cancer in flock?

[Jen]

My flock has been decimated over the past two or three years, with
hens showing abdominal swellings closely followed by death. Recently
our vet operated on an elderly sussex cross hen, suspecting that an
egg had passed into the abdominal cavity instead of into her uterus.
He found that she was riddled with cancers blocking the uterus
completely and extending through the abdomen. Just last week I
brought him another hen, this one a refugee from another flock, who
also had abdominal swelling. An Xray showed that she had fluid in her
abdomen that had caused it to swell to the size of a rock melon, and I
had her put down immediately. Is this incidence of these symptoms
usual? Or am I having a run of bad luck?
Worried, Jen

[lba36727]

Jen,

I believe there are several communicable poultry diseases that can trigger
the development of tumors, inclluding Marek's. I recommend a web search
for "poultry diseases" and "tumors" .

If it is Marek's or any of several other diseases, you can buy an
inexpensive vaccine to use on new birds to prevent their catching it from
the older birds (who are likely to be carriers). Marek's vaccine is given
within 24 hours of hatching, but is easy to give. You may need to have one
person hold the chicks while you give the vaccination, or vi ce versa.

I just lost a very expensive cockerel to Marek's, and have to order the
vaccine myself, not fo the chicks I will be shipping (who will go from the
sanitized incubator to the shipping boxes) but for the ones I will be
keeping for myself.

HTH,

Laurie

Jen <salix_h...@hotmail.com> wrote in article
<46c829b6.0203...@posting.google.com>...