Marek's

[Bresis]

A hen I have that progressively stopped walking was brought to an avian vet yesterday. He made the decisions it could either be a thiamin deficiency or Marek's. None of my other hens currently show any of her symptoms and all were vaccinated for Marek's when they were chicks. I just wish I knew what the heck was going on with her. She's a beautiful bird, I'm very saddened.

[Indiana Gardener]

Bottom reply (if Marek's):
http://fowlfacts.proboards40.com/index. ... 183&page=1 (http://fowlfacts.proboards40.com/index.cgi?board=afflictiondiseaseff&action=display&thread=1183&page=1)

Bye for now,


David

[Bresis]

That was quite a bit to read and ever so helpful.

.However, if the bird is a few years old, I would suspect a similar disease called Lymphoid Leukosis (my bird is 4.5 years old). Both diseases will produce internal lesions, detectable upon post mortem examination, but LL does not produce paralysis (but my hen is paralyzed. Go figure)

I think I will try that homeopathic remedy, couldn't hurt! Thank you David :)

[Indiana Gardener]

Very welcome. I hope it works. I've not tried the whole thing. Just the cranberries a couple times. It worked once and once it didn't. So either it was that or is was a coincidence. A 50/50 record isn't anything even remotely close to proof. I didn't do the full treatment though. That could be the difference.

Sad to say, but at this point you don't have much to loose to try it. I'm not aware of any drug that treats Mareks? Only the vaccination, which of course is a preventative, not a cure.

Please reply back with the results.
Bye for now,


David

[Bresis]

I am going to assume the thiamin deficiency first and give her doses of vitamin B for 2 weeks every day as per the vet's recommendation. Then I can do the other things too. My hens were vaccinated for Marek's as chicks (as far as McMurray's said), but it's my understanding it isn't a cure all.

[Indiana Gardener]

That's the best way to go since he was able to see the bird first hand.
Bye for now,


David

[cathryn]

I would lean toward the thiamine missing in the diet. I had chickens down, feet in front, from a mycotoxin factory contamination feed issue in Spring '07. Mycotoxin contaminates cause severe vitamin deficits, and adding ground up alfalfa meal, ground show bloom, horse feed was not helping. Dr. Fulton at the MI MSU diagnostic lab had me grind up 5 children chewable vitamins w/ minerals, one B complex 100 vitamin tablet w/ all 11 b vitamins, caro syrup (to get them to drink it), and mix all well in the bird's water. Within 3 days my chickens whose kidneys were not severely damaged from the feed were standing. Had I not seen the results of such a simple solution, I would not have believed it myself. I found this solution helps chickens head tucking from vaulted skulls getting pecked too hard by another chicken, when made into a concentrate and given with a dropper. C
(Unfortunately, the majority of my SQ and champion chickens died later from that particular batch of feed; their internal organs were severly damaged, and they died later. I was able to save a few of the younger started chicks that were flat out down, and could not stand. We have necropsy and feed MSU run tests and private paid feed tests to document the truth of my above statements.)

[HunterFarmer]

What a terrible thing to go through! Was it a commercial brand of feed? If so, did they comp you?

[cathryn]

It was a commercial feed. Based on their promise to pay for my silkies(birds), we let the company come out and watch them go through the bag we found with clumps of mold ,and try to remove all the chunks of moldy gunk from the bag. Showed them the pits filled with dead birds, infertile eggs, the birds we were trying to save, and the dead birds we froze. Every day we picked crates of my beautiful silkies I could not save; it was a nightmare. They promised to pay us, then told us tough. We have a product liability attorney handling this. I was not the only breeder who lost their birds over that batch of feed. All the beautiful silkies I showed all over the country, all my silkies that were rare colors like my leg horn clear reds with great type and huge crests, all the years of breeding, gone. I lost the best of the best -dead, wiped out, reduced to pet quality breeders and a few good breeders that were on different feed in another barn. My show birds, the best always had the one brand that was supposed to be the best. The worst part was teaching on 2-3 hours of sleep month after month, trying to work hard enough and long enough to save a few of the best, and going into debt to buy what was needed to try to save them They died anyway, were not fertile, and had problems with the mold growing in their bodies after eating the feed. I have found e-mails from people who have posted and had the same issues with this brand of feed since. I do not think I will ever completely get over losing my silkies Think about it, not only did I lose my birds but I had strangers inspecting everything and poking into everything I did and how I did it; the feed company too and my state were all involved. Would you be confident enough in the health of your birds to allow your state to test/necropsy your birds for disease so you could prove that they died from what you would expect a bird would die from after eating factory contaminated feed? I was /am and did, and have the reports. It was so much money and work, for nothing. The birds I did save died later anyway. Cath PS I am trying to see typos, but I am in an auto so please forgive mistakes.

[Evy]

It was a commercial feed. Based on their promise to pay for my silkies(birds), we let the company come out and watch them go through the bag we found with clumps of mold ,and try to remove all the chunks of moldy gunk from the bag.

I'm curious...why would you feed moldy food to your birds in the first place? I don't see where that makes your problem that of the company. Possibly a dealer who allowed a bag to get damp is at fault, but even then, most people look at their feed before using it.

[Bresis]

Unfortunately I had the hen put down two weeks ago. The vitamin supplement did nothing for her. I felt miserable for doing it - had her living in my house in a clothes basket for about six weeks. Even took her to work! Because no one else would have cared for her. I had a necropsy done but the results have not been in yet. And sorry for the heartache you had to incur, Cathryn.

I hate to admit it but I may have an australorp experiencing early signs of the same. I sure hope not :(

[cathryn]

We didn't, no one would willingly feed their flocks bad food if they knew it was bad. The bags of feed looked fine, were fresh dated, we thought it was nutrients left out, or not enough, when silkies started head tucking and acting odd; I called my vet about and her vet husband about it. Within a day of numerous odd symptoms and looking into getting feed tested and costs, while feeding, we found the bag with the moldy chunks. We pulled the feed, added everything I was told to add, but it was too late by the time we found the real cause of the head tucking. All happened right together.
This is my repost, I posted earlier but my battery ran out of charge; my earlier post must not have went through. After all is over I will scan and post the feed test results and necropsy results. Cath