Marek's! Can my broody ever hatch again?

[pitbullgurl]

I've read the big thread on Marek's. I'm nearly 100% sure I have ocular Marek's in my flock. Two out of 13 birds are blind in one eye but otherwise doing fine. I know if I ever get more hatchery peeps they have to be vaccinated & separated while the immunity develops.

What I haven't been able to find out is if I'll ever be able to hatch with a broody ever again. I'd like for the peeps to be raised by their mother rather than in quarantine. I was able to hatch some last year this way (before I knew about the ocular Marek's) and I absolutely loved it. My hen was such a great mama. Will I really never be able to do this safely ever again??

 

[nuthatched]

Tell us why you believe it to be mereks? Are the pupils changing shapes?
If you hatch with a broody, the chicks will be exposed to the disease. Even if you don't hatch with a broody and use an incubator, eventually, the chicks will be exposed. You can buy the mereks vaccine to give to the chicks your self.
Even so, they'll still be carriers of the disease the rest of their lives.

 

[pitbullgurl]

Tell us why you believe it to be mereks? Are the pupils changing shapes?
If you hatch with a broody, the chicks will be exposed to the disease. Even if you don't hatch with a broody and use an incubator, eventually, the chicks will be exposed. You can buy the mereks vaccine to give to the chicks your self.
Even so, they'll still be carriers of the disease the rest of their lives.

One has a pinpoint pupil that doesn't change in response to light (on one eye only). The other has an eye that went fully black & cloudy over the course of a week or so. A third hen had a blind eye that she would keep closed (she has since been taken by a predator ). My hens that came from a hatchery were vaccinated but the six my broody hatched last year were not. I have some older hens from a feed store that most likely were not vaccinated either.

 

[nuthatched]

One has a pinpoint pupil that doesn't change in response to light (on one eye only). The other has an eye that went fully black & cloudy over the course of a week or so. A third hen had a blind eye that she would keep closed (she has since been taken by a predator ). My hens that came from a hatchery were vaccinated but the six my broody hatched last year were not. I have some older hens from a feed store that most likely were not vaccinated either.

Hmmm.
You can still use the broody if you vaccinate the chicks on their first day. The vaccine doesn't mean they'll all live, it's just a better chance.

 

[Poultrybonkers]

Blindness could be from genetics aswell I have an ameraucana thats blind and a friend has from the same stock and all theres are blind. So without testing its hard to say what it is..and i read up on oculas mareks before because of my blind hen i think all it does is effect the sight so its not as bad as the other mareks but i wouldnt be selling if it is mareks l would get one tested to be sure

 

[Ridgerunner]

What I haven't been able to find out is if I'll ever be able to hatch with a broody ever again. I'd like for the peeps to be raised by their mother rather than in quarantine. I was able to hatch some last year this way (before I knew about the ocular Marek's) and I absolutely loved it. My hen was such a great mama. Will I really never be able to do this safely ever again??

I am sorry to hear this. It makes things rough.

If Marek's is in your flock all of your chickens have it and can spread it. That doesn't mean all will have the symptoms, as you have seen with your other chickens.

If you let a broody hen hatch chicks those chicks will be exposed at hatch. Vaccinating them will do no good, they will have already been exposed. Just like the rest of your flock, some will eventually have the symptoms, some will not. I don't know how many will or or not show symptoms. Can you live with that risk? That decision is yours alone to make.