counturchickens Posted October 21, 2013 Share Posted October 21, 2013 Earlier this year we lost dolly, an ex barn hen. We had her pts as she couldn't stand. Now, Nancy who came from the same place is looking the same. She's currently separated from the other girls, she was fine yesterday, but today can't stand up. All our hens are vaccinated, but could this still be mareks, in which case what should we do? The rest of the hens are fine. We've had nancy 18 months, so she won't be a bad age. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
merlina Posted October 25, 2013 Share Posted October 25, 2013 What happened with Nancy? I'm thinking that my hen probably has Mareks (i thought she was vaccinated) as she seems to have lost the use of the other leg now Do hens ever recover from it? Is there any treatment? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lavenders_Blue Posted October 26, 2013 Share Posted October 26, 2013 I have a hen who I *suspect* (but I'm not certain) had Mareks. She was also vaccinated. I came home from work one day to find her collapsed in the run, unable to stand at all. It was nearly dark, so there was little I could do other than pop her in the nest box overnight and hope she made it through the night. To cut a long story short, next day she wa still very much with us and as she was still eating and drinking, I left her to see how she would pick up, and slowly but surely she started to improve. She was back on her feet within a couple of days and hopping around. She was limping for quite some weeks afterwards (I restricted her space with her own food and water to help her recover) but she continued to eat and drink and looked bright and perky so I left her to it. To look at her now, you would never know there was anything wrong with her. She's 100% better and laying eggs I think it was Dogmother who informed me at the time that her vet was seeing a 'slow burn' type of Mareks, so I don't know if that's what my girlie had, but she's certainly okay now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Dogmother Posted October 28, 2013 Share Posted October 28, 2013 I think it was Dogmother who informed me at the time that her vet was seeing a 'slow burn' type of Mareks, so I don't know if that's what my girlie had, but she's certainly okay now. Yes, they can die of Marek's within an hour or two with the rapid version, but the slower one is recoverable, although they sometimes die later from the lesions it leaves on their organs and nerve endings. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
merlina Posted October 28, 2013 Share Posted October 28, 2013 Yes, they can die of Marek's within an hour or two with the rapid version, but the slower one is recoverable, although they sometimes die later from the lesions it leaves on their organs and nerve endings. Thanks DM. Over what period would you expect to see some improvement start to happen? Milly hasn't got any worse for a week, but she hasn't got any better either. (We're at the vets tomorrow) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Dogmother Posted October 28, 2013 Share Posted October 28, 2013 It really varies, and if they make any recovery then their quality is usually poor. I'd cull an affected bird. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
counturchickens Posted November 1, 2013 Author Share Posted November 1, 2013 Sadly Nancy died later the same day. No signs with the others so fingers crossed the rest don't have it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Dogmother Posted November 1, 2013 Share Posted November 1, 2013 They may well 'have it' but it will be in the background and so long as their immune systems are healthy and they aren't stressed, it won't affect them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clucky the Great Posted November 2, 2013 Share Posted November 2, 2013 Sorry to hear this having done work experience at a chicken farm that had a day of moving 18,000 birds to a new barn and vaccinating them although you say they were vaccinated some "catchers" do cut corners vaccinating if no one is watching and even if they did vaccinate them the room for error is very high as they literally carry 10 birds, 5 in each hand and someone else uses something that looks like something you'd spread weed killer on your lawn with with a needle on the end usually bored and talking to people or distracted whilst vaccinating them. They caught and vaccinated and moved to a new barn 18,000 birds from 8am till 2pm and 18,000 birds is quite a small amount for them. It is not how we think of something being vaccinated (like a dog or a cat at the vets). Some are better than the others (however the people at the chicken farm I was at said these were very good). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
