Welsummer acting funny

[leadwolf1]

I agree with your daughter. However, there is nothing wrong with seeing if vitamins work, first. As long as she is still alive, it won't matter when you take her. Whether today, or next week. Marek's is a virus, true. I have yet to have one survive.

 

[snowflake]

Very interesting thread, I to have a chick 9 weeks old that has gone lame, don't know if it is an injury or illness. after reading all the posts on this thread, I understand why I have been unable to get specifics on Merrick's. how long does it take for the tumors to show up, so the necropsy will be helpful? I am in Mi. and I think it is $80 for a necropsy at MSU.
did you end up vaccination your flock?and how long did it take for you to lose 40 birds? Time span? every so often a chicken will die with no apparent reason. maybe those in the last 2yrs. have been Merricks?

 

[nanasbitties]

I havent lost any birds yet knock on wood and UGA only charges 16.00 for a necropsy and I dont know the incubation period on Marek's

 

[seminolewind]

Snowflake, most younger chickens show the paralysis. The older they get, the more likely they just show wasting, which is usually tumors taking over . I lost 5-6 that seemed to die with no reason before I realized that it was Mareks. The first ones died over a bit less than 2 years. Then I hatched 10 bought eggs under my silkies, and at 6 weeks, they got paralysis one by one about a week or less apart. At that time I was treating a hen for a "broken leg". Then one of those hatched chicks had a "broken leg" that I treated, when the third "broken leg" showed up, I knew what I had. All my deaths were on chickens under a year old, except 2-3 who were around 2 years old.

You can take a live ill bird over there, or a dead one that's been refridgerated up to a few days. On a younger chicken, they may find super small tumors or enlarged nerves, like the nerve in one leg will be alot bigger than the other leg nerve.

Skipskin, there is no way to tell if the neighbor's chickens carry Marek's. There's no test. My 20 or so original chickens, now 4-5 years old, are exposed, but haven't gotten symptoms or died. But they can still give it to other young chickens unless they are vaccinated at day 1 and quarantined a few weeks or more to give the vaccine time to work.

 

[dawg53]

Here's some info on incubation times on Marek's. I dont know much about the disease.
https://www.addl.purdue.edu/newsletters/2005/spring/mareks.htm
Try vitamin B complex tablets found at a pharmacy. Crush a few tablets into powder and sprinkle it on her feed for about 10 days and see if there's improvement. If you can find the liquid vitamin B complex, give her 2 drops a day twice a day for 10 days and see if that helps.

 

[leadwolf1]

The youngest bird that I had necropsied was 17 weeks old. She had tumors throughout. Tumors in her lungs caused respiratory failure. She had tumors in her liver, lungs and reproductive organs. On very young birds, it is usually the enlargement of the nerves that they use for diagnosis. Nodules form. They can see those. At 9 weeks, the necropsy would be able to show whether or not it is Marek's.

I have vaccinated my entire flock. Can't hurt and just might help.

I have lost 40+ birds in about 13 months. I have been blessed with having an extremely virulent form of Marek's in my flock. Nothing stops it, even vaccination. Out of 9 vaccinated pullets this Spring, I have lost 5. Far greater than the 90% effective rate that the vaccine boasts. That was after 12 weeks of isolation.

I have lost most of my chickens between the ages of 12 - 30 weeks old and again at 13 - 16 weeks old. My original flock turned one in April. Since then, I have lost 5. 3 of those showed paralysis....it progressed much quicker then in the younger birds and was deadly within 2 - 3 days.

 

[nanasbitties]

So here is the update the UGA poultry research dept. called me after reviewing the video and the Doctor said it doesnt look good she is displaying classic symptoms of Marek's Virus which is a form of the Herpes virus and that vaccinating older birds wont hurt but in their opinion wont help and that even my 8 month old RIR are not out of the woods for another 10 to 12 weeks....So I am going to UGA to have the necropsy done to confirm or rule out Marek's.... he said Marek's is common in chickens that have not been vaccinated....So Chicken lovers have your birds vaccinated.

 

[Leslieb118]

It's true that Mareks doesn't just affect the younger birds. The roo I lost was 10 months old. He didn't show any obvious symptoms at all. He just started wasting away right before my eyes. I'm sorry that you have to take yours in like that. It's got to be hard. However, it is the best way to find out what is going on for sure. In my case, since I didn't know what he had, I continued to try to treat him for things that he ended up not even having and he died anyway. That was around the first of June. We're now nearing the end of August and I haven't had any issues so far with the rest of my flock (knock on wood) but I continue to keep a close eye on them all because it just wasn't what most call "typical" with my roo.

Please update with any results you get. Again, I'm very sorry

 

[seminolewind]

Good page Dawg! I always bookmark pages or info I see.

Nanasbitties, I think it's great that you sent them the video. And they replied! Thanks for sharing.

Some of us started out depressed because it sounded like a death sentence for all of the birds, and anymore that come.

Then find out there are ways to continue to enjoy your chickens. The older chickens that don't get the symptoms are carriers. So any day old or hatched chick needs to be vaccinated and quarantined to let the vaccine work. The eggs are not affected. Hatching chicks from your own flock may produce resistant chicks.

I have alot of info at the bottom of my posts about Marek's.

 

[snowflake]

fowl facts on Marek's was very interesting thank you, ....if this is mareks is it to late to vaccinate the rest of the flock..... at least 1/2 of my birds(the oldest ones,3&4) are hatchery birds and have been vaccinated. although I did have a very healthy hen die this summer of no apparent reason other then possible heat. however she was in the shade with lots of water near by. I found her in the dust bath. she had been vaccinated. We assumed it was the heat. last yr. I lost 4 of 6 birds. Vet. thought it was parasites (strongyles) they were very thin. now I wonder if it was mariks.. lost 1 older bird (had been vaccinated) at that time also. So now do I vaccinate all birds that haven't been or even the ones that have??It will cost me $80 to $190 at the MSU to necropsy all my birds are now free ranging together, started at about 9weeks so every one has been exposed.
if another hen comes down with a "broken leg" in the next couple of weeks I will know....

Non of the other birds that have died here had paralysis ....wish I could find a cheaper necropsy....take some of the guessing out