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I was asking people who've been doing this longer than you, Mark - I purposely prefaced the question with that.
I was told that some of my birds that originally came from Jamie Matts and Judy Gantt are vaccinated - now, maybe that was incorrect information I was given when I bought them, but if Jamie and Judy are doing it, that's a HUGE recommendation for vaccinating, IMO. And, like I said, I'm not keeping them all - it looks like it's going to be a good hatch, and I only have room for 4 or 5 of them. I have no control over what kind of conditions they might end up in. How would you feel, Mark, if you shipped your birds away into a flock that, unbeknownst to you, had Marek's disease...you could have protected them against it, but you didn't? I mean, have you been breeding them to be resistant in the whole ONE generation you've bred? Food for thought. I get the whole "breed for resistance" thing (really, the only way to truly breed for resistance to a disease is to purposely expose them to the disease and let the "weak" ones die, leaving you with the "strong" ones to breed. You can't just have an un-vaccinated flock that's never been exposed to anything because of super-strict bio-security measures and say you're breeding them to be resistant - they're NOT resistant, they just have never been exposed to anything nasty!), and I know the ABA has some publications that recommend it...it's funny no one ever suggested that humans simply "breed for resistance" to polio or smallpox to keep only the "strongest" of us in the breeding population. Instead, we created a vaccine, and virtually eradicated the diseases...which is why most of use are alive and able to keep birds today.
So, I'm pro-vaccination.
DANNY - my Cochin flock is small, but I have a LOT of ducks on the property too (50+ at the moment, and plans to expand to at least 75+ breeders next year) - they're kept separate, but ducks are SO hardy, they can catch pretty much anything, carry it home from a show, and never show a symptom because it simply doesn't make them sick...I'm always worried that they'll act as a carrier of something and it'll jump species to the chickens. Our bio-security is good...but we also have 3 kids under 10 running around the property.
I got SO mad one day when the neighbor girl was having a birthday party, and I looked outside and there were 6 kids in MY yard, going from one pen to another, TOUCHING all my birds.
LOL, I sicked my German Shepherd on them (he's friendly, but he's a bi-color, marked like a Doberman, so he's scary-looking) - now, half the parents won't let those kids come over anymore.
Anyways, I'm going to be at the UW Veterinary Diagnostic Lab later today anyways, and I'll see the vet I work with again on Friday. I'll ask them what they think - they deal with a LOT of poultry.
Im Allowed to answer too though
Edited to add your only on your first generation of cochins too, so i do not see how that is relevant lol ! But Annarie, Vaccination is a personal preference, so theres really no right or wrong, its really how you feel about it.
I was asking people who've been doing this longer than you, Mark - I purposely prefaced the question with that.
I was told that some of my birds that originally came from Jamie Matts and Judy Gantt are vaccinated - now, maybe that was incorrect information I was given when I bought them, but if Jamie and Judy are doing it, that's a HUGE recommendation for vaccinating, IMO. And, like I said, I'm not keeping them all - it looks like it's going to be a good hatch, and I only have room for 4 or 5 of them. I have no control over what kind of conditions they might end up in. How would you feel, Mark, if you shipped your birds away into a flock that, unbeknownst to you, had Marek's disease...you could have protected them against it, but you didn't? I mean, have you been breeding them to be resistant in the whole ONE generation you've bred? Food for thought. I get the whole "breed for resistance" thing (really, the only way to truly breed for resistance to a disease is to purposely expose them to the disease and let the "weak" ones die, leaving you with the "strong" ones to breed. You can't just have an un-vaccinated flock that's never been exposed to anything because of super-strict bio-security measures and say you're breeding them to be resistant - they're NOT resistant, they just have never been exposed to anything nasty!), and I know the ABA has some publications that recommend it...it's funny no one ever suggested that humans simply "breed for resistance" to polio or smallpox to keep only the "strongest" of us in the breeding population. Instead, we created a vaccine, and virtually eradicated the diseases...which is why most of use are alive and able to keep birds today.
So, I'm pro-vaccination.
Anyways, I'm going to be at the UW Veterinary Diagnostic Lab later today anyways, and I'll see the vet I work with again on Friday. I'll ask them what they think - they deal with a LOT of poultry.
Im Allowed to answer too though
Edited to add your only on your first generation of cochins too, so i do not see how that is relevant lol ! But Annarie, Vaccination is a personal preference, so theres really no right or wrong, its really how you feel about it.
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