morning I decided not to give her Hypericum, and just gave her vitamins with her breakfast. But she had a seizure, or convulsion, whatever you want to call it, half an hour after she ate. So I gave her Hypericum at noon. When I've cjhecked on her this afternoon, she's been acting more or less normal, a little slow, but has full use of her legs, powerful wing action from both wings, scratching in her bedding, and none of the symptoms Peanut had. Her only problem is the balance and seizures. I have started treating her a lot earlier than I started treating Peanut, and I still think it's probably Marek's, maybe she has a lesion in a different part of her body, or whatever, but I'm just not sure. I noticed that she has lice, or probably lice, (although I haven't seen any) she's scratching. I haven't noticed her using the communal dust bath before she got sick, so it's not surprising. But could lice cause this? And if so, how should I treat them since I can't use meds with the Hypericum? I have DE, ashes, Insectrin. Peaches does not like being handled much, even though she loves to ride on our shoulders. She fights and struggles and is quite strong wnenever we handle her, I'm sure it doesn't help her neuro issues. I have to wrap her in a towel to give her the Hypericum. I do think the hypericum, the vitamins, or a combination of both, are helping, so, I'm reluctant to stop giving her those things just yet. Any thoughts on this??? Also, I want to get a fecal sample, jic, but I haven't found any! Well, I found one the other day, but didn't keep it. Her droppings are hard, dry, and small. (???)