B.Y.C. Dorking Club!

[X2Farm]

It IS possible to build a MS/MG resistent flock. My birds have built up antibodies to protect them against it. I had some tested several months ago, and that came up on the results, a bit suprising, but with all the wild birds around, it makes sense. Discussed it with several long time poultry vets and they said the test results/antibodies showed they'd built an immunity to the MS/MG

 

[TOL Chick]

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Hey Nic - are you feeding anything specific to help with there immune systems?

 

[X2Farm]

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Hey Nic - are you feeding anything specific to help with there immune systems?

Nope, they all were free ranging, in the cow pastures, on regular layer feed, mixed w/24% chick starter 1:1 ratio.

Wonder if it was all the cow pies?

 

[TOL Chick]

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Hey Nic - are you feeding anything specific to help with there immune systems?

Nope, they all were free ranging, in the cow pastures, on regular layer feed, mixed w/24% chick starter 1:1 ratio.

Wonder if it was all the cow pies?

Always interesting when Creation "magically" takes care of itself!?!

I guess I will have to see if I can get some "pie" from my neighbor

 

[X2Farm]

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Mother Natures survival of the fittest!

Grab da shovel

I have a group of 10 that follow my milk cow round her pasture, waiting

 

[RareBreedFancier]

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I have pondered the breeding for resistance question. It was my understanding they yes, the ones that get sick and recover do have some resistance to it but that they are also carriers and will spread it through the rest of the flock. These birds don't free range much because the little stinkers discovered they can hop over the veggie garden fence and wreak havoc in there. The plan was to kick them out of the house yard into movable coops in the paddock beside the house so they can free range which exposes them to the wild birds again. I've also thought about the fact they have been fine till now and they have been exposed to them since they went outside about 8 months ago. I can't help thinking the putrid weather here is a big part of the problem. The outbreak was kicked off by 3" of rain in 2 days and a sudden, unforecast plunge to below freezing temps. Very, very unusual for here, my coop and pen building is geared around our normal 110f+ summers. Just overnight and today we've had another 3" and unsurprisingly my pens are a muddy disaster zone again. Over 8" of rain in two weeks after a 10 year drought isn't something I'd planed on. It's forecast to continue for the next few days too.

I'm torn, by now I had planed to have culled everyone but the weather has kept me inside mostly. My beautiful roo is looking just fine and dandy now though some of the other birds are still sneezing and coughing. I've got leaks where I've never had them before (if it never rains, it never leaks!) and am doing damage control there and I'm feeling it's really not fair to judge their resistance in far less than optimal conditions. *Sigh* I really wish the weather hadn't gone crazy before I got the new coops built! I'm wondering if that would have avoided the whole situation. I feel guilty because I never planed for weather like this and a lot of their runs only have tarps over for protection because it's usually open air. Of course some of the chickens are sitting out in the rain getting drowned instead of using the sheltered areas.

 

[X2Farm]

Don't feel bad RBF, aint your fault, stuff just happens sometimes.. we went through similar.

None of our birds came down w/MS/MG symptoms, they had IBV, which is a non carrier virus. When I brought several for testing, the MS/MG antibodies showed up and I freaked, talked at length w/the avian vets and found out they had built up immunity, not that they were carriers.

Testing is a BIG help. I thought we'd had a Coryza outbreak and had already culled over 40 birds, when the second outbreak happened, thats when I tested and figured out what it really was (I felt so bad, I didn't have to cull the previous bunch which included several of my kids fav birds). They said there hadn't been a Coryza positive bird show up for at least 30yrs. Also, chickens CAN get colds, and they won't be carriers of it once they're well.

So, if you can convince DH to let you test, it'll save TONS of worrying and money (if you cull, you'll need to replace, right?).

 

[RareBreedFancier]

I'm sorry you culled only to find out you didn't have too.

Wish I could convince DH to let me test them. He's just saying either "leave them and see if they get better" or "get rid of the lot, I don't want chickens, they carry diseases." He's also refusing to go near them and telling me I'm going to die of bird flu.

Not that I'd know if I had that since I can't test them...

It's frustrating, if I had test results I'd have something concrete to base a decision on.

In Dorking specific news, my 2nd broody has abandoned her eggs, due to hatch on Monday. Guess that's not all that surprising.

One interesting observation, both her and her sister have both left the nest exactly 21 days after they started sitting.

 

[Unusually]

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I have heard of incubating to 9 or even 14 days and candling and putting the good eggs under the hen so she is hatching them after only a week to ten days.

Easy if you already have eggs in the 'bator though....

 

[dorkings]

Pretty new, but I have sure learned alot. How do I join the dorking club?

We have 19 and want to learn all i can.