Washingtonians Come Together! Washington Peeps

[Chickielady]

Trying to figure out how to place a bet (or 2) on the Derby.......my cousin has a colt running...and we are praying she wins !!!! Her husband is also the trainer...and for 3 generations, on 3 sides of this family, we have jockeys and retire & train...generation after generation, and finally, FINALLY a Derby Horse !!

http://www.horseracingnation.com/bl...cky_Derby_Danzing_Candy_Pedigree_Profile_123#

 

[Chickielady]

"Leaf Ears" a physical sign that the horse has an enlarged heart, or should we say, a larger-than-normal heart, where the tip of the ear peels back like a leaf.
Not many have it, American Pharaoh had it, Seattle Slew I think...and they say the last 3 other Derby winners.
Something to ponder.

I miss being at the track, especially the 4 am grooming & workout...how crazy is that ?

 

[Leigti]

I tried to watch the derby every year. I will be rooting for your families horse. It's the closest thing I have to a contact. Usually I just look at the horses and pick one I think is pretty

 

[Duck Drover]

"Leaf Ears" a physical sign that the horse has an enlarged heart, or should we say, a larger-than-normal heart, where the tip of the ear peels back like a leaf.
Not many have it, American Pharaoh had it, Seattle Slew I think...and they say the last 3 other Derby winners. 
Something to ponder.

I miss being at the track, especially the 4 am grooming & workout...how crazy is that ?

I have a granddaughter of Seattle Slough. She was trained on track but probably did not have the heart for it because she never raced.

 

[vasher]

Oh man, good luck!

I miss being at the track, especially the 4 am grooming & workout...how crazy is that ?

Oh man, good luck!

Must be super exciting! I miss the smell of hay and (OT)TB sweat almost a decade later.

 

[Scram85]

This is a little off topic but does anyone else have issues with backyardchickens.com loading slow? This site is sooooo boggy for me.

 

[vasher]

Question for those of you with experience with broody hens:

I have 4 broody hens out of 11!!!! I want to let one(or two?) of them raise chicks that are hatching right now as I type this. For those that I don't want to raise them, can I give them chicks for a day or 2 to break the broodiness then take them away? I have more chicks than I can possibly keep, the 8 or so that I plan to keep will be raise by one of the hens then the other 22 or so will need to find new homes almost asap. I was thinking I could break the broody with a few extra chicks then return those to the brooder once the broody is tricked.

Congratulations on your hatch! That's a lot of chicks--blues?

This site is slow as mud, not sure why, think it's on their host end.

 

[Manningjw]

Congratulations on your hatch! That's a lot of chicks--blues?

This site is slow as mud, not sure why, think it's on their host end.

About 1/3 white, 1/3 blue, 1/3 blacks. The white coming from dominant white on the White Leghorn side of my crosses.

 

[Firefighter315]

My broody hen had her adopted chicks outside for the first time!

 

[ochochicas]

Quote:
Thanks for tagging me on this. It is nice that someone remembers the plight of my birds. I have not been around to post here because I think some people are being extremely rude to others. There is also some misinformation people are posting, probably to make themselves seem right when they are not.

Despite what individuals believe about vaccinating and Marek's, everyone's beliefs deserve to be respected. I am not going to argue with people who have small minds and even less education.

As for my flock, I had a very virulent strain of Marek's go through and kill every chick/pullet/cockerel that hatched for two seasons. I lost a couple of adult birds as well. In addition, I lost an entire line of project birds that can never be replaced. The rooster was killed by a predator and every single one if his offspring died from Marek's. There were a few birds that I thought were resistant. They lived to be 11 months old and did reproduce, but they were not the quality of birds I could use to continue my project. Besides that, I am no longer able to sell birds to others anyway.

Watching a bird suffer from Marek's is heartbreaking. Based on that alone I don't know why people would be against vaccinating. The research on the vaccine is old; more research needs to be done to make it more relevant and accurate to today's poultry standards. A couple of things I would like to clear up are:

• Birds that are vaccinated to not shed the virus from the vaccine.
• Vaccinated birds that come into contact with the virus do not always become carrier and shed virus to other birds.
• Marek's is everywhere, especially in Washington. Wild birds can bring it to your property despite proper "biosecurity"
• If you have a bird that is sick with Marek's, all of your other birds have already been exposed. Culling the sick bird will not remove the threat to your other birds.
• Marek's virus lives for years in the soil and coop. Killing all your birds to start over will only be exposing the new birds to the virus that is already on your property.

I'm sure there is more, but I'm not here to write a novel, plus I have work to do.

People spend hundreds and thousands of dollars on coops, runs, electrified fencing, automatic coop door, guardian livestock dogs, etc. to protect chickens from predators, but they don't want to spend 25 cents on a vaccine. It makes no sense to me. Why not breed birds that are resistant to predation? Seems like a silly idea, doesn't it? Same for contagious diseases. Makes more sense to protect them from disease and predators at the same time.

The things that have helped me are the helpful people on BYC. Also, knowing that I'm not alone in this has been reassuring. I know for a fact that there are people on this thread that have active marek's in their flock and continue to trade birds with other people without disclosing it. You may be one of the recipients of that stock, so no one is safe from getting it.

It has also helped to know that Marek's does not survive incubation. Chicks will hatch without contracting the virus. The vaccine is the only way I could continue to have chickens and not have them die a slow, horrible death from the disease. Having to cull all your babies one by one is heartbreaking; I would not wish it on anyone.