@@lintp Everyone else was fine. I think we caught this early. We moved everyone out of the coop for a few days. We cleaned everything (roosts, perches, food and water containers, etc.) using a light bleach solution. We cleaned out the bedding and ground cover and added new bedding and straw. I believe the cleaning, plus removing this one bird, helped save many others. I hope this answered your question. Take care!
@TheOldSwedesFarm Thank you for the information. We have one chicken with Marek's. The rest seem to be fine. We must have removed her in time. My husband is trying to nurse her back to health, bless his heart. Our chicken does seem stronger, but remains paralyzed and lays on her side 100% of the time. My husband is hopeful the chicken will recover. I'm just concerned about the quality life and we don't know if she's in pain😢
@@lintp Did you chicken with Marek's survive? I am also trying to nurse a little girl back, she remains very cheerful however she is unable to stand or walk properly😞
@rachelevans6247 my husband and I tried really hard to try to nurse her back. I don't think there is a cure for this disease. I think they can live a full life, but they will remain paralyzed. We ended up giving her to my mom to be eaten😥 Best of luck to you and your little one❤️
I'm sorry you experienced this! We had that in our flock a few years back (along with a respiratory illness). We made the hard decision to cull all the chickens and let the coop and land sit for a year or two. It was very hard to do. But the birds were struggling, we needed a break and the land needed a break. We did a thorough clean of the coop and moved it to a fresh piece of land. We just got chickens back again this year and so far all has been well!
I'm glad the new flock is healthy. We cleaned everything and made sure all the girls were healthy. Just turned out to be one hen. It was tough to see. Thanks for watching and commenting! Take care!
Also i have used ivermectin as drops off label on the skin of my 2 girls that have had paralysis symptoms you showed, and while i am not sure if they will make a full recovery there mobility has improved from not walking to running and jumping. Also they have gained weight. Will see how they progress but for now looking up. Will see if they start producing eggs in next 3 months.
They might look like they are getting stronger. Keep them away from the rest of the flock. If they spread the disease, you could lose the whole flock. If it is Mareks, I've never heard of a chicken recovering. I'm hoping your hens have something different and they will recover. Keep us posted.
@@TheOldSwedesFarm I agree. I haven't heard of a recovery either. I am guessing possibly because chickens are a low value commodity, so caring for them is simply not viable, and as such it is easier for people to cull. This also reduces likelihood of any success stories too. These chicks/hens have been separated from the flock. The mareks disease is based on herpes virus and as such is a viral infection. From a vet preso the mode of action for paralysis is to do with nerve damage. Hence the hen is not really in any pain or discomfort unless there is no access to food and water. As the disease progresses the paralysis increases. The application of ivermectin is a complete stab in the dark having read a paper that in some conditions it can behave as an antiviral drug. This is not proven and likely never to be due to no profitability. But with only a few drops per application it is not a big deal. We look after these hens closely so if things go south we can act. In the meantime I am continuing to see if the hens can develop new nerve pathways similar to human response following nerve trauma. Fingers crossed.
Thanks for posting this. One of our young roosters is showing signs of Marek's Disease. I've got him isolated from the flock and it looks like I'll be culling him this week. This is the first time I've dealt with Marek's in over 10 years of keeping chickens.
Keep him isolated to be sure of your diagnosis. If it is Marek's, clean everything and we'll pray it hasn't spread. Keep us posted. Thanks for sharing.
We love our girls (even when they're naughty!) and it is tough to lose one. This snuck up on us in less than a day. Unreal how fast it changes one of the girls. We're cleaning and cleaning to make sure the others don't catch it. Thanks for watching and commenting!
So glad you didn't have any Marek's. It was really tough to watch in our hen. I'm hoping everyone will do the legwork to research this and to really make sure their chickens have it (or not). Glad you're all safe! Cheers Jillian!
I am sad I think one of my girls might have it. She is 17 weeks now. Not early egg laying yet. I have her inside with me now. I have given her vitamin supplements and massaged her crop. I really don't want to cull my first group of hens. My kids will be heartbroken. I'm heart broken.
Thank you for watching and commenting! It really is a bummer. We isolated her and haven't had an issue since. We really try to keep our coop/barn clean to prevent issues like this. Thanks again for watching and your support!! Cheers Vangie!
I have a young chiken have this sad it look the biggest and healthiest of them all going to have him put down. Trying to find a vet open on the weekend. Sorry for your loss
HI, Great videos, new subscriber,.... I am a retired zoo keeper.... best job ever. Have had poultry, AND all kinds of ANIMALS all my life. Hi bought some beautiful lavender Americaunas, at a poultry show, about 7 YRS ago. I purchased 8 birds. At the time , I had many many RARE breeds of CHICKENS, including Nankin, Dutch, bantams, large Barnevelders, AND many more.... One by one THESE new lavender Americaunas started stumbling around, not standing ETC. Had no idea, about Marecks, never had it , never saw it,... and I have had pet chickens since the age of 9. Anyway, I could go on, AND on. THIS BROUGHT MARECKS INTO MY FLOCKS.... UGH. Did hours on researching the disease. I have a degree, in zoolology, biology, so research is exciting to me. Results on MARECKS: no cure.....! UGH AWFUL. best thing we can do, is keep things clean. And inoculate at hatching.... which,I cannot do MYSELF, but ORDER CHICKS VACCINATED. I STILL get CASES, AND I have to Euthanise.... not many, but just when I think it's RUN it's course..... Poof... A case. Seems to happen, just when BIRD is about to lay, or young adult in males. I heard Lyme,is helpful, but must be careful with to much. At present I have around 200 plus birds, from TINY SERAMA, to LG Wyandotte And BUCKEYES ETC. I will end for now, really like you videos..... nice, inventive, beautiful. Like CHICKEN THERAPY ETC. ALL THE BEST, from the ADIRONDACK MOUNTAINS OF UPSTATE N.Y.
Ron- First, thanks for subbing! Wow, do you have experience! While I don't have a degree in this, I love to research and find options, etc. This was really frustrating. We always get inoculated chicks and try to keep everything very clean. I guess that's all you can do. Thanks again for sharing your expertise and commenting! Cheers!
My beautiful chicken is also having problems standing. She can stand with help but she seems to lose balance after a while. She lives on her own in her chicken house, so I wouldn’t know how it could be transferred. There is also a possibility she might hurt herself whilst climbing of her stairs. Also a note: her poop seems to be green and very smelly.
If there have been chickens around in the past, someone could've left it in the dust or in feathers. If she is your first (and only) chicken, then I don't know if this is Marek's. There usually isn't anything different about their droppings. If it is Marek's, her legs and feet will become twisted. If you think it is Marek's, I would put down the bird and clean everything. It is a tough decision but I always look at the quality of life for the hens. Let us know if we can help in any other way.
@@TheOldSwedesFarm here there buddy i also have a chick abt 2 months and i saw a vet and he is saying that my chick has mareks however she lives alone and we have never exposed her to a place of dust,wht can it be??
Thank you for your video. My rooster has it. We noticed his wings would hang but we thought he injured himself trying to mount the hen who was laying eggs. He would walk with a limp and then get better. Weird how he would get better every time. That was back in March. We had never heard of this disease or seen it in our chickens. A month ago we noticed that he couldn’t walk and was off balanced. We don’t know how to put him down. So we feed him and give him water with nutrients for chicks and egg layers. We also fill the water with apple cider vinegar in his other bowl. He has his own place but I’m sure my chicks and hen may have the infection, dormant for now.
Make sure everything is very clean and you clean up all the feathers, dust, etc. If the rooster gets very bad, you should put him down. I hope this doesn't spread to the rest of your flock. Take care!
We are sorry to hear of your loss. It's not easy to lose a hen or rooster. We hope this will be the only chicken affected by this disease. Keep us updated.
We only had the one girl who was infected. We cleaned out the coop and all their items and (so far) no other bird has become sick. Maybe we were lucky!
Lost 6 birds in 14days…. Is there some sort of antiseptic needed to clean the cage or disinfectant? So I’d spray on the crop cage. Immediately I noticed it, I separated it completely from the others
Sorry you lost so many hens. I don't know of anything specific to spray. I used a water/bleach solution to clean everything in the coop. I used the solution and a brush to clean the roosts and anything else that they come in contact with. I raked up and changed out the bedding that was on the ground. A good thorough cleaning. Hope this helps.
I had to have my favorite chicken put down today because of it. It was a year old silkie. You stated its stress related. How could catching it from dust, infected areas, from another chicken etc be stress related?
It is spread through dust (feathers, skin flakes, droppings that break down to dust, etc.). The dust is breathed into the lungs and is then inside the bird. That doesn't mean that the hen will contract the disease. Stress (coming into lay, being picked on, etc.) will weaken the bird and can lead to the disease flaring up within the hen. I hope that makes sense. Sorry you had to dispatch your chicken. We only had to put one down, but it was not fun. Take care.
@@TheOldSwedesFarm It should be illegal to sell unvaccinated chickens. All chickens sold should be vaccinated of all available vaccines when hatched. Its not fair. It was like loosing a pet cat or a dog. Im not a breeder with say 30 stock and don't know which one is which, to have any connection to them.
@@altinsilsile36 We request that our hens be vaccinated. I would bet that a lot of people would protest if they were required to be vaccinated. I assuming this would only apply to formal hatcheries. Another big political battle. I'm so sorry you lost your hen. We've lost a couple (to various things) and it is always tough.
@@andyk8993 Ours are vaccinated for other issues, not Mareks. Not sure of the cost to have them vaccinated for Mareks. We just keep our areas totally clean and (hopefully) stress free. So far we've just had the one hen.
Separate them immediately from the others and watch them to see if they have it. Clean the coop and run with a light bleach solution. Replace any bedding and see if you can reduce the dust. Maybe the others won't catch it. Keep us posted on your progress.
Damn... we bought 5 chickens. 2 of them came down with it. All of them were around 3-4 months old. After buying them it took 3 weeks for the first one to show symptoms and we had to put her down. Could barely walk and did the split so at the third vet visit (changing the vet cause the first one was... bad) we put her down. Fst forward another 4-5 weeks and a second one came down with it. The seller came and exchanged the bird (he did so with the first one as well). So I guess he put her down in his car or later on. The first one was put down by a vet and none of the birds were send in for testing so I have no definite answer if they truly had mareks. Now I wanna add two new chickens to the 5 ones I have. The current 5 chickens show no symptoms and are healthy. The new seller breeds chickens successfully for years now without any mareks disease cases. BUT he doesnt vaccinate them... so now I have this conundrum. Maybe his chickens are immune thx to breeding. Maybe they arent and introducing them to my chickens might kill them right away :/ Using them as test subjects is cruel, but I kinda want them cause the seller is good and not many sellers have these chickens. From what Ive read: Mareks disease is for life and probably every chicken has it or will get it. There is a saying "if your chicken breaths it has mareks". the chicken is either immune thx to its own evolution, immune thx to the vaccine or dies by it. The vaccine made the disease worse cause vaccinated chickens spread the harshest mareks variants. Once you got mareks into your flock all of your chickens have it for life. Stress triggers symptoms and death. Recovery is extremely rare. There are three types: Paralysis thx to tumors on should nerves, tumors in other organs which result in sudden death, blindness. In addition to that feather follicles mutate as well. My birds "only" had the paralysis. No changed skin or folicle. No blindnes, no growth. The mareks vaccination just made mareks worse. Without it it would have died out long ago. Natural immunity is just the best. I think about getting the new henns... at least in this case.
Just make sure everything is cleaned out in the coop and (hopefully) there won't be any more cases. It usually appears when the birds are under stress. Is there anything to cause stress? I hope this is your only case of Marek's...ever. Take care and keep us updated. Rich & Holly
@@TheOldSwedesFarm Hey thanks. I exchanged the litter in the coop and I bought plenty of wood chips for the outside, collected all feathers and so on. It was 3 Months ago since the second henn died. BUT the issue is with the henns that survived. From what I know it is HIGHLY likely, that they got mareks. In regards to stress... I have pretty chill henns. There is some bullying, but it is rather mild for chickens. The chickens that came down with mareks probably werent stressed. One was the leader henn the other one was sort of an outcast, but not severely bullied. The leader henn was maybe close to starting to lay eggs, but thats unlikely as well cause she was only 4-5 months old at the time. That breed starts laying eggs at around 6 months or more. After some research in regards to the desired new chickens I came to the conclusion, that the only person that sells them is the one that doesnt vaccinate against mareks...
Seen a vet say on UA-cam that the vaccine is a live virus vaccine from turkeys, meaning the vaccinated chicks become carriers. This means if your flock is clean and you introduce vaccinated chicks, your flock is now exposed to Mareks. You should note that hatched chicks do not have or carry Mareks proving they are not inadvertently introduced to it.
@@gshooty55 Well isnt that a treat... so the vaccine actually gives your chicks the virus. Who in their right mind came up with that shit?! Hatched chicks are clean as long as you seperate them when they are still int heir eggs. One contaminated feather and your whole new generation is done. A little update: I found another seller who vaccinates his chicks and he had that breed I wanted. So far no new marek outbreaks. The chicks are fine with the occasional strange sickness which all henns have from time to time. All 7 are alive and kickin. They are picky eaters though...
@@HupfDole87 The vet who said that was not perfectly clear. I found it on the John Suscovich channel titled: “What is Marek’s Disease?…” Here is a quote from the vet” “It’s a natural vaccine and is produced from the herpes virus in in turkeys and it cross reacts in chickens to prevent the Makek’s disease in chickens but they don’t necessarily get sick from it but will be carriers because they are vaccinated.” He may mean IF they come in contact with Mareks they become carriers but not get sick. Even with that if you buy chickens that were vaccinated as chicks and later become carriers your flock will become infected. This is bad news if your flock were not vaccinated.
My 9 week old cockerel was found limp this morning in the coop. His neck is limp but he does turn his head though it is hanging down, and not well. He doesn’t try to stand but can push his feet. He flapped his wings pretty normal but did only when I picked him up. I separated him from the flock and will give him some vitamins/electrolytes via syringe. Does this sound like Mareks to you?
Hard to tell without looking at him. Are his feet wobbly and (possibly) facing opposite directions? I would keep him isolated and continue with the vitamins/electrolytes. Keep monitoring. I think you're doing what you can. If he is beyond hope, we will pass, or you can take him out of his misery. Stress brings this on (if it's Marek's). Has there been any stress (a lot of fighting for dominance, etc.)? This is not an easy issue to deal with. Watch the rest of your flock too, as you monitor your cockerel. Good luck and, again, sorry you're going through this.
I was also able to get him to eat some of the chick crumble as well by draping his neck over my arm and letting him turn his head to eat. He wasn’t very coordinated but he did eat. His feet are not facing different directions and he actually stood up for a second on my and they looked fine.
@@jme2659 It was not Marek’s disease. We believe it was Wry Neck. He got better then much worse so we had to put him down. 😢 I also haven’t had an illness in my flock since.
Would a chicken who is basically skin and bones be an indicator of this? We have one chicken that we eventually found laying in the corner at night instead of getting up and roosting. Upon examining we found that she is basically skin and Bones and hasn't been on her body. We pulled her out for about a week and giving her electrolytes mealworms boiled eggs and some vetrx on top of her normal food and we definitely start to see process of her being up moving around more and being able to stand up on a route through the. About three weeks later she is still super skinny, her wings still hang to her side and she is not able to jump or fly to the roost. I'll pick her up every night and she does have the strength and balance to stay until morning. Any ideas
I don't think that you have Marek's. I have not heard of the "skin and bones" associated with Marek's. Maybe contact a Vet to see if they would have any insight. Sorry I'm not being much help. No matter what, I'd separate her from the rest of the flock.
Think my chicken has this. I lost 2 chickens already from unknown causes, but now one is finally showing symptoms of this disease so I think the others probably died of the same thing even though they didn't show the symptoms.
Separate her from the other chickens and keep her quarantined. Clean the rest of the coop so feathers and dust are low, and other items that have been touched are cleaned. Are there stress factors that might be new (lots of chickens together in a small area, etc.)? If you keep the chicken separated, and clean, that'll be a good first step to minimizing the impact. Keep me posted.
If you think you have a rooster with it, separate him immediately. You don't want others to catch it. Clean everything you can in the coop, run. We cleaned with a water/bleach solution. Clean all roosts, water dishes, feeders, etc. Watch the rest of the flock for signs that others may have it. If, after isolation, the rooster definitely has it, you'll need to put down the rooster. Let us know how else we can help.
The way she was laying on the floor, with her legs splayed out suggested heavily to Marek's. She looked a lot better on camera. I talked to a Vet and researched online. We were convinced she had Marek's.
i have had 4 die from what seems to be Mareks. I got my flock from an organic farm and feed them organic. The first 2 died at about age 4 months, the next 2 died at about 6 months when they started laying. One of them didn't go paralyzed, the other 3 did. The one that didn't go paralyzed seem to have symptoms more like salmonella when i read about them. I am just so devastated having 4 chickens die when I only started out with 10. I am concerned about getting more chickens incase my entire flock is infected.
Clean everything and remove all the bedding. This spreads through skin cells that are shed. Clean out all the bedding and feathers and dirt. Put in new bedding and clean all feeders, etc. If you have any more birds that show any symptoms, separate them very fast. Hopefully no others will come down with it. Good luck!
Do you know if it is Marek's? If so, there is no cure. If it's not, you might have something else. Without knowing the symptoms, I can't really help much.
Is the leg pointed in the wrong direction or looks a bit "mangled?" That might be Marek's. No other injuries from a fall (or predator)? If you suspect Marek's , get her separated from the flock as it is very catchy. If it is Marek's, the bird will die so you'll need to dispatch her. Keep us posted.
They will try to make everything appear as normal. If she has Marek's, separate her immediately. You might want to separate her anyways and watch her for a while. If you leave her with the flock, you risk contaminating the area more and passing it on to the whole flock.
I got 20 cochin bantam chick's from a hatchery a year ago and made the decision then not to vaccinate, big mistake, the first couple days I noticed 2 chick's that would get up to walk take two steps and plop down again, no changes in their growth like the rest, 6 days later those 2 were dead. I ended up with 8 roos and 10 hens. Come fall I had a hen that couldn't walk and wouldn't eat, I syringe fed her for 3 month till she died, shortly their after I see 2 more hens acting strange, one ended up with a huge tumor on her neck and died, the other wouldn't eat for days, her head was twisted for a couple wks, low and behold she recovered. Later another end up with a tumor on its head and died, another that simply couldn't walk or eat, I fed her too till she died. I also had one roo get it and died. Right now I have a hen that's paralyzed and is actually slowly getting better. I started giving her exotic bird vitamins in a syringe, not sure if that's helping or just a coincidence but she seems to be getting better. She's trying to walk. Needless to say I only have 4 out of the 10 hens left as of now and all the roos but the one that died. I have never had an issue ever with any till this batch so can chick's already get it in the egg or did they get it that quick at a day old at the hatchery? Most of the chick's had pasty butt also. I called the hatchery and left a message for them to call me and a little about what is going on. By no means was I upset with them, I just wanted them to be aware but they never called me back. None of my other chickens have it and some of them are as old as 8 yrs old, 6 yrs old and 4 yrs old. Chickens at my house stay here till they die either sick or old age. What's your thoughts?
I have heard that chicks can get it fast. If it is Marek's, usually the entire flock can get it. I saw this early and got her away from everyone else. I did a deep clean of the coop and everything in it. If you add new birds in the future, I would move all the existing birds to a temporary place and really clean the coop and other structures, waterers, feeders, roosts, etc. Get everything clean and move the old girls back. Then separate the new birds til they are of similar size. Make sure they are all healthy and then introduce them with the rest of the flock. If any of them look sick, immediately separate them and treat accordingly. Hope this helps.
I also purchased a dozen cochin and 8 silkies. Started loosing them at 3 months. Extreme weight loss, refuse feed, lethargic, also tried hand feeding but all that got sick died. I have several other chicken breeds in other pens and all seem fine. I am about to send one in for necropsy for final diagnosis. I'm devastated. I won't be able to sell anything from here on out and had such beautiful hatches with some rare breeds. Now I'll have to keep everything that survives and my feed bill will be atrocious. I know it had to come from the hatchery as those are the only ones dying. So depressed 😔. Putting them out of their misery is even more devastating. Haven't proof yet that this is the issue but having been a vet tech, I'm pretty sure what the outcome will be. One of the worse times in my 72 years!
@@cherspindler9040 I am so sorry to hear of your loss. It was tough to put down this one girl. I cannot imagine losing many of our girls. Clean everything really well and you should be able to start again. Our new hens are almost three months old and I'm watching closely at all of them. I'm trying to keep their stress very low and see if we can avoid this. Our thoughts and prayers are with you and your flock. Take care.
If none of your other chicks got it, it was most likely a vitamin deficiency. That can start with the breeder parents. I add vitiamin b complex and poultry cell to my chickens water 2 - 3 times a week.
I have two now. I didn't know what ot was. O e we had to pit down. We didn't separate in time. They were only few weeks old. Do I have to euthanize the rest of my flock?
Something stressed those birds. I hope it hasn't spread to the rest of the flock. Watch the flock closely. If anyone shows any signs, physically separate her (them). There is no cure. Make sure everything is very clean. Make sure they don't have a bunch of dust or dander that can be blown into the air. Get everything clean and ventilated and watch the flock. Keep me updated with your progress. I'm hoping no other chickens get this.
@@TheOldSwedesFarm thank you I will. I'm close) watching all of them. I have two coups and runs.and 30 chickens 🐔. I didn't know or I would have made sure they were vaccinated. I have had chickens for years and thank God this never happened before. Thank you for your response and advice. I greatly appreciate it. God bless
I just went out and found this in one chicken in my flock. I didn't realize it was Merricks at first glance. She was stuck on the ground not moving and she had a shell-less egg. I immediately picked her up. Cleaned her up, and got her some water. she is just starting to lay. While she was sitting at the water, the roo came over and harassed her. I separated her. I am going to separate the roo also. All my hens were vaccinated, but I do not know if the roo was. He was just handed to me by a local chicken farmer when I was picking up feed from her. (Someone didn't meet her when they said they would so she handed 2 roos to me!?!) It happened so fast, I forgot to ask about vaccinations.
Keep them separated until you know for sure. Stress will bring this on. Not sure if it would be the stress of egg laying or the stress of the rooster. Keep them separated and see what happens. If it is Marek's, there isn't much you can do. Keep us posted. Take care Terri.
If you suspect you have a hen (or hens) with Marek's Disease, we hope this will help you.
We're the rest of flock okay? Did the disease spread?
@@lintp Everyone else was fine. I think we caught this early. We moved everyone out of the coop for a few days. We cleaned everything (roosts, perches, food and water containers, etc.) using a light bleach solution. We cleaned out the bedding and ground cover and added new bedding and straw. I believe the cleaning, plus removing this one bird, helped save many others. I hope this answered your question. Take care!
@TheOldSwedesFarm Thank you for the information. We have one chicken with Marek's. The rest seem to be fine. We must have removed her in time. My husband is trying to nurse her back to health, bless his heart. Our chicken does seem stronger, but remains paralyzed and lays on her side 100% of the time. My husband is hopeful the chicken will recover. I'm just concerned about the quality life and we don't know if she's in pain😢
@@lintp Did you chicken with Marek's survive? I am also trying to nurse a little girl back, she remains very cheerful however she is unable to stand or walk properly😞
@rachelevans6247 my husband and I tried really hard to try to nurse her back. I don't think there is a cure for this disease. I think they can live a full life, but they will remain paralyzed. We ended up giving her to my mom to be eaten😥 Best of luck to you and your little one❤️
I'm sorry you experienced this! We had that in our flock a few years back (along with a respiratory illness). We made the hard decision to cull all the chickens and let the coop and land sit for a year or two. It was very hard to do. But the birds were struggling, we needed a break and the land needed a break. We did a thorough clean of the coop and moved it to a fresh piece of land. We just got chickens back again this year and so far all has been well!
I'm glad the new flock is healthy. We cleaned everything and made sure all the girls were healthy. Just turned out to be one hen. It was tough to see. Thanks for watching and commenting! Take care!
@@TheOldSwedesFarmI would say if it never went through your flock it was not actually Marek's. Did you have her tested?
Also i have used ivermectin as drops off label on the skin of my 2 girls that have had paralysis symptoms you showed, and while i am not sure if they will make a full recovery there mobility has improved from not walking to running and jumping. Also they have gained weight. Will see how they progress but for now looking up. Will see if they start producing eggs in next 3 months.
They might look like they are getting stronger. Keep them away from the rest of the flock. If they spread the disease, you could lose the whole flock. If it is Mareks, I've never heard of a chicken recovering. I'm hoping your hens have something different and they will recover. Keep us posted.
@@TheOldSwedesFarm
I agree. I haven't heard of a recovery either. I am guessing possibly because chickens are a low value commodity, so caring for them is simply not viable, and as such it is easier for people to cull. This also reduces likelihood of any success stories too.
These chicks/hens have been separated from the flock. The mareks disease is based on herpes virus and as such is a viral infection. From a vet preso the mode of action for paralysis is to do with nerve damage. Hence the hen is not really in any pain or discomfort unless there is no access to food and water. As the disease progresses the paralysis increases.
The application of ivermectin is a complete stab in the dark having read a paper that in some conditions it can behave as an antiviral drug. This is not proven and likely never to be due to no profitability. But with only a few drops per application it is not a big deal. We look after these hens closely so if things go south we can act. In the meantime I am continuing to see if the hens can develop new nerve pathways similar to human response following nerve trauma.
Fingers crossed.
Thanks for posting this. One of our young roosters is showing signs of Marek's Disease. I've got him isolated from the flock and it looks like I'll be culling him this week. This is the first time I've dealt with Marek's in over 10 years of keeping chickens.
Keep him isolated to be sure of your diagnosis. If it is Marek's, clean everything and we'll pray it hasn't spread. Keep us posted. Thanks for sharing.
@@TheOldSwedesFarm, thanks and will do.
Oh no. I am sorry to hear this. We can tell how much you care for your chickens and I am sure this is disheartening.
We love our girls (even when they're naughty!) and it is tough to lose one. This snuck up on us in less than a day. Unreal how fast it changes one of the girls. We're cleaning and cleaning to make sure the others don't catch it. Thanks for watching and commenting!
Someone told me that’s what my chicken had, but it was only vitamin b deficiency and a blocked crop. She is fine now. Glad I didn’t lop her head.
So glad you didn't have any Marek's. It was really tough to watch in our hen. I'm hoping everyone will do the legwork to research this and to really make sure their chickens have it (or not). Glad you're all safe! Cheers Jillian!
@@TheOldSwedesFarm cheers.
Yea five of my chickens caught it. It was such a sad time
@@TheOldSwedesFarm Marek's can be treated with Chinese Skullcap-just for future reference
Hi Its looking more and more like merics in our lil chick we are desperate could you plz elaborate with as much info as possible.?
I am sad I think one of my girls might have it. She is 17 weeks now. Not early egg laying yet. I have her inside with me now. I have given her vitamin supplements and massaged her crop.
I really don't want to cull my first group of hens. My kids will be heartbroken. I'm heart broken.
Thank you for the info. What a bummer!
Thank you for watching and commenting! It really is a bummer. We isolated her and haven't had an issue since. We really try to keep our coop/barn clean to prevent issues like this. Thanks again for watching and your support!! Cheers Vangie!
I have a young chiken have this sad it look the biggest and healthiest of them all going to have him put down. Trying to find a vet open on the weekend. Sorry for your loss
Sorry for your loss Laura. We put down our bird by ourselves. Sad to see her go. I hope this is your only experience with Marek's. Take care!
HI, Great videos, new subscriber,.... I am a retired zoo keeper.... best job ever. Have had poultry, AND all kinds of ANIMALS all my life.
Hi bought some beautiful lavender Americaunas, at a poultry show, about 7 YRS ago. I purchased 8 birds. At the time , I had many many RARE breeds of CHICKENS, including Nankin, Dutch, bantams, large Barnevelders, AND many more....
One by one THESE new lavender Americaunas started stumbling around, not standing ETC. Had no idea, about Marecks, never had it , never saw it,... and I have had pet chickens since the age of 9. Anyway, I could go on, AND on. THIS BROUGHT MARECKS INTO MY FLOCKS.... UGH. Did hours on researching the disease. I have a degree, in zoolology, biology, so research is exciting to me.
Results on MARECKS: no cure.....! UGH AWFUL. best thing we can do, is keep things clean. And inoculate at hatching.... which,I cannot do MYSELF, but ORDER CHICKS VACCINATED. I STILL get CASES, AND I have to Euthanise.... not many, but just when I think it's RUN it's course..... Poof... A case. Seems to happen, just when BIRD is about to lay, or young adult in males.
I heard Lyme,is helpful, but must be careful with to much. At present I have around 200 plus birds, from TINY SERAMA, to LG Wyandotte
And BUCKEYES ETC. I will end for now, really like you videos..... nice, inventive, beautiful. Like CHICKEN THERAPY ETC.
ALL THE BEST, from the ADIRONDACK MOUNTAINS OF UPSTATE N.Y.
Ron- First, thanks for subbing! Wow, do you have experience! While I don't have a degree in this, I love to research and find options, etc. This was really frustrating. We always get inoculated chicks and try to keep everything very clean. I guess that's all you can do. Thanks again for sharing your expertise and commenting! Cheers!
My beautiful chicken is also having problems standing. She can stand with help but she seems to lose balance after a while. She lives on her own in her chicken house, so I wouldn’t know how it could be transferred. There is also a possibility she might hurt herself whilst climbing of her stairs. Also a note: her poop seems to be green and very smelly.
If there have been chickens around in the past, someone could've left it in the dust or in feathers. If she is your first (and only) chicken, then I don't know if this is Marek's. There usually isn't anything different about their droppings. If it is Marek's, her legs and feet will become twisted. If you think it is Marek's, I would put down the bird and clean everything. It is a tough decision but I always look at the quality of life for the hens. Let us know if we can help in any other way.
@@TheOldSwedesFarm here there buddy i also have a chick abt 2 months and i saw a vet and he is saying that my chick has mareks however she lives alone and we have never exposed her to a place of dust,wht can it be??
Thank you for your video. My rooster has it. We noticed his wings would hang but we thought he injured himself trying to mount the hen who was laying eggs. He would walk with a limp and then get better. Weird how he would get better every time. That was back in March. We had never heard of this disease or seen it in our chickens. A month ago we noticed that he couldn’t walk and was off balanced. We don’t know how to put him down. So we feed him and give him water with nutrients for chicks and egg layers. We also fill the water with apple cider vinegar in his other bowl. He has his own place but I’m sure my chicks and hen may have the infection, dormant for now.
Make sure everything is very clean and you clean up all the feathers, dust, etc. If the rooster gets very bad, you should put him down. I hope this doesn't spread to the rest of your flock. Take care!
Get rid of the rooster !!! Immediately !!!
Because a rooster will mount every hen ..I don't need to explain anymore ..
very intresting thanks for sharing
We're wishing we didn't have to share. Such a sad loss after she was so healthy for five months. Thanks for watching!
Another symptom is the head tilts to one side (torticollis). I've got a hen that has that - noticed it just this morning.
I hope you have her isolated and the rest of your flock is OK. Keep us posted on your progress. We hope it's only one of your flock.
Nice sharing
Thanks for the info, Tomorrow Im going to the vet, we have to put down our Ayam cemani rooster, Marek's Disease! Greetings from Poland!
We are sorry to hear of your loss. It's not easy to lose a hen or rooster. We hope this will be the only chicken affected by this disease. Keep us updated.
@@TheOldSwedesFarm thank you, no problem
Hello any other inthe flock got it?Did any of the birds got release back in the coop?
We only had the one girl who was infected. We cleaned out the coop and all their items and (so far) no other bird has become sick. Maybe we were lucky!
Lost 6 birds in 14days….
Is there some sort of antiseptic needed to clean the cage or disinfectant?
So I’d spray on the crop cage.
Immediately I noticed it, I separated it completely from the others
Sorry you lost so many hens. I don't know of anything specific to spray. I used a water/bleach solution to clean everything in the coop. I used the solution and a brush to clean the roosts and anything else that they come in contact with. I raked up and changed out the bedding that was on the ground. A good thorough cleaning. Hope this helps.
I had to have my favorite chicken put down today because of it. It was a year old silkie. You stated its stress related. How could catching it from dust, infected areas, from another chicken etc be stress related?
It is spread through dust (feathers, skin flakes, droppings that break down to dust, etc.). The dust is breathed into the lungs and is then inside the bird. That doesn't mean that the hen will contract the disease. Stress (coming into lay, being picked on, etc.) will weaken the bird and can lead to the disease flaring up within the hen. I hope that makes sense. Sorry you had to dispatch your chicken. We only had to put one down, but it was not fun. Take care.
@@TheOldSwedesFarm It should be illegal to sell unvaccinated chickens. All chickens sold should be vaccinated of all available vaccines when hatched. Its not fair. It was like loosing a pet cat or a dog. Im not a breeder with say 30 stock and don't know which one is which, to have any connection to them.
@@altinsilsile36 We request that our hens be vaccinated. I would bet that a lot of people would protest if they were required to be vaccinated. I assuming this would only apply to formal hatcheries. Another big political battle. I'm so sorry you lost your hen. We've lost a couple (to various things) and it is always tough.
If I vaccinate my chick can they still get Mareks disease. Was your hen vaccinated for it and still got it?
@@andyk8993 Ours are vaccinated for other issues, not Mareks. Not sure of the cost to have them vaccinated for Mareks. We just keep our areas totally clean and (hopefully) stress free. So far we've just had the one hen.
Poor little chickens all over😔😭
We agree. Poor little hen. At least we only had one girl who caught this. Thanks for watching Francine!
Got chicks from Big R show signs of a day later now has spread to the duckling I'm sure if the turkey in other chicks are going to be affected
Separate them immediately from the others and watch them to see if they have it. Clean the coop and run with a light bleach solution. Replace any bedding and see if you can reduce the dust. Maybe the others won't catch it. Keep us posted on your progress.
Damn... we bought 5 chickens. 2 of them came down with it. All of them were around 3-4 months old. After buying them it took 3 weeks for the first one to show symptoms and we had to put her down. Could barely walk and did the split so at the third vet visit (changing the vet cause the first one was... bad) we put her down. Fst forward another 4-5 weeks and a second one came down with it. The seller came and exchanged the bird (he did so with the first one as well). So I guess he put her down in his car or later on. The first one was put down by a vet and none of the birds were send in for testing so I have no definite answer if they truly had mareks.
Now I wanna add two new chickens to the 5 ones I have. The current 5 chickens show no symptoms and are healthy. The new seller breeds chickens successfully for years now without any mareks disease cases. BUT he doesnt vaccinate them... so now I have this conundrum. Maybe his chickens are immune thx to breeding. Maybe they arent and introducing them to my chickens might kill them right away :/
Using them as test subjects is cruel, but I kinda want them cause the seller is good and not many sellers have these chickens.
From what Ive read: Mareks disease is for life and probably every chicken has it or will get it. There is a saying "if your chicken breaths it has mareks". the chicken is either immune thx to its own evolution, immune thx to the vaccine or dies by it. The vaccine made the disease worse cause vaccinated chickens spread the harshest mareks variants. Once you got mareks into your flock all of your chickens have it for life. Stress triggers symptoms and death. Recovery is extremely rare.
There are three types: Paralysis thx to tumors on should nerves, tumors in other organs which result in sudden death, blindness. In addition to that feather follicles mutate as well.
My birds "only" had the paralysis. No changed skin or folicle. No blindnes, no growth.
The mareks vaccination just made mareks worse. Without it it would have died out long ago. Natural immunity is just the best. I think about getting the new henns... at least in this case.
Just make sure everything is cleaned out in the coop and (hopefully) there won't be any more cases. It usually appears when the birds are under stress. Is there anything to cause stress? I hope this is your only case of Marek's...ever. Take care and keep us updated. Rich & Holly
@@TheOldSwedesFarm Hey thanks.
I exchanged the litter in the coop and I bought plenty of wood chips for the outside, collected all feathers and so on. It was 3 Months ago since the second henn died.
BUT the issue is with the henns that survived. From what I know it is HIGHLY likely, that they got mareks.
In regards to stress... I have pretty chill henns. There is some bullying, but it is rather mild for chickens. The chickens that came down with mareks probably werent stressed. One was the leader henn the other one was sort of an outcast, but not severely bullied. The leader henn was maybe close to starting to lay eggs, but thats unlikely as well cause she was only 4-5 months old at the time. That breed starts laying eggs at around 6 months or more.
After some research in regards to the desired new chickens I came to the conclusion, that the only person that sells them is the one that doesnt vaccinate against mareks...
Seen a vet say on UA-cam that the vaccine is a live virus vaccine from turkeys, meaning the vaccinated chicks become carriers. This means if your flock is clean and you introduce vaccinated chicks, your flock is now exposed to Mareks.
You should note that hatched chicks do not have or carry Mareks proving they are not inadvertently introduced to it.
@@gshooty55 Well isnt that a treat... so the vaccine actually gives your chicks the virus. Who in their right mind came up with that shit?!
Hatched chicks are clean as long as you seperate them when they are still int heir eggs. One contaminated feather and your whole new generation is done.
A little update: I found another seller who vaccinates his chicks and he had that breed I wanted. So far no new marek outbreaks. The chicks are fine with the occasional strange sickness which all henns have from time to time. All 7 are alive and kickin. They are picky eaters though...
@@HupfDole87 The vet who said that was not perfectly clear. I found it on the John Suscovich channel titled:
“What is Marek’s Disease?…”
Here is a quote from the vet”
“It’s a natural vaccine and is produced from the herpes virus in in turkeys and it cross reacts in chickens to prevent the Makek’s disease in chickens but they don’t necessarily get sick from it but will be carriers because they are vaccinated.”
He may mean IF they come in contact with Mareks they become carriers but not get sick. Even with that if you buy chickens that were vaccinated as chicks and later become carriers your flock will become infected. This is bad news if your flock were not vaccinated.
My 9 week old cockerel was found limp this morning in the coop. His neck is limp but he does turn his head though it is hanging down, and not well. He doesn’t try to stand but can push his feet. He flapped his wings pretty normal but did only when I picked him up. I separated him from the flock and will give him some vitamins/electrolytes via syringe. Does this sound like Mareks to you?
Hard to tell without looking at him. Are his feet wobbly and (possibly) facing opposite directions? I would keep him isolated and continue with the vitamins/electrolytes. Keep monitoring. I think you're doing what you can. If he is beyond hope, we will pass, or you can take him out of his misery. Stress brings this on (if it's Marek's). Has there been any stress (a lot of fighting for dominance, etc.)? This is not an easy issue to deal with. Watch the rest of your flock too, as you monitor your cockerel. Good luck and, again, sorry you're going through this.
I was also able to get him to eat some of the chick crumble as well by draping his neck over my arm and letting him turn his head to eat. He wasn’t very coordinated but he did eat. His feet are not facing different directions and he actually stood up for a second on my and they looked fine.
@@chrismartin7003 Sounds like possible progress. Keep me posted as to what happens Chris. Good luck!
@@chrismartin7003 any update?
@@jme2659 It was not Marek’s disease. We believe it was Wry Neck. He got better then much worse so we had to put him down. 😢
I also haven’t had an illness in my flock since.
Would a chicken who is basically skin and bones be an indicator of this?
We have one chicken that we eventually found laying in the corner at night instead of getting up and roosting. Upon examining we found that she is basically skin and Bones and hasn't been on her body. We pulled her out for about a week and giving her electrolytes mealworms boiled eggs and some vetrx on top of her normal food and we definitely start to see process of her being up moving around more and being able to stand up on a route through the.
About three weeks later she is still super skinny, her wings still hang to her side and she is not able to jump or fly to the roost. I'll pick her up every night and she does have the strength and balance to stay until morning.
Any ideas
I don't think that you have Marek's. I have not heard of the "skin and bones" associated with Marek's. Maybe contact a Vet to see if they would have any insight. Sorry I'm not being much help. No matter what, I'd separate her from the rest of the flock.
@@TheOldSwedesFarm no worries, thank you for the reply!
Think my chicken has this. I lost 2 chickens already from unknown causes, but now one is finally showing symptoms of this disease so I think the others probably died of the same thing even though they didn't show the symptoms.
Separate her from the other chickens and keep her quarantined. Clean the rest of the coop so feathers and dust are low, and other items that have been touched are cleaned. Are there stress factors that might be new (lots of chickens together in a small area, etc.)? If you keep the chicken separated, and clean, that'll be a good first step to minimizing the impact. Keep me posted.
One of my rooster got it i dont know what to do . the rooster is 6 months old
If you think you have a rooster with it, separate him immediately. You don't want others to catch it. Clean everything you can in the coop, run. We cleaned with a water/bleach solution. Clean all roosts, water dishes, feeders, etc. Watch the rest of the flock for signs that others may have it. If, after isolation, the rooster definitely has it, you'll need to put down the rooster. Let us know how else we can help.
How do you know if it's not a vitamin B 1 Deficiency.
The way she was laying on the floor, with her legs splayed out suggested heavily to Marek's. She looked a lot better on camera. I talked to a Vet and researched online. We were convinced she had Marek's.
Poor girl 😔
It is sad....
i have had 4 die from what seems to be Mareks. I got my flock from an organic farm and feed them organic. The first 2 died at about age 4 months, the next 2 died at about 6 months when they started laying. One of them didn't go paralyzed, the other 3 did. The one that didn't go paralyzed seem to have symptoms more like salmonella when i read about them. I am just so devastated having 4 chickens die when I only started out with 10. I am concerned about getting more chickens incase my entire flock is infected.
Clean everything and remove all the bedding. This spreads through skin cells that are shed. Clean out all the bedding and feathers and dirt. Put in new bedding and clean all feeders, etc. If you have any more birds that show any symptoms, separate them very fast. Hopefully no others will come down with it. Good luck!
My chiken affected plz solution
Do you know if it is Marek's? If so, there is no cure. If it's not, you might have something else. Without knowing the symptoms, I can't really help much.
My chicken cant stand well,she can walk but she keeps falling. What should i do?
Is the leg pointed in the wrong direction or looks a bit "mangled?" That might be Marek's. No other injuries from a fall (or predator)? If you suspect Marek's , get her separated from the flock as it is very catchy. If it is Marek's, the bird will die so you'll need to dispatch her. Keep us posted.
@@TheOldSwedesFarm she IS eating and drinkg and Even lays eggs,the falling happends when i put her down.
Its been 4 days,IS it too Late to separate her from the flock?
They will try to make everything appear as normal. If she has Marek's, separate her immediately. You might want to separate her anyways and watch her for a while. If you leave her with the flock, you risk contaminating the area more and passing it on to the whole flock.
@@TheOldSwedesFarm Im not sure If she Has it or where she got it from
I got 20 cochin bantam chick's from a hatchery a year ago and made the decision then not to vaccinate, big mistake, the first couple days I noticed 2 chick's that would get up to walk take two steps and plop down again, no changes in their growth like the rest, 6 days later those 2 were dead. I ended up with 8 roos and 10 hens. Come fall I had a hen that couldn't walk and wouldn't eat, I syringe fed her for 3 month till she died, shortly their after I see 2 more hens acting strange, one ended up with a huge tumor on her neck and died, the other wouldn't eat for days, her head was twisted for a couple wks, low and behold she recovered. Later another end up with a tumor on its head and died, another that simply couldn't walk or eat, I fed her too till she died. I also had one roo get it and died. Right now I have a hen that's paralyzed and is actually slowly getting better. I started giving her exotic bird vitamins in a syringe, not sure if that's helping or just a coincidence but she seems to be getting better. She's trying to walk. Needless to say I only have 4 out of the 10 hens left as of now and all the roos but the one that died. I have never had an issue ever with any till this batch so can chick's already get it in the egg or did they get it that quick at a day old at the hatchery? Most of the chick's had pasty butt also. I called the hatchery and left a message for them to call me and a little about what is going on. By no means was I upset with them, I just wanted them to be aware but they never called me back. None of my other chickens have it and some of them are as old as 8 yrs old, 6 yrs old and 4 yrs old. Chickens at my house stay here till they die either sick or old age. What's your thoughts?
I have heard that chicks can get it fast. If it is Marek's, usually the entire flock can get it. I saw this early and got her away from everyone else. I did a deep clean of the coop and everything in it. If you add new birds in the future, I would move all the existing birds to a temporary place and really clean the coop and other structures, waterers, feeders, roosts, etc. Get everything clean and move the old girls back. Then separate the new birds til they are of similar size. Make sure they are all healthy and then introduce them with the rest of the flock. If any of them look sick, immediately separate them and treat accordingly. Hope this helps.
I also purchased a dozen cochin and 8 silkies. Started loosing them at 3 months. Extreme weight loss, refuse feed, lethargic, also tried hand feeding but all that got sick died. I have several other chicken breeds in other pens and all seem fine. I am about to send one in for necropsy for final diagnosis. I'm devastated. I won't be able to sell anything from here on out and had such beautiful hatches with some rare breeds. Now I'll have to keep everything that survives and my feed bill will be atrocious. I know it had to come from the hatchery as those are the only ones dying. So depressed 😔. Putting them out of their misery is even more devastating. Haven't proof yet that this is the issue but having been a vet tech, I'm pretty sure what the outcome will be. One of the worse times in my 72 years!
@@cherspindler9040 I am so sorry to hear of your loss. It was tough to put down this one girl. I cannot imagine losing many of our girls. Clean everything really well and you should be able to start again. Our new hens are almost three months old and I'm watching closely at all of them. I'm trying to keep their stress very low and see if we can avoid this. Our thoughts and prayers are with you and your flock. Take care.
If none of your other chicks got it, it was most likely a vitamin deficiency. That can start with the breeder parents. I add vitiamin b complex and poultry cell to my chickens water 2 - 3 times a week.
I have two now. I didn't know what ot was. O e we had to pit down. We didn't separate in time. They were only few weeks old. Do I have to euthanize the rest of my flock?
Something stressed those birds. I hope it hasn't spread to the rest of the flock. Watch the flock closely. If anyone shows any signs, physically separate her (them). There is no cure. Make sure everything is very clean. Make sure they don't have a bunch of dust or dander that can be blown into the air. Get everything clean and ventilated and watch the flock. Keep me updated with your progress. I'm hoping no other chickens get this.
@@TheOldSwedesFarm thank you I will. I'm close) watching all of them. I have two coups and runs.and 30 chickens 🐔.
I didn't know or I would have made sure they were vaccinated. I have had chickens for years and thank God this never happened before. Thank you for your response and advice. I greatly appreciate it.
God bless
I just went out and found this in one chicken in my flock. I didn't realize it was Merricks at first glance. She was stuck on the ground not moving and she had a shell-less egg. I immediately picked her up. Cleaned her up, and got her some water. she is just starting to lay. While she was sitting at the water, the roo came over and harassed her. I separated her. I am going to separate the roo also. All my hens were vaccinated, but I do not know if the roo was. He was just handed to me by a local chicken farmer when I was picking up feed from her. (Someone didn't meet her when they said they would so she handed 2 roos to me!?!) It happened so fast, I forgot to ask about vaccinations.
Keep them separated until you know for sure. Stress will bring this on. Not sure if it would be the stress of egg laying or the stress of the rooster. Keep them separated and see what happens. If it is Marek's, there isn't much you can do. Keep us posted. Take care Terri.
Help me 😞
I.dont know.whhat to.do.
What are you experiencing? How can we help?
💔
Thanks for watching. It broke our heart too.
Do you or can you eat the bird? Or no because contaminated
It had tumors all over inside. We did not eat it.
KFC will take it
Ha!
You’re Bad!😵💫
That's what I was wondering 🤔 is it OK, safe to eat ? Or no because of toxins
@@StrangeRealityVlog I would not eat a bird with Marek's. Our bird was full of tumors.