Marek's Disease

joc1 · **Joined:** Sat Dec 22, 2007 5:31 pm **Posts:** 35

The fact it is a cockeral would lead you to think it is more likely Ricketts. Cockerals go through a growth spurt and without the calcium in their system (or the ability to digest it or use it) will usually be the first ones to show Ricketts type behaviour.

I dont think it would have been a sudden onset, you may not have noticed some stumbling or rocking backwards and forwards while standing still.

If in doubt, isolate him and put him onto a Ricketts diet, include some cod liver oil. If there is no improvement over the next 3 weeks, then you would tend to go with Mareks if you were vigilante about treating him.

J

luvmychooks · **Posted:** Thu Mar 06, 2008 8:58 pm

Thanx heaps, that makes me feel better i will start him on treatment tomorrow and hopefully, i'll see some results. I have him isolated, but i put my fave fav hen in the partiton beside him, and i was worried if it was mareks, she could have been exposed. Also luv all my cross breds too, and i didn't want to have to get rid of all of them!!

If they are vit d deficient what is lacking in the diet? They are free ranged and fed on either chicken crumble or pullet grower depending on age. Will Band saw dust help in the future?

debbieo4914 · **Posted:** Wed Mar 12, 2008 6:54 am

Hi everyone,

Just thought I would share my experience regarding Marek's vaccination.

I have bred a few chicks "out of season" (for around here, anyway) and so some of the breeders who usually help me out with vaccine couldn't do so. I had to go to our avian vet with a sick bird, so just asked him if he could vaccinate the chicks at the same time.

He did - a total cost of $9.90 for vaccine for 4 chicks plus a "pocket pet" consultation fee.

This was much cheaper than the $120 I was prepared to pay for a whole vial of vaccine just to do a few chicks (and I would have had to needle them myself, then! :shock:

).

Deb

County Lodge · **Posted:** Wed Mar 12, 2008 11:00 am

That's really good to know. Thanks Deb.

pjh · **Posted:** Wed Mar 12, 2008 11:31 am

glad you found a solution to your vaccination problem----personally do not vaccinate-----none of my chooks are vaccinated, they have been bred for a long time from non vaccinated stock-----did loose 2 birds with what seemed to be mareks in 2001-----only time in the last 10 years----cheers pam

luvmychooks · **Posted:** Sun Mar 16, 2008 9:00 am

I have been treating him for Ricketts, Its been 2 weeks now since he fell ill and still no improvement. I have given him bandsaw dust, cod liver oil, multivitamins in the water, the special diet, but he is looking terrible now, very pale comb, he had mites on him, and i treated him with ivomec but his feathers are damagd around his neck. He can still move around, and from side to side, but can't stand. He's still eating normally though, :cry:

Thanks for all th advice everyone!! I have bred all the chooks on my property, so none are vaccinated, apart from the 8 i just bought off the breeder. He got put down today at the vets :cry:

Egglive · **Joined:** Fri Dec 14, 2007 10:58 am **Posts:** 267

If anyone is around the Brisbane area and looking for vaccine, the Brisbane Bird Vet at Chermside sells smaller portions of vaccine which you go in and pick up on ice. Just another option if you want to vaccinate. I find it impractical because it's no use after the first 24 hours. If I had a big batch hatching all at once perhaps it could work, but I seem to have them hatching all the time. If I see any Marek's-like symptoms I cull pretty quickly, especially if I don't think it's likely to be ricketts. I had one case with a five month old sussex roo. He had the classic one-leg-out-to-the-side posture. It's a dead giveaway.

snarby97 · **Posted:** Sun May 04, 2008 9:53 am

For the first few batches of chickens that I vaccinated against Mareks I bought small quantities of vaccine (frozen) from the vet as I needed them. They were only a few dollars each as I did the vaccinating myself. The vet bought 1000 doses of vaccine (that was the amount it came in), made it up with the diluent and then froze them straight away in the needles ready to use. Since then I have been looking into purchasing the vaccine (and needles, etc) myself to save on the vet's mark-up for doing this - as I was the only one using the vaccine from the vet anyway.

I have found a few websites of companies that sell vaccine (some sell more than 1 type of marek's vaccine) - does anyone know the difference between the various types sold by the various companies? Is there any company that others have dealt with that are cheaper / more helpful, etc? :?:

Also, on these websites, the info for the states that the vaccine should be used within 1 hour of mixing with the diluent and then disposed of. Does anyone know if it will actually work to mix it up then refreeze it straight away (just in a normal freezer, not in nitrogen) as the vet did (from reading other people's posts it would seem that other vets are doing this also?). :?:

I have spoken to one of the companies but the person who I talked to didn't seem able to satisfactorily answer my questions. :-?

Thanks!

debbieo4914 · **Posted:** Sun May 04, 2008 10:36 am

Hi snarby97 - nice to see another Novacastrian/Hunter person on here!

I wasn't sure how the vet was freezing it - is it the specialist avian vet that you were using? I would hope that they would be preparing it properly so that it is actually viable. I had a few of mine done that way too, so hope that it does actually work. My local vet seemed to think that freezing it in a normal freezer was not good enough, but I would hope that someone that specialises in birds would be doing the right thing.

Are you a member of any of the poultry clubs around the area? I know of a couple of breeders in Maitland who are always happy for me to join in on their vaccination days which is great, but as they only vaccinate in the spring/summer breeding season it doesn't help around this time of year.

Another option is to use a hatchery as I think is mentioned somewhere in this post. They will vaccinate for 30 cents per chick which makes it pretty cost effective. I did this with my last dozen chicks - there is one located at Nulkaba that hatches all year round.

Deb :-D

snarby97 · **Posted:** Sun May 04, 2008 11:36 am

thanks very much deb.
i rang a number of vets and they all pointed me in the direction of the vet at west wallsend. is there another one who is more specialised in this?
i am aware of the nulkaba hatchery - but i have 2 young children and was hoping to be able to get out of having to drive day old chickens up there (i am assuming that is how it works?) with them on board!

i am just about to join some local clubs and had heard that they often shared the cost of vaccines around - but similarly to yourself, it would mean making sure the eggs hatched all at the same time. seeing as my hens are a bit sporadic in their laying (sebrights) and i don't use an incubator (need to wait for one of my other bantams to go clucky), i had ruled out this option also.
i'll have to ring around the vets and companies again and see what else i can find out about freezing the vaccine prior to use.
thanks again! :-D

narelle

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