Dealing with Merik's

[JuJucurley]

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%.

View attachment 4032856

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.

Thank you for all if this helpful information. There is so much to learn about caring for chickens and I appreciate your support and feedback.

 

[JuJucurley]

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.

I wished that were a good option, but a farm vet told me it isn't feasible for a backyard chicken owner to vaccinate because the medication is sold in large amounts, has to be used within an hour of prepping it and it has to be kept refrigerated.

 

[BlossomSilkies]

I wished that were a good option, but a farm vet told me it isn't feasible for a backyard chicken owner to vaccinate because the medication is sold in large amounts, has to be used within an hour of prepping it and it has to be kept refrigerated.

Interesting. It has been 15 years since I was dealing with this. I remember it came with cooler packs to keep it cool for shipping and I was able to get smaller quantities back then. I don't even remember where I got it from at this point it's been so long ago. Things have changed I guess. I am sorry you are dealing with this, no fun and so heartbreaking.

 

[2ndTink]

I wished that were a good option, but a farm vet told me it isn't feasible for a backyard chicken owner to vaccinate because the medication is sold in large amounts, has to be used within an hour of prepping it and it has to be kept refrigerated.

It is possible to vaccinate your own chicks. The current HVT vaccine we can buy is a 1,000 dose vial, which is ridiculous for us backyard flock keepers. There are a lot of places you can buy the vaccine, just Google it and check who has it in stock, pricing etc, it has to be over nighted to you with an ice pack, it's not "cheap" but it's worth it to me.

You can also find information online on how to cut the vaccine wafer into quarters. The storage of the wager and diluent is critical but it does help to spread the cost across multiple hatches.

Once mixed it does have to be used within an hour.

 

[JuJucurley]

Interesting. It has been 15 years since I was dealing with this. I remember it came with cooler packs to keep it cool for shipping and I was able to get smaller quantities back then. I don't even remember where I got it from at this point it's been so long ago. Things have changed I guess. I am sorry you are dealing with this, no fun and so heartbreaking.

Thank you. Did you continue keeping chickens and letting them reproduce?
I am so torn with that decision. I can't, in good conscience give away or sell any of my chickens. There is so much more time involved in caring for paralyzed chickens.

 

[Kiki]

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.

This kills the disease:
https://lanxess.com/en-us/products-and-brands/brands/virkon-s

 

[BlossomSilkies]

Thank you. Did you continue keeping chickens and letting them reproduce?
I am so torn with that decision. I can't, in good conscience give away or sell any of my chickens. There is so much more time involved in caring for paralyzed chickens.

Yes I did continue, just made sure every new addition was vaxed and never had another problem. Then we moved across the country. That property did not have Mereks so never had to deal with it there. And my current property also doesn't have it.