Trying a mereks cure

[KRack]

My flock was diagnosed with Marek’s. I’ve lost 2 chickens to it. I tried allll the things, including hypericum (I used St Johns wort capsules but have the plants here as well). Unfortunately for my girls it didn’t work. However the rest of my flock is fine, and we had a hen hatch our current rooster and he’s been fine (unvaccinated) so far. He’s 13 weeks now. I plan to try to breed for resistance like the Amish around me do. Good luck on your journey!!

 

[TinyRaptorDodos]

My flock was diagnosed with Marek’s. I’ve lost 2 chickens to it. I tried allll the things, including hypericum (I used St Johns wort capsules but have the plants here as well). Unfortunately for my girls it didn’t work. However the rest of my flock is fine, and we had a hen hatch our current rooster and he’s been fine (unvaccinated) so far. He’s 13 weeks now. I plan to try to breed for resistance like the Amish around me do. Good luck on your journey!!

I think it’s a mix between the 30x hypericum in the sinuses, leg stretches, Apple cider vinegar and the probiotics… though I still haven’t gotten probiotics to Reaper and she’s up and hobbling around and cleaning, eating and drinking and very talkative again, I do think the egg yolk and music helped a lot too

 

[Florida Bullfrog]

Just a couple of points that popped into my
mind:

1. Because the Marek’s vaccine doesn’t actually prevent the disease, I wouldn’t be surprised to see instances where it also fails to mitigate fatalities.

2. Because Marek’s can’t be cured, I am wondering one of two things; did your vet make an accurate diagnosis and did your chicken have a temporary recovery that will flare up later?

To the diagnosis, Marek’s can’t really be identified by symptoms alone, as so many other conditions mimic it. One condition that mimics Marek’s is vitamin deficiency. So I am wondering if your treatment was actually curing a lack of certain vitamins.

 

[Florida Bullfrog]

Another condition that mimics Marek’s are botulism and other poisonings. Both Marek’s and botulism were diagnosed as a condition called “range paralysis” or “range sickness” prior to the 1900s, likely owed to free range chickens getting into something in the environment that poisoned them.

 

[TinyRaptorDodos]

Just a couple of points that popped into my
mind:

1. Because the Marek’s vaccine doesn’t actually prevent the disease, I wouldn’t be surprised to see instances where it also fails to mitigate fatalities.

2. Because Marek’s can’t be cured, I am wondering one of two things; did your vet make an accurate diagnosis and did your chicken have a temporary recovery that will flare up later?

To the diagnosis, Marek’s can’t really be identified by symptoms alone, as so many other conditions mimic it. One condition that mimics Marek’s is vitamin deficiency. So I am wondering if your treatment was actually curing a lack of certain vitamins.

Unless vitamin deficiency is contagious I don’t think it’s that.

I took my chicken, ghost to the vet, they said it was most likely Mareks as they’ve had many other cases of Mareks that year.

The “cure” is more of a way to keep them alive and speed up the process of the virus so it passes before they die, we found a post on it about how someone saved their entire flock with that treatment, and it is most definitely working, even if it is not Mareks Reaper is almost fully recovered her leg is just still hard to move, she’s getting there though, been wobbling around her cage.

Homeopathy is never a “cure” it’s just making it pass much faster then usual, it’s not like a drug medicine that just suppresses symptoms, it helps her system work the virus out faster while I keep her fed and watered even if she doesn’t want to. I’m really glad it is working for me, the medicine Hypericum helps heal nerve injury then I think the apple cider vinegar is to help kill off anything in her stomach preventing her from eating or pooping

 

[TinyRaptorDodos]

Another condition that mimics Marek’s are botulism and other poisonings. Both Marek’s and botulism were diagnosed as a condition called “range paralysis” or “range sickness” prior to the 1900s, likely owed to free range chickens getting into something in the environment that poisoned them.

We were thinking ghost might’ve stepped on something and got into her blood stream when she fractured her toe but how would it have spread to reaper?
They only go into my two neighbors yards and they don’t use pesticides or poisonings, one of them feeds them sunflower seeds and the other throws out old food, from bread to meat to fish.

Ghost went missing for a few hours the day before she became paralyzed and that’s when she fractured her toe though I saw no signs of puncture wounds

 

[KRack]

I’m glad it seems to be working! Definitely keep us posted!!

 

[TinyRaptorDodos]

I’m glad it seems to be working! Definitely keep us posted!!

I will! With her progress she should be back with the flock by Sunday or Monday

 

[Florida Bullfrog]

Unless vitamin deficiency is contagious I don’t think it’s that.

I took my chicken, ghost to the vet, they said it was most likely Mareks as they’ve had many other cases of Mareks that year.

The “cure” is more of a way to keep them alive and speed up the process of the virus so it passes before they die, we found a post on it about how someone saved their entire flock with that treatment, and it is most definitely working, even if it is not Mareks Reaper is almost fully recovered her leg is just still hard to move, she’s getting there though, been wobbling around her cage.

Homeopathy is never a “cure” it’s just making it pass much faster then usual, it’s not like a drug medicine that just suppresses symptoms, it helps her system work the virus out faster while I keep her fed and watered even if she doesn’t want to. I’m really glad it is working for me, the medicine Hypericum helps heal nerve injury then I think the apple cider vinegar is to help kill off anything in her stomach preventing her from eating or pooping

Marek’s never passes. Once a chicken has the virus in them, they have it for life. The visible symptoms are caused by tumors in various places in the body. For the chicken to get over severe symptoms like paralysis, it would mean the tumors would have to go into remission, and the chicken would be a lifetime carrier in which the tumors may flare up again. Mareks is basically a virally-caused chicken cancer.

We were thinking ghost might’ve stepped on something and got into her blood stream when she fractured her toe but how would it have spread to reaper?
They only go into my two neighbors yards and they don’t use pesticides or poisonings, one of them feeds them sunflower seeds and the other throws out old food, from bread to meat to fish.

Ghost went missing for a few hours the day before she became paralyzed and that’s when she fractured her toe though I saw no signs of puncture wounds

Botulism is a poisoning caused by toxins from a particular bacteria that eats decaying things in an anaerobic environment. It often comes from chickens eating insects that are themselves eating the decaying things the bacteria is in. It can also come from compost piles and decaying plant material in a shallow pond. Botulism is a leading cause of death in wild fowl on North America. It comes and goes in cycles. It can kill entire flocks because the entire flock may be hitting the same natural food source that contains the toxins.

There are many poisonous plants out there that chickens generally stay away from but some individuals don’t for whatever reason. I’ve recently dealt with salt bush poisoning in some of my newer free rangers where they were too inexperienced not to eat it and lacked an instinctual avoidance of it. Symptoms were Marek’s like paralysis leading to death unless I interceded early. Early intercession by removing access to the plant and giving them plenty of water to flush it out gave the survivors a full recovery.

Vitamin deficiencies can also appear throughout a flock of the flock is being fed the same diet that is deficient in whatever vitamin.

There’s also a slew of other avian viruses and bacterias out there that cause paralysis as a symptom, some of which the chickens can likely get over.

I don’t doubt you’ve figured out a good treatment as to whatever your chickens are dealing with. I simply lack faith in the vet’s diagnosis short of cutting open a dead chicken and seeing Marek’s tumors. Marek’s is somewhat of a catch-all diagnosis these days in my opinion.

 

[TinyRaptorDodos]

Marek’s never passes. Once a chicken has the virus in them, they have it for life. The visible symptoms are caused by tumors in various places in the body. For the chicken to get over severe symptoms like paralysis, it would mean the tumors would have to go into remission, and the chicken would be a lifetime carrier in which the tumors may flare up again. Mareks is basically a virally-caused chicken cancer.



Botulism is a poisoning caused by toxins from a particular bacteria that eats decaying things in an anaerobic environment. It often comes from chickens eating insects that are themselves eating the decaying things the bacteria is in. It can also come from compost piles and decaying plant material in a shallow pond. Botulism is a leading cause of death in wild fowl on North America. It comes and goes in cycles. It can kill entire flocks because the entire flock may be hitting the same natural food source that contains the toxins.

There are many poisonous plants out there that chickens generally stay away from but some individuals don’t for whatever reason. I’ve recently dealt with salt bush poisoning in some of my newer free rangers where they were too inexperienced not to eat it and lacked an instinctual avoidance of it. Symptoms were Marek’s like paralysis leading to death unless I interceded early. Early intercession by removing access to the plant and giving them plenty of water to flush it out gave the survivors a full recovery.

Vitamin deficiencies can also appear throughout a flock of the flock is being fed the same diet that is deficient in whatever vitamin.

There’s also a slew of other avian viruses and bacterias out there that cause paralysis as a symptom, some of which the chickens can likely get over.

I don’t doubt you’ve figured out a good treatment as to whatever your chickens are dealing with. I simply lack faith in the vet’s diagnosis short of cutting open a dead chicken and seeing Marek’s tumors. Marek’s is somewhat of a catch-all diagnosis these days in my opinion.

It’s a little too late for that sadly, ghost was put in a group cremation since it was only 15$, I really don’t want Reaper dying, Ghost I wasn’t too concerned about because she was kind of mean, Reaper is my sweetest most cuddly bird(and the most expensive one I have other then the hen I got at 2yrs and the rooster I got with her)
Ghost I wouldn’t be surprised if she ate something but Reaper is super cautious to food even I feed her, she’s never been one for exploring especially in this weather, since she doesn’t have water repellant feathers so unless there are like, vole droppings in their feed I’m not sure what she could’ve eaten