Bantam chickens.. a friendly discussion about all pure and mixed breeds.

[chickens really]

There’s show bird beauty but even stronger is beauty from being loved!!
Mine love sweet potato too! I’ve decided most warm things are instant favorites!!

Thanks. I also cook spaghetti squash once a month for my Birds..

 

[MysteryChicken]

Aw, that's too bad! Will have to do some digging, myself, when I get the chance and see what I can find.



EDIT: Okay, that wasn't too hard to find with a quick Google Scholar search.

https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/jpsa/41/1/41_1_76/_pdf

The thing is... They literally only compared it to one other chicken breed, which just happened to be the White Leghorn because they used another article's White Leghorn sequence as a reference point. So from this, you can't say Silkies are more closely related to Leghorns than any other chicken breed, you can only say that they are chicken breeds and are therefore more closely related to each other than to the other species of birds that were sequenced by these scientists or their references. They also used a Japanese Silkie, not a Chinese one, and never said if it was large fowl or bantam.

Yep, wrong place. I wasn't reading a pdf page.

 

[Arbutus Peregrine]

Thanks. I also cook spaghetti squash once a month for my Birds..

What a coincidence!!! Since my chicks were tiny, spaghetti squash has been their favorite—cooked or raw! I was so hoping they would like pumpkins. So far, they don’t really care for pumpkins cooked or raw. They do LOVE just about every green and a new favorite is the Brussel sprout stalk! It’s so fun to watch them get excited about different foods. I’ve got some baby tree collards I’m trying to grow— hoping that will help sustain their huge appetite for greens!

 

[chickens really]

What a coincidence!!! Since my chicks were tiny, spaghetti squash has been their favorite—cooked or raw! I was so hoping they would like pumpkins. So far, they don’t really care for pumpkins cooked or raw. They do LOVE just about every green and a new favorite is the Brussel sprout stalk! It’s so fun to watch them get excited about different foods. I’ve got some baby tree collards I’m trying to grow— hoping that will help sustain their huge appetite for greens!

My Birds love Romain Lettuce, broccoli, cucumber too

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

I didn’t find out about My Pet Chicken until right after I ordered my straight run chicks.... I sure felt dumb! But the rooster experiment was humbling and fun(!) and continues with the two boys I hope I can get away with keeping!!!

I have been meaning to ask about adding new chicks.... my Bantams never got the Mareks vaccine. I’m so scared they will get sick one day. I’ve read what I can about it and it doesn’t sound worth it to vaccinate them now at 5+months old. But then a man on here just lost his 5 month old pullet to Mareks

when I went to a small poultry show last Saturday, I immediately washed my clothes and took a shower when I got home. What happens in the future if I get some more chicks? (Like Dorkings!! )

Honestly, this is a tough one. There are reasons for and against vaccinating for Marek's, all valid. It comes down to your setup, and what your future plans are. First of all, they say that the older a bird is, the less likely the vaccine is to work. Something to do with how a day-old chick builds immunity vs older birds. I'll add a link below that explains it a bit. Point being, you can vaccinate your bantams now, but odds are it won't do very much more than make you feel a little better about it, honestly.

For me, the Marek's vaccine has never been an option. I really can't afford to vaccinate for the small batches of chicks I hatch over the spring, so my birds are unvaccinated. The vaccine itself isn't overly expensive, I suppose, but when mixed, it expires within the day (within an hour, if I remember right), so it can't be saved for later hatches. Needing a fresh vial every hatch would severely limit me unless I wanted to pay out again for the vaccine every time, and that money does add up.

Along with this, the Marek's vaccine is what's called 'leaky'. This doesn't mean that your birds are automatically carriers if vaccinated, but instead that it doesn't prevent the disease from infecting your flock even if they are vaccinated. The Marek's vaccine simply prevents your flock from showing symptoms should the disease get introduced to them in some way. This means that vaccinated birds can become carriers without symptoms, and some work has shown that these carriers may even allow the virus to become more deadly to unvaccinated birds. Younger birds are more susceptible to Marek's than older birds, generally speaking. For me, that means that the breeders I select from the hatches I do annually, who would not be vaccinated because I can't really afford to, would be the most likely victims to this deadly virus if it existed in older, vaccinated birds in any of my flocks. It's a lose-lose scenario for me.

I also subscribe to the 'breed for resistance' philosophy, in that I cull from my breeding stock for any indication of illness not explained by an environmental cause like an injury, and so knowing if Marek's is present in a bird is more important to me than preventing a bird from showing symptoms.

As a keeper of a flock that is solely pets, that's likely very different for you. I would suggest doing a lot of research, asking questions, and finding credible sources for information before making a finite decision on what you want to do concerning the vaccine.

Some good reading on the subject to get you started--just a warning that the first link here has some unpleasant pictures in it!

https://www.merckvetmanual.com/poultry/neoplasms/marek-disease-in-poultry

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/science/tthis-chicken-vaccine-makes-virus-dangerous

This one is on BYC, itself, and has a TON of information and links (I believe both of the ones above as well, but I included them for good measure), so would be a great place to start either way. This is the link that explains a bit about when to vaccinate and why; search the page for "When should I vaccinate?" and it should pop up.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/the-great-big-giant-mareks-disease-faq.66077/

Yep, wrong place. I wasn't reading a pdf page.

Hmm. Well, I look forward to when you post the actual link, then! Hopefully it's not broken this time.

A suggestion for the future, you can keep a Notepad file (or whatever the equivalent is in apple products if that's what you use) with links and notes for easy reference in case anyone wants to read further on things, or if you just want to reread and reaffirm what you've gleaned from a source. A lot of peer-reviewed articles that are available online can be downloaded and saved on your computer or other devices for future reference, too. Just a suggestion.

 

[Arbutus Peregrine]

Honestly, this is a tough one. There are reasons for and against vaccinating for Marek's, all valid. It comes down to your setup, and what your future plans are. First of all, they say that the older a bird is, the less likely the vaccine is to work. Something to do with how a day-old chick builds immunity vs older birds. I'll add a link below that explains it a bit. Point being, you can vaccinate your bantams now, but odds are it won't do very much more than make you feel a little better about it, honestly.

For me, the Marek's vaccine has never been an option. I really can't afford to vaccinate for the small batches of chicks I hatch over the spring, so my birds are unvaccinated. The vaccine itself isn't overly expensive, I suppose, but when mixed, it expires within the day (within an hour, if I remember right), so it can't be saved for later hatches. Buying that vial every hatch would severely limit me unless I wanted to pay out again for the vaccine every time, and that money does add up.

Along with this, the Marek's vaccine is what's called 'leaky'. This doesn't mean that your birds are automatically carriers if vaccinated, but instead that it doesn't prevent the disease from infecting your flock even if they are vaccinated. The Marek's vaccine simply prevents your flock from showing symptoms should the disease get introduced to them in some way. This means that vaccinated birds can become carriers without symptoms, and some work has shown that these carriers may even allow the virus to become more deadly to unvaccinated birds. Younger birds are more susceptible to Marek's than older birds, generally speaking. For me, that means that the breeders I select from the hatches I do annually, who would not be vaccinated because I can't really afford to, would be the most likely victims to this deadly virus if it existed in older, vaccinated birds in any of my flocks. It's a lose-lose scenario for me.

I also subscribe to the 'breed for resistance' philosophy, in that I cull from my breeding stock for any indication of illness not explained by an environmental cause like an injury, and so knowing if Marek's is present in a bird is more important to me than preventing a bird from showing symptoms.

As a keeper of a flock that is solely pets, that's likely very different for you. I would suggest doing a lot of research, asking questions, and finding credible sources for information before making a finite decision on what you want to do concerning the vaccine.

Some good reading on the subject to get you started--just a warning that the first link here has some unpleasant pictures in it!

https://www.merckvetmanual.com/poultry/neoplasms/marek-disease-in-poultry

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/science/tthis-chicken-vaccine-makes-virus-dangerous

This one is on BYC, itself, and has a TON of information and links (I believe both of the ones above as well, but I included them for good measure), so would be a great place to start either way. This is the link that explains a bit about when to vaccinate and why; search the page for "When should I vaccinate?" and it should pop up.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/the-great-big-giant-mareks-disease-faq.66077/

you are so helpful!! Thanks so very much. I’m going to do some reading now! Ugh nature and it’s viruses!!!

 

[MysteryChicken]

Honestly, this is a tough one. There are reasons for and against vaccinating for Marek's, all valid. It comes down to your setup, and what your future plans are. First of all, they say that the older a bird is, the less likely the vaccine is to work. Something to do with how a day-old chick builds immunity vs older birds. I'll add a link below that explains it a bit. Point being, you can vaccinate your bantams now, but odds are it won't do very much more than make you feel a little better about it, honestly.

For me, the Marek's vaccine has never been an option. I really can't afford to vaccinate for the small batches of chicks I hatch over the spring, so my birds are unvaccinated. The vaccine itself isn't overly expensive, I suppose, but when mixed, it expires within the day (within an hour, if I remember right), so it can't be saved for later hatches. Buying that vial every hatch would severely limit me unless I wanted to pay out again for the vaccine every time, and that money does add up.

Along with this, the Marek's vaccine is what's called 'leaky'. This doesn't mean that your birds are automatically carriers if vaccinated, but instead that it doesn't prevent the disease from infecting your flock even if they are vaccinated. The Marek's vaccine simply prevents your flock from showing symptoms should the disease get introduced to them in some way. This means that vaccinated birds can become carriers without symptoms, and some work has shown that these carriers may even allow the virus to become more deadly to unvaccinated birds. Younger birds are more susceptible to Marek's than older birds, generally speaking. For me, that means that the breeders I select from the hatches I do annually, who would not be vaccinated because I can't really afford to, would be the most likely victims to this deadly virus if it existed in older, vaccinated birds in any of my flocks. It's a lose-lose scenario for me.

I also subscribe to the 'breed for resistance' philosophy, in that I cull from my breeding stock for any indication of illness not explained by an environmental cause like an injury, and so knowing if Marek's is present in a bird is more important to me than preventing a bird from showing symptoms.

As a keeper of a flock that is solely pets, that's likely very different for you. I would suggest doing a lot of research, asking questions, and finding credible sources for information before making a finite decision on what you want to do concerning the vaccine.

Some good reading on the subject to get you started--just a warning that the first link here has some unpleasant pictures in it!

https://www.merckvetmanual.com/poultry/neoplasms/marek-disease-in-poultry

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/science/tthis-chicken-vaccine-makes-virus-dangerous

This one is on BYC, itself, and has a TON of information and links (I believe both of the ones above as well, but I included them for good measure), so would be a great place to start either way. This is the link that explains a bit about when to vaccinate and why; search the page for "When should I vaccinate?" and it should pop up.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/the-great-big-giant-mareks-disease-faq.66077/







Hmm. Well, I look forward to when you post the actual link, then! Hopefully it's not broken this time.

A suggestion for the future, you can keep a Notepad file (or whatever the equivalent is in apple products if that's what you use) with links and notes for easy reference in case anyone wants to read further on things, or if you just want to reread and reaffirm what you've gleaned form a source. A lot of peer-reviewed articles that are available online can be downloaded and saved on your computer or other devices for future reference, too. Just a suggestion.

I'll find the site eventually, things get switched around alot, so it's going to be tricky to find again. I'll post it when I do.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

you are so helpful!! Thanks so very much. I’m going to do some reading now! Ugh nature and it’s viruses!!!

No problem at all! I'm just glad if I didn't confuse you even more, as I feel like I got a little twisty-turny in some of my wording in that post.

I'll find the site eventually, things get switched around alot, so it's going to be tricky to find again. I'll post it when I do.

I used to do this so much, and I'm still feeling the effects of it. Things I know I've read, can remember minute details about, and yet can't put together the right keywords to find them again when I want to. It's so frustrating! That's why I started saving things that seemed useful, though I still come across things I've forgotten in the past, or think of things I can remember and just can't find anymore. Good luck with your searching!

 

[Arbutus Peregrine]

No problem at all! I'm just glad if I didn't confuse you even more, as I feel like I got a little twisty-turny in some of my wording in that post.







I used to do this so much, and I'm still feeling the effects of it. Things I know I've read, can remember minute details about, and yet can't put together the right keywords to find them again when I want to. It's so frustrating! That's why I started saving things that seemed useful, though I still come across things I've forgotten in the past, or think of things I can remember and just can't find anymore. Good luck with your searching!

I’m with you in wanting to only have strong resilient birds... harboring sick birds seems risky for neighbor flocks, too. Even if I don’t breed now, who knows in the future! Ive been very lucky— my birds look so healthy and strong... they basically party all day long If and when I decide to get some chicks, I’ll quarantine them first and make sure they are also very healthy and strong before I decide to keep them. I do hope to have some LF (that means large fowl, right?!) in a different coop and run.... have some more eggs to keep the neighbors happy!! It would be nice to free range everyone together eventually.

 

[Arbutus Peregrine]

No problem at all! I'm just glad if I didn't confuse you even more, as I feel like I got a little twisty-turny in some of my wording in that post.







I used to do this so much, and I'm still feeling the effects of it. Things I know I've read, can remember minute details about, and yet can't put together the right keywords to find them again when I want to. It's so frustrating! That's why I started saving things that seemed useful, though I still come across things I've forgotten in the past, or think of things I can remember and just can't find anymore. Good luck with your searching!

Almost forgot! Hope the show was fun!! I wonder how many birds were there?!!!