What to do next?? Positive for Mareks Disease!!!

[Cindy25]

I had a Necropsy done on one of my hens that couldn't walk, and it came back that she was positive for Mareks Disease. I have been researching the disease and I know some people say to cull them all becuase the disease is airborne and others say they will get better. Any suggestions? I know the disease did not come from my farm I had only had the birds less than a week when they started dying and showing the symptoms of Mareks Disease. Any suggestion would be well appreciated.

 

[LynneP]

Hi Cindy

let me say first that my heart goes out to you. Check the eyes of your hens to see if the color fades to gray..a sign of the disease. It's possible the entire flock will be affected, though if you got that first bird out and cleaned the coop, you might get a break.

Before you can make a decision you need to ask yourself if this flock is closed and could exist without any new additions or contact with any other birds on your property. If the answer is yes, you might be able to avoid culling. The thing is, if you start to lose more birds, at least Marek's is not one of those things that causes hideous pain to the birds. But if you are unable to keep the flock closed, and I mean forever, you may have a difficult decision to reach.

Did you get advice from the vet conducting the autopsy or the poultry agent in your part of the country?

 

[robin416]

I wouldn't do anything. Support those that may come down with symptoms and understand that the younger birds will probably not make it.

Its the future you have to think about. I have a friend who just went through the Mareks disease in her flock so got a very good second hand education about it.

From now on any young birds that come in have to be vaccinated for Mareks and kept separate for at least a month. Any peeps your birds hatch must be vaccinated by day old. Mareks is next to impossible to remove from the premises.

I have some of my friend's vaccinated birds here. None of mine have gotten sick and she has some of mine that she vaccinated after they arrived. They have all survived just fine.

 

[Cindy25]

When we got these chickens we put them into three seperate groups because we did not have a coop big enough to house them all seperate from our already exisisting flock. Only two of the groups seem to be infected by the disease and my vet says to cull the groups that the infected birds came from. I think this is what I will end up doing because the disease is airborne and the chickens can inhail it. If I understand correctly Mareks Vaccine has to be administered 2-4 days after chicks hatch to be effective, and I have some birds that are 2-3 months old that don't have an immunity built up and havn't had the vaccine. The other group of birds have shown no symptoms so far but I am not sure that I am willing to take the chance. I was not aware of the affects it has on their eyes until I started researching it today so I plan to check them.

I was not planning on keeping the entire flock closed so my options arn't looking so good.

 

[robin416]

Sort of on the age thing. The birds I took her were nearly four months old. She vaccinated them and kept them separate from her birds for nearly a month.

The reason you want to vaccinate as soon as possible is when you have known Mareks virus on your premises then the peeps need protection ASAP. Before the virus can get to them.

If, as in my case, you don't have Mareks present then it doesn't really matter what age you vaccinate. Adult birds will survive the virus most of the time, chicks usually don't.

Even if you cull the currently affected birds you will still need to vaccinate any chicks or young birds.

 

[threehorses]

I'm kinda with Robin on this. I suspect that there are more cases of Marek's in flocks that people never know about. All we can do is the following:

- Watch for signs of it (greying eyes that weren't injured, or pupils freezing or changing shape, the 'range paralysis', etc).
- Buy vaccinated stock or vaccinate home-grown babies correctly (see this site for good instructions: http://www.firststatevetsupply.com/poultry-health/mareks-disease.html)
- Keep active cases apart from others as best you can.
- Don't use disinfectants for Marek's unless you see proof (as in an efficacy sheet) proving that the disinfectant used in a safe manner kills the Marek's virus (Virkon-S for example does. Oxine does not.)
- Remember that this spreads by dander. You can cull your flock, buy new birds, and then bring it home from the breeder or feedstore on your shoes. Vaccination is key.

And most importantly: keep birds younger than four to five months separate from adults. They're simply on a different stage of their immune system strength, not ready to deal with adult issues yet. Doing so allows your young birds to develop strong immune systems without constant challenges from the adults. It also allows for less stress during the important formation of both their bodies and their immune systems.

I'm very sorry you got the Marek's diagnosis. On a brighter side, Marek's is VASTLY better than the very similar Avian Leukosis so I'm relieved that you did not get that for a diagnosis!

 

[Cindy25]

Thanks for all your help.