Dealing with Merik's

[JuJucurley]

My Silkie chickens have had confirmed Marek's disease from a necropsy done in 2023. It is unfortunate that Silkie chicks are not vaccinated for Marek's due to their very small size when hatched.
Surprisingly, one of my hens that showed signs with limping that lead to paralysis, has survived and is now 1 1/2 yrs. old. She actually hatched and raised 2 chicks this past Summer (all while remaining in her coop outside)! She is mobile by using her wings. I now have a 6 month old (presummed a cockerel) in a separate coop that has become paralyzed. I had not seen him eat or drink since last Wednesday. Last night, I brought him indoors and was able to syringe feed him Rooster Booster vitamins and electrolytes and some Baicalen (a supplement found to improve, not cure, chickens with Marek's. Today, I succeeded in syringe feeding my cockerel with some fresh egg yolk.
Have any of you found ways to help a chicken with Marek's disease?

 

[Debbie292d]

I'm so sorry you've had to go through this.

I have a friend here who has been for the better part of a year now. @2ndTink got me on the use of Chinese Skullcap -Baicalin as a possible prevention for Marek's and AI. She also vaccinates her own chicks for Marek's Disease.

She learned her information about Baicalin from many sources; one helpful site is a group on Facebook. My understanding of it is this doesn't cure or improve a chicken infected with Marek's Disease, but it can stop the tumor growth. Basically, it can't reverse the damage, it just stops it from progressing. This chart I'll attach is from that group I linked which I use for preventative dosing, but double it. You'd be using the critical dosage. It needs a small amount of oil/fat to help them ingest it, and I've been mixing in Katee Exact Baby Parrot Food + Fat, hoping that's sufficient. I have the VNI 85%.



If you look through the FB group, they list various other things to help with afflicted chickens. Poultry Cell is advised to be given daily, as well as things like Milk Thistle, L-lysine, Lemon Balm, Tumeric, etc., but all their recommendations are there.

There are several others here at BYC that have gone through Marek's or are going through it now and wrote articles. Here is one, and another.

I hope something here helps you and am glad you're willing to try to help your chickens survive this.

 

[2ndTink]

I'm sorry you're dealing with Mareks in your flock as well, I have to get to work but I will respond on my break

 

[Eggcessive]

Sorry that you may have Mareks. There are a number of long time BYC members who have dealt with Mareks in their flocks. @microchick, @coach723, and many others have written about how they deal with ongoing Mareks, so I would read as much as you can:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...-i-learned-to-deal-with-mareks-disease.76944/

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/likely-mareks-flock-a-few-living-with-it-questions.1579104/

 

[coach723]

Since Marek's is caused by a herpes type virus, reducing stress (which in chickens can be caused by just about anything) and reducing inflammation can help. I'm not aware of any miraculous cures, but I do think that anything that won't hurt things or make them worse is certainly worth a try. It's a nasty virus. And silkies are known to be more susceptible to it. I usually don't do anything beyond supportive care anymore, and I euthanize when the illness is severe enough to make them suffer. After this many years with it, I don't get as many sick or symptomatic birds as I used to, it has settled down a lot. Still ticks me off when it shows up. Out of 40 some birds currently I have one that has ocular symptoms and another that is having neurological issues which may be Marek's, or may be something else, both of those birds are 5 years old or more. As far as vaccination, it will be difficult for you to do that successfully at home since they have to be kept isolated from any exposure for a period of time after the vaccination in order for it to take. As said before, read as much as you can, even though some information is contradictory. It at least gives you a place of knowledge to make better decisions from. I've trended away from breeds that have had a higher incidence of illness in my flock, and have tried to hatch from non symptomatic birds, trying to get birds with better resistance. Some of my barnyard mixes have done better.

 

[Eggcessive]

Here are a few articles to read about Mareks if you haven’t seen them:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/the-great-big-giant-mareks-disease-faq.66077/

https://vetmedbiosci.colostate.edu/vdl/colorado-avian-health-program/mareks-disease/

 

[microchick]

What @coach723 said, oops sorry, punched the wrong key at first.

My status pretty much mirror Coach's. It's a nasty disease and I'm so sorry you are dealing with it. The bad thing about Marek's is it's never gone. After 6 years without a death in my flock that looked like MD, I lost 2 roosters to suspected Marek's. My birds just suddenly waste away and like Coach, when mine go symptomatic, I put them down as there is no turning things around at that point in time. The insidious thing about the disease is that it will rise up to strike survivors at a later date.

Personally, I'm a proponent of breeding for resistance. IMHO doing anything else is just slapping a bandaid on a bullet hole and calling it cured. Even with breeding for resistance, your birds remain carriers, the disease just does not manifest itself in an active state with your birds. Unfortunately, breeding for resistance takes time and effort and a lot of patience. For me, using local resistant birds and genetic resistant ones like Egyptian Fayoumi's helped tremendously. At this point in time I'm no longer breeding birds as I am beginning to see birth defects in my bantam chicks and fear that inbreeding is to blame. Due to Marek's I will not bring new birds onto the property, even if they are vaccinated as at this point in time (and age) I'm content enjoying the birds that I have.

I have bred half Fayoumi roosters though from resistant birds with great success.

I fully support doing whatever you can to boost your bird's immune systems but until somebody comes up with a cure for the herpes virus I fear this disease is going to continue decimating backyard flocks and breaking bird owners' hearts.

 

[2ndTink]

You have already been given a ton of great resources and information.

I do hatch and vaccinate chicks then keep them in quarantine for 6 to 8 weeks, in the last year I haven't lost a single chicken to Mareks that was properly vaccinated. My losses have been from the flock that originally started the outbreak that wasn't vaccinated, and one hatch I did last year with a vaccine that in retrospect had been destroyed by the way I had stored it.

As far as helping a chicken once it already has symptoms, I haven't been successful. I more recently started using Chinese Skullcap, I haven't had any paralysis issues but from my improperly vaccinated hatch I have lost a few to cancer. There are people experimenting with different things to help symptomatic birds or try and stop or reverse tumor / cancer growth. If I have another one that starts to get paralyzed I will try some of the supportive things others are trying.

The sites that Debbie shared will give you the best answers on what you can do to try and support him.

 

[BlossomSilkies]

Our property in Arizona had Mareks and wiped out my flock. I am no expert on it, but I do recall being told it stays in the soil for a very long time. Once we found out about our property having it, every addition, no matter the age was vaxed. I'd order it online and give the vaccination myself.

 

[microchick]

It can last 7 years in the soil and when you stop to consider that wild birds as well as dander carried on the wind can transmit it you can begin to understand why it is everywhere and impossible to eradicate.