Question Can't do it! Help

[ross]

Well done lady chicken & husband .

[Ladychicken]

viewtopic.php?t=867
You may want to send him to Guelph see above thread to set your mind at rest. Marks is a shedding vaccine and I don't vaccinate for it only Infectious Laryngotracheitis. I rely on a chickens with natural immunity to Mareks which is a lot of them.
You will at least sleep better not having the worry of him being sick, you did the right thing and you know it. I still hate doing this when I have to. One favourite bird I had to get a neighbour to do because I was having such a hard time (Lucky the Rooster)

Do you think if it doesn't end up being mareks they'll be able to find out what it was? I would definitely feel better knowing what it was. If it's not something highly contagious, does this mean I can open my flock back up, or does it not work that way? I read that pretty much every chicken carries mareks, do you think that's accurate? Sorry for the umpteen questions lol

[Killerbunny]

@WLLady will know what they do or someone else who has used them. Best of luck!

[WLLady]

i am sorry!!!! you did the right thing. and the feeling calm is because you did the right thing!!!

it does not sound like mareks honestly-3 weeks is a long time to go with mareks. you can send him to guelph for testing....but usually if you are not vaccinated for mareks you will see other birds come down with it almost immediately. if you have no other birds showing signs honestly it would be much more likely its a developmental issue. the brain and nervous system still pattern after hatching and maybe he just had something wrong. i would just keep an eye on your other birds and if no one shows anything wrong in the next few weeks i would not worry about closing your flock. viruses usually spread fast and furious through flocks. there are deficiencies that cannot be treated like some vit b and k deficiencies where receptors for the vitamin are actually lacking leading to nervous system dysfunction. and chickens can have scoliosis...anything with a bony spinal column can if the patterning hormones like bmps are out of whack. sometimes if the chick rotates the wrong direction when developing it can twist the somites of the developing spine or end up with all the organs on the wrong side or make heart defects etc. those animals are sometime neat to do a necropsy and see if you can see anything wrong inside-but you need to be a little sciency crazy i think (like me) lol. as long as you dont have a lot of chicks developing like that and dont have other birds suddenly showing the same symptoms i would not worry too much.

[Killerbunny]

Also thinking back I had a young rooster who had a wry neck but we think it was a result of being pecked in the neck.

[kenya]

I think mareks is everywhere, I don't know how unless you vacinated to prevent it. Most people just try to breed for natural immunity. I see no reason to close your flock.