Viable treatment for Marek's Disease.

[Chicalina]

I've been reading up about this supplement since coming across this thread.

Apparently, it's good for preventing and reducing fat deposits and can be good for weight reduction and preventing diabetes.

I've ordered some and I may just share some of it with the chickens!

 

[Mason Farm and Ranch]

From the articles I read, it is a spectacularly popular herb in China because of the multitude of ailments it treats. My focus is on a treatment for Marek's. The fact that it treats Avian Flu and Mycoplasma Gallisepticum are just a bonus.

 

[Coppy]

If you put him in the segregated pen the others were in, they may reestablish their prior relationship.

The preventative dose goes in their feed. All feed. Crumble, pellets and/ or scratch. I calculated the measurements to be 3 tablespoons and 1 teaspoon of powder per 50lbs of feed. I mix it in and add a little oil to make it stick to the feed.

Thank you for the dosage for the feed. I will mix it in their feed + some oil .

The rooster seems to be accepted back in without much hassle. I feel so relieved. When the roo was limping and weak the other roo and 4 yr old boss hen were after him, but now the other roo seems rather submissive. The boss hen still picks on him though.

His girl friend ran right over to him right away and they looked happy for the reunion

Neither roo has started crowing yet, so when they start exhibiting more masculinity, I don't know if they can stay peaceful like this ... I hope they stay good friends though.. as I see this roo with Marek's is starting to court a little bit....

 

[Mason Farm and Ranch]

Thank you for the dosage for the feed. I will mix it in their feed + some oil .

The rooster seems to be accepted back in without much hassle. I feel so relieved. When the roo was limping and weak the other roo and 4 yr old boss hen were after him, but now the other roo seems rather submissive. The boss hen still picks on him though.

His girl friend ran right over to him right away and they looked happy for the reunion

Neither roo has started crowing yet, so when they start exhibiting more masculinity, I don't know if they can stay peaceful like this ... I hope they stay good friends though.. as I see this roo with Marek's is starting to court a little bit....

If they start fighting, look into pinless blinders. I have them on my Ayam Cemani. He's absolutely aggressive and I like it that way, but the blinders put an end to the bloody fights. Now he just intimates them.

 

[Mason Farm and Ranch]

Thank you for the dosage for the feed. I will mix it in their feed + some oil .

The rooster seems to be accepted back in without much hassle. I feel so relieved. When the roo was limping and weak the other roo and 4 yr old boss hen were after him, but now the other roo seems rather submissive. The boss hen still picks on him though.

His girl friend ran right over to him right away and they looked happy for the reunion

Neither roo has started crowing yet, so when they start exhibiting more masculinity, I don't know if they can stay peaceful like this ... I hope they stay good friends though.. as I see this roo with Marek's is starting to court a little bit....

So, he recovered in about a week?

 

[Coppy]

So, he recovered in about a week?

His limping is gone and I don't see him breathing hard too much any more. (Sometimes he sits down away from the other chickens. I'm not sure if it's a shortness of breath. But he doesn't open-close his mouth anymore when he tries to breathe like he was doing for the first several days. His was mild case ? I wonder.

Or something other than Marek's? Lameness and the labored breathing was so similar to the symptoms one of the two hens that died was exhibiting, so I assumed he got that from them.

But the hen showing the same symptoms did seem to have recovered too after 10 days of me nursing her inside the house feeding her scrambled eggs w/nutritional yeast and other vitamins. She could walk again and the labored breathing was gone for a couple of weeks. But the symptoms came back again and she eventually died in one month from the first onset of the symptoms... of course, she wasn't on Skullcap.. (not sure if she also ended up with lymphoma as I didn't send her for necropsy.)

So I'm really hoping this roo stays healthy and this is the permanent recovery as long as he is on Skullcap.

 

[Mason Farm and Ranch]

His limping is gone and I don't see him breathing hard too much any more. (Sometimes he sits down away from the other chickens. I'm not sure if it's a shortness of breath. But he doesn't open-close his mouth anymore when he tries to breathe like he was doing for the first several days. His was mild case ? I wonder.

Or something other than Marek's? Lameness and the labored breathing was so similar to the symptoms one of the two hens that died was exhibiting, so I assumed he got that from them.

But the hen showing the same symptoms did seem to have recovered too after 10 days of me nursing her inside the house feeding her scrambled eggs w/nutritional yeast and other vitamins. She could walk again and the labored breathing was gone for a couple of weeks. But the symptoms came back again and she eventually died in one month from the first onset of the symptoms... of course, she wasn't on Skullcap.. (not sure if she also ended up with lymphoma as I didn't send her for necropsy.)

So I'm really hoping this roo stays healthy and this is the permanent recovery as long as he is on Skullcap.

If they got better while being fed inside and then relapsed and died when you put them outside, you could be looking at aflatoxicosis. It's caused by toxins in feed, specially corn.

Since roosters eat mainly scratch and he went down, the finger points at a possible bad batch of scratch.

With that being said, he would still have responded to treatment by Chinese Skullcap as it protects the liver from the effects of toxins. (Bonus...).

Aflatoxicosis also lowers the immune system and lessens the effectiveness of vaccines. Opening the door for Marek's.

Change out your feed and give your Rooster an inexpensive supplement called N-acetylcysteine (NAC). I flushes toxins from the liver. Dosage is 400mg per lb of bird.

It's really effective. Hospitals give it to patients whose liver has acetaminophen toxicity. Chinese Skullcap only provides protection from the effects. It doesn't get rid of the toxins themselves.

 

[Coppy]

If they got better while being fed inside and then relapsed and died when you put them outside, you could be looking at aflatoxicosis. It's caused by toxins in feed, specially corn.

Since roosters eat mainly scratch and he went down, the finger points at a possible bad batch of scratch.

With that being said, he would still have responded to treatment by Chinese Skullcap as it protects the liver from the effects of toxins. (Bonus...).

Aflatoxicosis also lowers the immune system and lessens the effectiveness of vaccines. Opening the door for Marek's.

Change out your feed and give your Rooster an inexpensive supplement called N-acetylcysteine (NAC). I flushes toxins from the liver. Dosage is 400mg per lb of bird.

It's really effective. Hospitals give it to patients whose liver has acetaminophen toxicity. Chinese Skullcap only provides protection from the effects. It doesn't get rid of the toxins themselves.

I was thinking something like that too about the cause of the relapsing...
I do try to buy small bags of feed and keep it in the house, and try to use it up rather short period of time. But when the feed is out in the yard it's exposed to the sun,

If they got better while being fed inside and then relapsed and died when you put them outside, you could be looking at aflatoxicosis. It's caused by toxins in feed, specially corn.

Since roosters eat mainly scratch and he went down, the finger points at a possible bad batch of scratch.

With that being said, he would still have responded to treatment by Chinese Skullcap as it protects the liver from the effects of toxins. (Bonus...).

Aflatoxicosis also lowers the immune system and lessens the effectiveness of vaccines. Opening the door for Marek's.

Change out your feed and give your Rooster an inexpensive supplement called N-acetylcysteine (NAC). I flushes toxins from the liver. Dosage is 400mg per lb of bird.

It's really effective. Hospitals give it to patients whose liver has acetaminophen toxicity. Chinese Skullcap only provides protection from the effects. It doesn't get rid of the toxins themselves.

I was thinking something like that too about the cause of the relapse...
I do try to buy small bags of feed and keep it in the house, and try to use it up in short period of time. .. then I change the feed every day too.. But I'm sure it could still get moldy.
Also, when the feed is out in the yard it's exposed to the sun, wild birds and squirrels eat them too so maybe they got bacterial infections from the wild animals ... it's my fault. I beat myself up for taking them outside.. I just thought they must miss being outside scratching the ground and dust bathing, etc. big mistake, feel so guilty...

Thank you for the info on the detoxing supplement too ! I will buy it and give him that too Good to know !

He does like eating crumbles too. The hens and the roos all seem to eat both crumbles and scratch equally.

 

[Mason Farm and Ranch]

I was thinking something like that too about the cause of the relapsing...
I do try to buy small bags of feed and keep it in the house, and try to use it up rather short period of time. But when the feed is out in the yard it's exposed to the sun,

I was thinking something like that too about the cause of the relapse...
I do try to buy small bags of feed and keep it in the house, and try to use it up in short period of time. .. then I change the feed every day too.. But I'm sure it could still get moldy.
Also, when the feed is out in the yard it's exposed to the sun, wild birds and squirrels eat them too so maybe they got bacterial infections from the wild animals ... it's my fault. I beat myself up for taking them outside.. I just thought they must miss being outside scratching the ground and dust bathing, etc. big mistake, feel so guilty...

Thank you for the info on the detoxing supplement too ! I will buy it and give him that too Good to know !

He does like eating crumbles too. The hens and the roos all seem to eat both crumbles and scratch equally.

Oh good. Throwing out 50-100 lbs of feed stings a bit.

The kicker is, it ain't nothing you did with the feed. The toxins likely occurred during processing. Otherwise, you'd notice mold in your bag.

 

[Mason Farm and Ranch]

Well ya'll. Time for an update. The sudden inexplicable deaths attributed to Marek's have stopped. While I have had several deaths since treatment began, I know why they died. Most were due to irreparable damage that occurred prior to the beginning of treatment, or in one case completely unrelated events.

I asked for feedback from those who decided to give Chinese Skullcap a go instead of doing nothing. Those that have reported back have had success in turning sick birds around. The maintenance dosage is still under scrutiny as I can't call it a success within such a short time frame. I will however say it is looking pretty good.

I have a few dozen unvaccinated babies soon reaching the age when Marek's tends to be most deadly. The next few months will be critical as if I have little to no deaths it will speak volumes to the efficacy of the maintenance dosage.

As before, please chime in with your experiences with Chinese Skullcap. Including any experiences with Mycoplasma Gallisepticum or Avian Flu. While I do have several birds who have had MG, they were asymptomatic when I started the maintenance dosage, so my experience is inconclusive at this time.