Rebuilding my Farm - Page 14

Daron, I have every bit of faith and confidence that you would not knowingly spread anything from your farm to anyone else

Hilbilly Hen, I do agree with you about Daron's character and intentions. I just read a post a ways back that worried me.

HH and Daron - we all live fairly close.  And my chickens got E.Coli in the lungs.  I am wondering if we have wild birds carrying disease.

Did you both know that there is a vaccine for MG?  I think when I get chicks next, I will go ahead and vaccinate them at 6-8 weeks.  The vaccine is called   Mycovac - L

And at Michigan State University, Dr. Fulton recommended that all our chicks are vaccinated for Mareks disease at hatching.

I think if you speak to some "old time" breeders, you will find that most of them do not vaccinate; rather, they breed for a natural immunity to what is in and around your area.  I used to vaccinate for Mareks and no longer do, as a result of the things I've learned from these old-timers.  I figure, they've "been there, done that" and are proven and still have healthy flocks, so...makes sense to me.  We can agree to disagree on the use of vaccines & antibiotics til the cows come home, which is why it's so important to ask questions of the breeders when you purchase birds OR hatching eggs.

The Tomaru, Daron, were not bred on my farm; they were a gift from a fellow BYCer - a friend who knew I'd always wanted some.  They arrived to my farm as youngsters of maybe 8 weeks old.  They came from Sandhill.  They never displayed any form of illness while here, BUT - could they have been carriers?  I suppose they could, and that they just never showed symptoms.  I don't know that you can ever know completely, 100% on where the diseases they get come from, but IMO the wild bird population must carry all sorts of creepy crawlie bacterial/viral sorts of things!

You have to do what you are comfortable with, and we all have different comfort levels.  I for one, personally know Daron, and will vouch for his character.  It broke my heart, Daron, when you wrote to tell me about this.  I'm REALLY happy that you have a thread telling about what you're going through, what you heave learned, and HOPEFULLY, how to kick this thing!  Please do keep us posted on what's happening - I am SO very curious to see how things progress! 

Daron, I will get the information on the vaccines for you and post it here.

They have the vaccines at first state:

http://www.firststatevetsupply.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=97

I don't know how well they work and whoo boy, pricey unless you have a lot of birds or someone to split an order with..

Wishing the best of luck and sucess Daron  

BEST of luck, Daron!  I hope it all comes out as you want it to!  

This is a very interesting experiment - I hope that you are going to have the offspring checked later in the game, as maybe juveniles (?) to see if they are clean.  I think you almost "have" to, in order to know if this is successful!  BEST of luck!