Washingtonians Come Together! Washington Peeps

[AletaG]

She's on here from time to time, has some pretty nice birds. No idea on vaccinating for Marek's as far as if she does or not. Vaccinating is a very controversial topic, some facts though are that they must be vaccinated as day olds, and after mixing the vaccine it must be used with an hour.

Probably would be less controversial if the vaccine were more easily available/affordable for small flocks. Is it 1000 or 10000 chickens a vial does? that many for 40$ or so is fine and all, but my first "successful" hatch attempt has resulted in 3 chicks (one cream legbar, 2 icelandics). Who could vaccinate 3 chicks when the entire thing has to be used up at once? And it's such a tiny, tiny pill, think like nitroglycerin size, you couldn't properly 'divide' it in a million years at home. Everything is aimed at the Giganto producers. Same with the NPIP frustration. 30 birds for heaven's sake, all over the age of 16wks. And, if you want to be cert AI free, that's every 90 days you have to have 30 birds over 16wks to test. It's bonkers. And for now, there is not a 'small flock' work around of any sort. Seems like there could be some sort of send in the swabs yourself to the lab and sign your life away on penalty of perjury that you've sent samples from all your birds. Anyway, hoping to do that soon. I PROMISE to give the vet a politely difficult time. Getting vocal is sooo much fun.
*edited to correct AI timeframe

 

[BGMatt]

30 birds isn't much for NPIP, but it's very much a false sense of security. Same as the vaccines. They don't hit every strain and I've documented more problems with Marek's in vaccinated flocks (yes I used to be part of the vaccinate and medicate crowd, then I learned better) vs non-vaccinated. Cull the sick, breed the strong, don't have any worries. Anyway that's more the controversy I was talking about.

 

[CarolynF]

Nah, I'm very familiar with his work. He's not controversial just an idiot. Very good at being a celebrity, but his "methods" border on abuse. It's really sad that Dr. Dunbar associated himself with such filth.

Regardless I was just suggesting looking into someone who actually knows something rather than a worthless celebrity fraud that regularly tortures animals and exhausts and stresses them to the point of breaking.

And that's all I'll say on the matter because this is Backyard Chickens, not Dog Behavior Today

Please... No Need for Name Calling. Being rude doesn't make you right. And this is indeed a social thread: BYC Forum › Social ›

 

[BGMatt]

Please... No Need for Name Calling. Being rude doesn't make you right. And this is indeed a social thread: BYC Forum › Social ›

Wasn't being rude or name calling anyone on here. I'm not so childish as to need people to agree with me so I couldn't care less if people acknowledge I'm right or not. That was not the point. The point was calling attention to the fact that the "famous" dog whisperer is regarded as a joke by most serious trainers, has been brought up multiple times on charges of animal cruelty, and regularly abuses animals on his TV show. Then expressed my surprise that someone with a flawless reputation lowered themselves to working with a charlatan. It is a social thread, otherwise I would not have commented on it at all.

 

[Flaming Chicken]

Probably would be less controversial if the vaccine were more easily available/affordable for small flocks. Is it 1000 or 10000 chickens a vial does? that many for 40$ or so is fine and all, but my first "successful" hatch attempt has resulted in 3 chicks (one cream legbar, 2 icelandics). Who could vaccinate 3 chicks when the entire thing has to be used up at once? And it's such a tiny, tiny pill, think like nitroglycerin size, you couldn't properly 'divide' it in a million years at home. Everything is aimed at the Giganto producers. Same with the NPIP frustration. 30 birds for heaven's sake, all over the age of 16wks. And, if you want to be cert AI free, that's every single month you have to have 30 birds over 16wks to test. It's bonkers. And for now, there is not a 'small flock' work around of any sort. Seems like there could be some sort of send in the swabs yourself to the lab and sign your life away on penalty of perjury that you've sent samples from all your birds. Anyway, hoping to do that soon. I PROMISE to give the vet a politely difficult time. Getting vocal is sooo much fun.

I usually order my Mareks vaccine from Jeffers. It is currently 19.00. I order it along with my horse vaccines, wormers and what ever else I need at the time so the shipping gets shared. I have some vaccine sitting in my outside fridge right now waiting in case I decide to hatch some chicks. I know it may not be 100% but it may significantly reduce my chances of an outbreak. I keep my babies quarantined from my older flock till they are nearly POL so they have a chance to develop natural immunity also. I don't always vaccinate at 1 day old, sometimes it takes a couple of weeks to get to it. But they don't go outside to my grower coop until 10 days after they get the vaccine.

I haven't always been such a nutcase about it but personal experience with some shipped chicks that cost way more than $20 bucks made me consider protecting my flock.

 

[AletaG]

I haven't always been such a nutcase about it but personal experience with some shipped chicks that cost way more than $20 bucks made me consider protecting my flock.

Just wanted to note that I corrected my prev post to reflect that maintaining full time AI clean means testing every 90 days, not 30... Sorry about that.

I understand wanting to protect your investment. In my case, it still doesn't make financial sense to inoculate my own birds even for sale purposes. I'd have to make the prices unworkable in my area.
I have other reasons not to, but that's for PMs, 'cause I've seen the mods shut down this line of discussion before.

 

[ducklingsweety]

thanks! our neibor had pigeons and accidentally caught a great horned owl in a live racoon trap!

 

[Lutefisk]

Here's the Chicken Whisperer episode where Millan works on getting a lab to stop chasing poultry, co-starring an EE and a duck. 2nd half of the video. No dogs were harmed but it was close for the duck.

 

[ducklingsweety]

Here's the Chicken Whisperer episode where Millan works on getting a lab to stop chasing poultry, co-starring an EE and a duck. 2nd half of the video. No dogs were harmed but it was close for the duck.

cool!

 

[FlyRobinFly]

Hi All! Long time and have missed you all...been super busy but finally got a chance to pop back on. Was worried my account would be gone, but it's still here.