5th Annual BYC New Year's Day 2014 Hatch-A-Long

[ronott1]

This is her wing feathers. But sadly my phone cam did not capture the true color of them at all. Her daddy is RIR and her mother is an EE whose color could be described as wheaten I think.

I hope you get some nice lime colored eggs from the RIR by EE cross!

 

[Aphrael]

I hope you get some nice lime colored eggs from the RIR by EE cross!

Me too! I'm really hoping for some pretty eggs. I need to expand my egg basket colors!

 

[bantambury]

I gotta PROBLEM once again.

my chick with the crooked toe.....I just tried taping it and it did not work. I don't know what to do, and I do want her for a show bird.



if taping wont work for her, once she is older I KNOW she will end up stepping on it. (its curled under another toe)
what do I do now? if she was in a show, and had a crooked toe, wil she only have points deducted and that's it?

 

[mstricer]

 

 
Marek's is the bane of my existence.  I lost an entire shipment of beautiful Speckled Sussex chicks to Marek's.  It has multiple forms, and once a bird becomes symptomatic it is almost always fatal (the percentage of those surviving it is fractional, and most of those birds are compromised for life).  Vaccinating all birds will not eliminate it eventually, as it is carried by wild birds.  Chicks must be vaccinated in the first 48 (? might be 72, I could have mis-remembered this) hours of life, the vaccine is only good for 48 hours once mixed with the diluent, and the vaccine is live vaccine, meaning vaccinated birds shed the virus for life, exposing all other birds to it.  There are many schools of thought on this disease, but after consulting breeders with decades of experience I opted not to vaccinate chicks.  My thought was that if there are birds who are naturally resistant and birds who are not, I will never know which are resistant if I vaccinate; if I do not, the birds that live and thrive past 6 months of age are resistant and should pass that resistance on to their offspring.

The major objection I have to it is that it doesn't actually confer immunity to the disease - it simply leaves me unable to identify an infected bird that should be removed.  Fortunately, I have never encountered it, and I'm hoping that if I keep throwing rocks at those darn pigeons... keep everyone in when the starlings swarm us... and keep a calf or two in the area to chase off the Canadian geese, I won't. 

The vaccine you and I can purchase is not the same as what the hatcheries use, unless something changed since last time I checked on this, and it certainly may have - last time I checked I also could not buy vaccine for fewer than 1000 chicks.

Anyway, I digress.

Marek's is a herpes virus.  Turkeys all have it in its mildest form, and if chickens and turkeys are kept on the same ground, the chickens pick up this mild form of the virus, and their immune systems "learn" to fight herpes viruses - usually completely asymptomatically; you never know they have become infected and developed the resistance.  The vaccine available to us is the same as what the Turkeys carry.  The vaccine used by the hatcheries is a triple vaccine.  Vaccinated birds will shed all three forms (as I understand it anyway), which places not only any newer birds at risk, but if you show or have other flock owners visit, you can spread the virus to other birds.

I had been cautioned repeatedly not to keep turkeys with chickens, yet two local keepers who are friends of mine have had turkeys every year with their flocks with no negative consequences, and neither has lost a bird to Marek's.  Yesterday I put 21 Midget White Turkey eggs in the incubator, and am hoping at least a few hatch.  I don't really want great big turkeys, but these stay smaller and seem manageable to me, and if keeping them helps the flock without harming it, I'm all for it.

Immunity and resistance are different, to be sure, and for me, keeping their immune systems working and developing resistance to something so omnipresent is helpful. 

Midgets aren't as small as one might think. My Tom weighs close to 26 lbs and the hen 18. Mine sleep in the later coop all winter and the tom sleeps in the trees when weather isn't snowing pouring rain or windy

 

[ronott1]

My little OE chicks needed me last night. They woke up hungry and chirping--I had to turn the light on and let them eat!

They are going down stairs today. There is more light down there so they should be able to find the food if they need a mid night snack....

Silly chickens!

 

[bantambury]

I will give it a shot!! What kind of chicks are they? PM me!

That statement had me cracking up!

right there with ya!

ill pm you some pics I took yesterday at 4 days old.

It is too late to vaccinate your current hatch.

Ok......so if I did brig in any other chicken eggs, and hatch them, I could vaccinate those and none of my chickens could have mareks? I KNOW my chickens don't because they have never been around it and show no signs.

We mad 8000 posts during this Hatch a Long!

Great job everyone!

We have discussed some very controversial subjects--some that have gotten threads closed and we were all very respectful and courteous!

Hugs to all of you!

thanks for all your help! everyone was very respectful in this hatch! we all supported eachother!

My little OE chicks needed me last night. They woke up hungry and chirping--I had to turn the light on and let them eat!

They are going down stairs today. There is more light down there so they should be able to find the food if they need a mid night snack....

Silly chickens!

that's TOO cute! if I go to grab a chick out of my brooder, all the others run up to it and try to fly onto it to get it back in! LOL its like nemo, but with chickens!

 

[Cynthia12]

When will the cute chick contest start..or are you counting the ones that say...this one has my vote? Thanks ron!

My lonely chick is still in lock down. Hopefully I see a pip tonight! Tomorrow is day 21. I hope it makes it. It has all this time, out of 4 doz. eggs..come on little one! All of the other eggs took a full week to get here. :/ The paper that was around them was all damp. But this little chick made. So far.

 

[ronott1]

When will the cute chick contest start..or are you counting the ones that say...this one has my vote? Thanks ron!

My lonely chick is still in lock down. Hopefully I see a pip tonight! Tomorrow is day 21. I hope it makes it. It has all this time, out of 4 doz. eggs..come on little one! All of the other eggs took a full week to get here. :/ The paper that was around them was all damp. But this little chick made. So far.

The "Official" hatch looks like it is over. We still have late setters that we are watching but @ChickenCanoe was the last one.

I will set up a vote today with the top ten or so to vote on.

Keep an eye out for it!

 

[Scrambles55]

OMG!!! I have had a difficult time keeping up with this thread and I am not hatching nor have I ever hatched!

Great work for all involved!!

 

[JDchicks]

Went to check on my little 3 black silkies (Huey, Dewey, and Louie) that were from my broody showgirl.

They are going great, even after the below freezing weather.

But low and behold, she hatched out a 4th baby! A little grey Showgirl, just like mom looked as a baby.

.