mareks information

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1920bunny

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Please look at my other post-'limping pekin' for the details about my little pekin's symptoms.This is now day 3 and she is getting worse and I am getting so worried about her. She is wobbly today and doing a lot of sitting, though still interested in food and drink.have been looking round the internet and am now wondering if it could be Mareks?I don't think she is vaccinated and just wondered if anyone has any experience of this awful sounding disease....So worried about my other 2 now, though they seem fine at the moment.any advice appreciated and plaese do look at my other post, as it will give you more details
 
So sorry to hear about your pekin, Bunny. It does sound as if it might be Mareks, considering her young age and the symptoms you describe, but you would need to get a vet's diagnosis to be sure. Have you contacted the person you got her from? a breeder would want to knbow about what was happening in their stock, and may be willing to help you if you do lose this bird. It's more than likely she appeared in perfect health when you got her, and if it is Mareks it would have characteristically have emerged at around her stage of development. Sadly, if Mareks is diagnosed she may need to be PTS as recovery is unlikely and she may come to be in pain. If the others have come into contact with her, you may just have to wait a bit and see how they get on - either they will get it, or will turn out to be naturally resistant. I haven't had experience of it in chickens but i did have a quail that died of what I'm sure was Mareks and none of the others died despite being brought up with her.
Have you got a poultry-friendly avian vet locally? There is a list on here at http://poultrykeeper.com/poultry-vets-uk/poultry-veterinary-practices-services-uk/ which may be helpful.
Good luck and do let us know how she gets on.
 
Thanks so much for replying. i'm afraid the worst thng has happened and my pekin has had to be euthanased at the vets, as the limp turned into wobbly legs, then paralysis and loss of balance and Mareks was diagnosed. I am now sick with fear that my other 2 lovely healthy seeming girls will develop this horrible disease, and of course I can have no more birds-so goodness know what will do if one girl is left on her own, as I realise they are flock animals. Has anyone else had experience of Mareks?Prognosis for my remaining 2 birds is obviously what most concerns me.
 
Did the vet do a postmortem on your hen? Just wondered how they diagnosed Mareks.
 
No, the vet said it was 'all the classic signs' and I really didn't want the further expense of post mortem. if anyone has any other ideas on what it might have been, I would be grateful to hear them. Would particularly like to hear from anyone who has had birds with mareks, just to confirm that was what it really was.it was very distressing to see, whatever it was.
 
You get the same 'classic signs' with Lymphoid Lucosis 1920bunny. It is frequently mis-diagnosed as Mareks and is not contageous. It's like cancer with tumours internally along the nerve system which causes paralysis. Triggered in pre-disposed birds by stress, like first laying. I think that is more probable than Mareks -your other hens would have it now anyway. So I would not buy any new hens for a few months just to be sure. One problem highlighted in a recent article was that birds vaccinated against Mareks can be carriers and pass a mutated strain on to unvaccinated birds. So I would avoid hens with Mareks immunisation, or any given ILT or IB as well, which can cause the same.
 
Agree with Chris on this one. Though some birds are naturally resistant to Mareks and don't seem to come down with it in spite of being alongside others that have had it.

Sorry you lost your girl. Very sad.
 
Thanks for replying and will look up symptoms of Lymphoid Lucosis. The loss of balance was most distressing-she went from a little limp to flapping her wings to walk, to prostrate on her back. I had to help her up. Does seem funny that she always seemed hesitant onher legs-the other 2 run round madly and confidently. I think the vet thought mareks as it came on so quickly, and otherwise she was trying to eat, no loss of appetite. I am new to poutry keeping and would obviously like other birds.But I am so worried about the 2 I have left becoming ill. Also,I don't want to be irresposible and buy birds to expose them to my girls who may now have or carry Mareks.Do you think it would be right to sterilise as best I can my coop and run with Virkon and Stalosan? Then wait till my other girls are mature, as they are still only 14 weeks,to see if they show any symptoms? Was thinking I would have to try and find pekins who have been vaccinated for Mareks then, but obviously if it looks like it might be something else I will think again. As I said any advice is so useful, especially about whether or not to have more birds eventually, as I am so new to this and trying to do the right thing for my 2 that I have left.
 
I still very much doubt Mareks 1920bunny. I've heard of loads of isolated apparent 'Mareks' cases, which obviously were not Mareks. We had a young hen develop a tumour the size of a golf ball in just a week. Sterilising will not help as it will be transmitted bird to bird. I would get unvaccinated replacements as the vaccinated may pass Mareks on if yours haven't got it. If yours were going to be ill I think they would be by now, but as you say wait until they are a few weeks older and in the meantime look out for some more. Has the breeder had any problems?
 
Thanks Chris. No, when I contacted the breeder he said he'd never even heard of Mareks and had no problems like the ones I described with any of his birds.I had 4 birds from him and one died after 10 days with what I assumed was a stretched crop, not impacted or sour crop, it just wouldn't empty properly...and there was a great big lump. I am wondering now if that could have been some sort of tumour, I am just not experienced enough to have known that I'm afraid.That was a huge learning curve for me and I actually talked to the specialist poultry vet at the Minster vets at Sutton Bonnington who was very helpful and basucally said I was doing all the right things to try and nurse her through, but she just died in her sleep.So you can see that is why I am starting to wonder what will happen next.Anyway, thanks for all your advice, I will just keep hoping the others will now be ok.On the plus side the 2 I have left are so tame and friendly now and I really enjoy watching their chicken antics and learning more about chicken behaviour!
 
Well if it's any consolation I will mention buying three Crested Cream Legbars at 4 days old. A friend bought the same from the same place and his are lovely big strong hens, 3 years old now. Ours were not so good. One died from LL at 8 months after 4 weeks of nursing having just started to lay, one had a heart attack a few weeks later (after 'meeting' Bottom) and the other is Mad Mollie, about the size of a large bantam. To be fair her eggs are a lovely sky blue and always about 58 grammes. Sometimes it seems hatches are not as good, perhaps diet or the weather? Felt sorry for the breeder actually. She hatched them as a favour really and the whole of the first batch of 14 were male! Of the second only 6 were female -a lot of effort for £18.
 
I would take up on a point Chris made earlier that there are other diseases which have similar signs to Mareks and the only way that a firm diagnosis can be made is by (an expensive in some cases) post mortem exam by a vet, skilled enough to carry it out and to interpret the results. There may be lab. fees involved as well to add to the cost. So I assert that in very few cases is an accurate diagnosis made which makes it a bit of a minefield for chicken keepers new and long standing. So at this stage we need to accept that there will be losses and also accept that even if large sums of money are spent, we may never truly find out the cause.
 
Is that Mike Clark at Minster vets in Sutton Bonnington 1920bunny? He's their commercial poultry specialist and is certified for EU export of the same. He's doing his first domestic flock export in August -ours!
 
Don't know his name Chris, but he was very helpful!Thanks so much for taking the time to reply to my posts, it has really helped having advice from other people and I will continue to check the forum, although hopefully won't have to ask for advice on anything like this again.My other 2 still look so healthy, so will just try and enjoy them and not worry too much!
 
If it's any help, I had 2 confirmed as going down with Mareks (by post mortam) recently and the 2 I have left are as healthy as horses :)
Some birds are carriers though, so enjoy the girls you have. I would advise you not to get more, in case it was Mareks. This will stop the chain of infection via possible carriers - As stated before, Mareks can only be confirmed at post mortem and IS expensive.
 
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