Antibiotics will soon require vet prescription

[microchick]

Much more elegantly said than I could. Thank you..


Btw I spent 3 hours waiting for Bambi to stop laughing at me and step out of the swamp.. Bambi is still laughing

My pleasure ralphie. Anything I can do to spread the word about Marek's disease is a personal crusade of mine.

I hear ya. It's raining here this morning and supposed to stop around noon. We will probably go out late afternoon and see if we can get Bambi to humiliate us two days in a row.

 

[roosterhavoc]

medicines never work.. I got it.,

let’s happily return to the enlightened Middle Ages.

I have never seen the vaccine not work.

I know my observation is anecdotal, however I have vaccinated thousands without one incident of Mareks showing itself.

Whether a chicken is a carrier or not after being vaccinated is immaterial, has the wind, wild birds, humans or rodents will carry it.

If you free range or pasture your birds they have it or will get it in this area.

I am Mareks free. I have not had an incident in years. That does not mean I will stop vaccinating for it.

That doesn’t mean you’re mareks free. That means your birds don’t show symptoms of the disease because they’ve been vaccinated. The point is if you take birds to shows, sell them etc...your birds could easily pass on the disease to other flocks. The vaccine does absolutely nothing to prevent the shedding of the disease.
To say your birds are Mareks free is a pipe dream.

 

[microchick]

But a recent study I read stated that 100% of flocks in America are exposed to the virus. That is how prevalent it is. And Like I said, if you use the 5 mile rule you can see how big the potential for spread is.

Say you have a chicken actively spreading the dander. That dander can be carried by the wind for 5 miles. Now say a sparrow flies through your property and passes over your run, exposing itself to your hen's dander. It flies 4 miles and stops. Okay now you have to measure another 5 miles from where that bird is roosting, preening itself and shaking out dander from your run. It's a domino effect in essence. No way you can stop it's spread and the only way you can prevent your birds from dying from the disease is through either vaccination or truly breeding for that illusive resistance because like I said. Breeding for resistance is a crapshoot. Even if your birds are resistant, the likelihood that they will die from a Marek's related complication is high if something happens to set off that stress reflex that causes the virus to activate.

Every had a cold sore? Ever not have one for years and then suddenly two days before a big stress causing event in your life you look in the mirror and YIKES! You suddenly have the grand canyon of cold sores on your lip, well that is similar to the Marek's activation in chickens.

But I apologize for dragging the topic away from the original post. BUT I am not sorry for elaborating on how this ban on purchasing antibiotics will affect flock owners like myself who are dealing with chronic disease in their flocks.

 

[roosterhavoc]

But a recent study I read stated that 100% of flocks in America are exposed to the virus. That is how prevalent it is. And Like I said, if you use the 5 mile rule you can see how big the potential for spread is.

Say you have a chicken actively spreading the dander. That dander can be carried by the wind for 5 miles. Now say a sparrow flies through your property and passes over your run, exposing itself to your hen's dander. It flies 4 miles and stops. Okay now you have to measure another 5 miles from where that bird is roosting, preening itself and shaking out dander from your run. It's a domino effect in essence. No way you can stop it's spread and the only way you can prevent your birds from dying from the disease is through either vaccination or truly breeding for that illusive resistance because like I said. Breeding for resistance is a crapshoot. Even if your birds are resistant, the likelihood that they will die from a Marek's related complication is high if something happens to set off that stress reflex that causes the virus to activate.

Every had a cold sore? Ever not have one for years and then suddenly two days before a big stress causing event in your life you look in the mirror and YIKES! You suddenly have the grand canyon of cold sores on your lip, well that is similar to the Marek's activation in chickens.

But I apologize for dragging the topic away from the original post. BUT I am not sorry for elaborating on how this ban on purchasing antibiotics will affect flock owners like myself who are dealing with chronic disease in their flocks.

I understand how it works. That’s exactly why I said what I did. It’s everywhere and no flock is “mareks free” some just don’t show symptoms.
I also understand how the stress can bring on the symptoms. There’s nothing more stressful than two young gamefowl stags mixing it up in the yard. If they’re gonna show symptoms it will be then.

 

[roosterhavoc]

Fowl pox symptoms while totally different will also present when the bird is under stress. I also cull any bird that gets fowl pox bad (anything other than a bump or two). It’s a weakness thing. While I understand everyone has different ways of doing things my goal is for a healthy strong flock under all circumstances over beloved pets.
For example if you have 100 birds all kept under the same conditions and fed the same but 1-2 shows signs of struggling for whatever reason imo it’s better to get rid of those birds. Treating them is just propping lesser birds up to the level the rest are at. Further breeding those birds because “they’re special” has you going nowhere fast and a long road of sick birds.

 

[duluthralphie]

I understand how it works. That’s exactly why I said what I did. It’s everywhere and no flock is “mareks free” some just don’t show symptoms.
I also understand how the stress can bring on the symptoms. There’s nothing more stressful than two young gamefowl stags mixing it up in the yard. If they’re gonna show symptoms it will be then.

I think we maybe talking around each other or Semantics.

My flock shows no signs of Mareks.

I will never know if it is still here or not 100%. I will vaccinate for as long as I have birds.

Within 5 miles of my farm there are probably 20 flocks of various sizes.

I use to have one of the larger ones at around 500 birds. I am down to around 50. I am a NPIP breeder. However, I am retiring as all us old guys must some day.

To raise a Mareks resistant flock takes many generations more than most of us have time for.

I think a landrace flock over a 100 years or more might be the only way. Much as Microchick’s Amish flock.

For someone like myself who raises heritage breeds and tries to keep them true to the SOP I think it’s an impossibility. The next best thing is vaccinate and practice bio-security.

Bio-security will not stop Mareks from getting to your flock, but it might stop something else from attacking your flock if the resistance is down.

 

[aart]

I am a NPIP breeder.

What diseases does your NPIP test for?
Despite being 'National', I know they vary from state to state.

 

[duluthralphie]

I test for pulleron typhoid (speeling). Avian influenza, MG and MS.


Most ( many) states require AI testing (which is done every 90 days) to import birds to them.

 

[pennyJo1960]

It’s widely assumed that all chickens have or will be exposed to mareks disease. Why do some birds not show symptoms while others are paralyzed in less than a week? If you were to cull every bird that showed signs and only breed the birds that showed zero symptoms the theory would be over time (possibly many years) the particular flock could become resistant or at least resistant to showing symptoms. Whether they’re carriers or not is not easy to identify but what really matters is the disease doesn’t hinder them in any way.

I live in small corner of Washington state with no known mareks to date while You live in Limbo your like to spread misinformation saying you have licked the disease tell that to Micro that has battled mareks for years

 

[roosterhavoc]

I live in small corner of Washington state with no known mareks to date while You live in Limbo your like to spread misinformation saying you have licked the disease tell that to Micro that has battled mareks for years

Maybe you should reread my posts and quote where I said any of that?
Clearly you must think there’s only one way to do things. Anything that doesn’t coincide with what you’ve seen must not work huh?