B.Y.C. Dorking Club!

[pysankigirl]

This is a risk we all take unless we have a closed, "bio secure" flock. I hope this doesn't dampen your enthusiasm for breeding long term.

Thanks...I will just breed for myself until they come up with a cure! or all the birds develop immunities to it or something. not being a health profesional, I dont know how likely that is. It does help that someone understands and is sympathetic. so really....Thanks!

 

[1MrsMagoo]

I know, that's pretty much what they told me here, too...and my birds are completely asymptomatic so it isn't a bad strain of it, but how can I in good conscience sell or show if I know I have something that in some places is reportable? and it comes through the eqqs, too, so I cant even do eqqs. I was pretty depressed about it at first...heck, I am still pretty depressed, but I wont kill all my birds when they have no symptoms and I wont put them in a biq building never to see the light of day. I read statistics that said 75-90% of backyard flocks have it and it is an epidemic within the finch population on the east coast.(they call it house finch conjunctivitis) but the state would make me depopulate if I lived near any commercial poultry growers. and once birds get over it, a portion of them are still carriers. so any new birds will get it

it is a quandary. evidently depopulating is the only way to get rid of it. It is really expensive to test for in its latent state ($75 per bird) so you cant even test your flock to see who the carriers are. and if 75-90%of people do have it and depopulated, we would lose entire breeds. And if it is as mild as our case...I don't see that as a good trade off. (not even touching the wild bird population that supposedly has it as well)

but I still would feel I would have to warn everyone away from my birds. am I just being OCD again?

I wonder how the people who show birds do it without contracting every bird illness out there if it is so easy to transmit. or qo to swaps. I've never even taken my birds to a sow or a swap and they somehow got it!

I don't know if I am taking this way too seriously, but not sure I can help it.

You should look into Denagard. It is widely used in Europe (recommended for poultry over there) to treat MG and is off-label in the United States. I have read that an egg dip with the Denagard makes the eggs safe: I think the information was linked on a thread here. Good luck!

 

[pysankigirl]

I have invested in a bottle "just in case." That would be really cool, if it is true. it would make me feel like my breeding efforts weren't just a dead-end. But not sure how to test it.


I think I need to talk to a poultry vet and see what they think. as much as I would love it to be true...cant believe everything you read on the internet and I want to be a good steward.

 

[1MrsMagoo]

I have invested in a bottle "just in case." That would be really cool, if it is true. it would make me feel like my breeding efforts weren't just a dead-end. But not sure how to test it.


I think I need to talk to a poultry vet and see what they think. as much as I would love it to be true...cant believe everything you read on the internet and I want to be a good steward.

Trust me when I tell you that I know about the believability of things posted on the internet. I have written grant driven research papers in the past and am very careful about checking facts. If you read studies done in Europe where Denagard has been widely used for a longer period of time, I think it would garner better, and more reliable results. Anyone can say or believe anything, but it doesn't make it true. However, results from a carefully executed clinical study by an uninterested third party can speak volumes.

I had no need to check on the the truthfulness of the egg dip at the time, so didn't bother to investigate further. I do keep a bottle of Denagard on hand has well....just...in...case. I'd rather be over prepared than caught needing something that takes a week to get here!

Oh, BTW....I entered my first every poultry show this past Saturday and took one of my Red Dorking cockerals. He was Reserve Champion English right behind my Cornish who won the class. I was very pleased with the results and people just loved getting to see a Dorking in person. A lot of folks had no idea such a bird existed!

Here he is after we "cooped in".

 

[SandiDent]

You have an Airedale! So do we

 

[dalalune]

This is a risk we all take unless we have a closed, "bio secure" flock. I hope this doesn't dampen your enthusiasm for breeding long term.

I believe that this is why raising and protecting our Heritage breeds is SO IMPORTANT!

The reason that commercial poultry growers are so paranoid about any disease is that they cannot keep their overly inbred stock in such deplorable stressful conditions and squeeze out every drop of "growth/performance" from their birds if they have to spend even an ounce of energy on staying resistant naturally. If there is the possibility that their flocks could contract any natural yet potentially debilitating diseases, it would ruin them. Most of these "poultry plants" keep their birds for only a very short time so natural resistance means nothing to them (which, in the long term, I find that mentality contradictory

).

Heritage birds (most of them) have been bred to be strong and hardy with immune systems that should be able to combat most endemic pests/diseases. If you are planning to keep and raise a Heritage breed, I would not let the "inspectors" scare you off. They are only passing down "a party line" to appease the poultry industry. If you are told by an "authority" that your flock has an endemic condition BUT it does not require the disposal of your flock (by law) and your flock is otherwise healthy - keep your birds and continue (carefully) on with your plans. Heritage birds that are living and thriving in an area that has endemic threats (virtually everywhere) are actually very valuable animals to other Heritage breeders/owners (in your area). They are demonstrating the kind of resistance they should have to be a viable and important genetic source.

It breaks my heart, when someone reports that they have been told that their otherwise perfectly healthy flock has an endemic disease and that they must destroy the whole flock and start over. This will not get rid of the disease. It is in the natural population, you cannot get rid of it. You will either have to replace your birds annually with (theoretically) clean stock or just maintain your resistant flock and treat (not usually a good idea, if you wish to use that bird for breeding) or destroy any bird immediately that shows any signs of the illness.

HOWEVER - there are some diseases out there that are absolutely devastating (ex.: Pullorium, Merik's and Newcastle) and must be controlled. These diseases are not normally endemic and no breed of poultry has the ability to resist them. These are the diseases we all should worry about and would require depopulation where it occurs.

 

[pysankigirl]

Actuallly,this is the reason why I am inclined not to cull my flock and start over. We do have it in the wild birds here...heck before I got chickens i nursed back to health a finch I found in my garden with MG...I just didn,t know that,s what it was until now. And my birds are doing great. they really do seem perfectly healthy. .I just don,t know if I can get to the point wher I could sell them in good conscience. which means I,ll have to do ALOT more culling than I wanted to if I want to improve my stock (instead of giving my cullls to other people) and I am too friggin soft to do it and I might become a chicken hoarder...LOL. sigh..

I do take your point about the producer party line, though. Makes sense that the commmercial poultry industry would have the most to lose from a disease that ony comes out when the birds were stressed. birds are alot healthier and better taken care of in the backyard flocks so they dont exibit the symptoms and it isn,t as big of a deal. but you put them under the constant stress that they are under in a commercial flock and whammo,it becomes a real problem.

I need some time to think on this. I feel like I have an STD or something.


ETA: my typing sucks on the x-box...so sorry...

 

[melissaG]

Trust me when I tell you that I know about the believability of things posted on the internet. I have written grant driven research papers in the past and am very careful about checking facts. If you read studies done in Europe where Denagard has been widely used for a longer period of time, I think it would garner better, and more reliable results. Anyone can say or believe anything, but it doesn't make it true. However, results from a carefully executed clinical study by an uninterested third party can speak volumes.

I had no need to check on the the truthfulness of the egg dip at the time, so didn't bother to investigate further. I do keep a bottle of Denagard on hand has well....just...in...case. I'd rather be over prepared than caught needing something that takes a week to get here!

Oh, BTW....I entered my first every poultry show this past Saturday and took one of my Red Dorking cockerals. He was Reserve Champion English right behind my Cornish who won the class. I was very pleased with the results and people just loved getting to see a Dorking in person. A lot of folks had no idea such a bird existed!

Here he is after we "cooped in".

He's Gorgeous! Congratulations!!

 

[melissaG]

Actuallly,this is the reason why I am inclined not to cull my flock and start over. We do have it in the wild birds here...heck before I got chickens i nursed back to health a finch I found in my garden with MG...I just didn,t know that,s what it was until now. And my birds are doing great. they really do seem perfectly healthy. .I just don,t know if I can get to the point wher I could sell them in good conscience. which means I,ll have to do ALOT more culling than I wanted to if I want to improve my stock (instead of giving my cullls to other people) and I am too friggin soft to do it and I might become a chicken hoarder...LOL. sigh..

I do take your point about the producer party line, though. Makes sense that the commmercial poultry industry would have the most to lose from a disease that ony comes out when the birds were stressed. birds are alot healthier and better taken care of in the backyard flocks so they dont exibit the symptoms and it isn,t as big of a deal. but you put them under the constant stress that they are under in a commercial flock and whammo,it becomes a real problem.

I need some time to think on this. I feel like I have an STD or something.


ETA: my typing sucks on the x-box...so sorry...

Hang in there, we're all pulling for you ^^

 

[1MrsMagoo]

He's Gorgeous! Congratulations!!

Thanks. I had three cockerals to choose from and they were all nice. He had the best tail and comb combination though. I have one lone hen and probably should have taken her, but it was my first show so I was being cautious.
All my Dorkings came from Dick Horstman.