We lost our EE to Mareks and had to cull her today. The other girls seem to be healthy. Does anyone have advise on when to order a new set of chicks after Marek's? Thanks!
Me personally, I would make darn sure my other birds didn't have it and I would disinfect EVERYTHING the infected bird had come in contact with. I would also have any new chicks vaccinated against Marek's at the hatchery(not that that's a guarantee that they won't get it). I'm not really sure if Marek's can live in the ground-you might want to check on that. I would find out if any of the birds you have now could possibly be carriers without ever exhibiting symptoms. Good luck, whatever you decide to do and I'm sorry you had to deal with Marek's.
Thanks so much for your reply. You make several good points. I had not even thought about silent carriers. Thanks again!
Most of Marek's cases come from completely healthy-LOOKING birds, that die the day you find out. If you house the new chicks in the coop with Marek's, you ought to have them vaccinated. McMurray does pretty cheap ones.
Sorry to hear of your loss. I found this reference that says that the virus can be found in coops for months after infected birds were there. http://www.addl.purdue.edu/newsletters/2005/Spring/mareks.htm I think vaccination is your best option. Just make sure you keep your vaccinated new chicks isolated for a couple weeks to allow the vaccine to take effect before introducing them into the potentially contaminated coop. Hope you don't see any more cases of this!
