Will I ever be able to introduce new birds to my flock?

[matt14132]

Hello chicken keepers,

I just lost a gen due to what I believe was mareks. I had an olive egger that I lost earlier in the year who exhibited the same symptoms. The paralysis, stopping food and water, discolored comb....so I figured this was the same thing that infected my splash Wyandotte. I have read that once mareks has infected one of your birds, the virus will live in the coop bedding and on dander and feathers that have spread around the coop and that the virus can live for years in the coop waiting for the next host. Does this mean that it's nearly impossible to ever add new flock members? I have another gen and a rooster and both must have built up some immunity to it as they seem to be very healthy and I've owned them the longest.

Anyways, could use some advice on what I might be able to do to keep down on the spread of the virus or if it's even an option for me to make additions later on.

It surprised me that the virus can live in the coop so long, the winters we have in western ny are brutal and I'm shocked a virus can withstand sometimes temps below 0.

Thank you all for your help and suggestions.
God bless

 

[Folly's place]

Welcome! It does sound like a Marek's disease infection, although without an actual Path diagnosis, it's not a sure thing.
If it is Marek's disease, you have a couple of choices; the 'breed for resistance' plan, which involves hatching a lot of chicks from your asymptomatic birds, and culling the sick offspring as they develop issues, and continuing with the less affected birds.
Or, you can buy only vaccinate chicks, keep them totally isolated for two or three weeks for immunity to develop, and then start to introduce them to your coop environment.
Either plan will have winners and losers, and can be a way to move forward.
This also means limiting visitors to the chicken area, and being very careful to not infect others, and not selling any birds ever. Mary

 

[azygous]

Here's the BYC "primer" on Marek's. https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/the-great-big-giant-mareks-disease-faq.66077/

At this point, you are assuming you have Marek's in your flock. There are other viruses similar to Marek's and it would be a good thing to have a diagnosis. The way to do that is to refrigerate the body of a chicken that dies, and then to arrange for a necropsy on that chicken.

Until you know what you're dealing with, it would be wise to put on hold any plans to introduce any new chicks into your flock because if it's another avian virus and not Marek's, vaccinating chicks would not protect them from it.

Read that article I linked to. You may or may not recognize symptoms that occurred with your chickens that died. Having more information may help you decide what to do.

 

[matt14132]

I read through the whole article before I made this post. It is what sparked my question about new flock members.

So the virus can survive in all temperatures for up to a year?

 

[azygous]

With Marek's, usually much longer. Consider Marek's is with you forever. That's why you want to be sure it's Marek's. Other avian viruses are much shorter lived, yet have no vaccine.

It's always good to know what you're dealing with. It may not be as bad as you think, or it can be worse.

 

[chickens really]

A lady I know got Mereks in her flock of show quality Orpington...The disease will always be there...She culled all the Chickens and now has begun raising goats...
Best is to test the Birds that die..Chickens carry many diseases with simular symptoms...
Best wishes...

 

[matt14132]

Looks like Ill be sticking to ducks!.....

 

[lazy gardener]

That's one option.

An other way to look at it: You have a hen and roo who did not get sick. You could breed from them, and develop a flock that is resistant. You may loose a few chicks in the next generation... or you may loose all of them. Or you may get lucky, and not loose any.

Harvey Ussery is of the opinion that Marek's disease is every where. It is opportunistic, and will affect the weaker birds in a flock. Rarely does Marek's dz. kill an entire flock. It kills when a particular bird has a compromised immune system. So, if you cull the weak birds from your flock, give close attention to maintaining good flock care (avoid stressful events like over crowding, keep birds away from fecal impacted bare soil areas, and provide superior nutrition) you will breed forward for birds that are disease resistant.

The marek's vaccine is "leaky". Which means that it does not kill all of the virus. Surviving virus become much more lethal. The vaccine does not even prevent a chick from contracting marek's dz. What it does is prevent the lethal tumors that accompany the disease. So, if a flock owner has his chicks vaccinated for marek's, they may never show signs of the disease, but may very well be carriers. Future generations of chicks born into such a flock will be very likely to contract the disease.

Turkeys carry a less lethal form of marek's dz. I am blessed in that I have lots of wild turkeys traveling through my yard. They have even visited with my chickens in the past!

I am not trying to minimize the issue of the flock owner seeing one of his beloved chickens die from this killer disease, or the even more traumatic event of watching one after an other of the flock birds die from MD. What I am trying to do is point out that there are different approaches to dealing with this disease, and perhaps put those approaches in perspective.

I will not bring vaccinated chicks into my flock. I encourage turkey visitation. If I had no wild turkeys, I'd consider finding some litter from a local flock of turkeys and adding that to my chicken's run. Starting at the first week of life, my chicks are all exposed to my soil, and the pathogens in my chicken run. My birds all eat fermented feed. And coop and run are deep litter. FF and DL both work towards improving gut health. The gut is the power house of the immune system.