The Wyandotte Thread

[Scott H]

Sorry about your roo.....hope you get another good one out of him.

 

[delisha]

Quote: x2 on the chicks.....
I sell hatching eggs..I am not crazy about buying them..but I do when I want something. Some chicks are like hundreds of dollars..and they want you to buy a few dozen..lol I am afraid to even put that one by my DH..He would commit me.

 

[wyandodo]

Questions about MareksI

why would an adult get Mareks?
Why would they not have an immunity already if it is so prevalent?
Did you have the bird tested?

English is not my native language but I will try to explain myself the best as possible.
As far as I know , there are 2 kinds of Marek.
Classic Marek = risk for birds between 6-9 month
Accute Marek = risk for chicks

I refuse to vaccinate my birds because my aim is to breed natural immune animals.
Once you start vaccinating, you can't stop.
Eventually I will get there, even tough it might cost me some great birds the first years.

 

[wyandodo]

Sorry about your roo.....hope you get another good one out of him.

Thanks!

 

[delisha]

Quote: I am sorry for your loss..It is difficult to loose breeding stock.

Have you had the bird tested and confirmed?
I am trying to learn a bit about Mareks. I do not immunize my own birds for it, but I do for chicks I sell and ship because the demand is so high.
I did not know there were two kinds of Mareks.

 

[wyandodo]

If you mean an autopsy with 'tested and confirmed' than no.
But I invited the vet to take a look and he had exactly the same opinion as I did.
The disease is in fact a neurological problem.
Signs to look for is breathing problems and limping (actually more of a 'soldier pass').



From than on it will only get worse.
Most vets will try antibiotics and vitamins as a last resort but if you ask me there is no chance at all to recover from the disease once it is in the stage where they start limping.

 

[delisha]

Thank you for your information..I have only seen graphic pictures of birds unable to move laying in pile of dirty poop. It is unrealistic when I understand that Mareks is the second killer of chickens. It is rare in colder climates, but it can be brought here through the shows. I have been considering using vaccinations on my show stock starting this year.

 

[Fancychooklady]

There is also ocular mareks.

 

[WyandotteTX]

I sell hatching eggs..I am not crazy about buying them..but I do when I want something. Some chicks are like hundreds of dollars..and they want you to buy a few dozen..lol I am afraid to even put that one by my DH..He would commit me.

I love chickens, always have and have bought birds lots of ways and prices but asking $500 for a chick is ridiculous. There are truly valuable breeds that are rare and of good quality that ask $125 a bird and that is on the top end of value for those birds. All that other stuff, is just a sucker looking for ways to waste their money in my opinion...no offense to anyone.
Hatching eggs are great when they work, the fly in the ointment is that they rarely do. People claim they have 100% hatchability etc, and that is just false because you can never know what will happen those eggs once they are in the care of the post office. Best experience with eggs was 5 birds out of three dozen eggs, worst experience is 3 birds out of 96 eggs. I am a veteran poultry breeder with plenty of experience hatching eggs. I guess my advice is, buyer beware. Not meaning to rail on about anyone or anything here, just trying to prevent heartbreak of someone who thinks they are getting a deal with hatching eggs.

 

[gardengoats11]

I had 15 turkey eggs shipped once and hatched 14 from them. Another time I had 12 chicken eggs shipped. Had a bad feeling about these eggs when they arrived. They felt to the touch like eggs that had already been incubated for a while. None of them hatched. Too many factors for me to do much with purchasing hatching eggs unless I can drive and pick them up myself.