- Aug 2, 2012
- 17
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Hi all,
I am looking for some advice/help. It is a little complicated so I apologise in advance for the long post. I have a flock of chickens which consists of 4 Warrens, 3 Araucanas, 1 Pekin Bantam, 1 Brahma and a French Copper Maran. All (apart from warrens) were under 10 weeks when we had them.
The first 'event' was that one of the Araucanas turned out to be a cockerel. Not what I planned for but we decided to keep him (neighbours don't mind) and he is slowly becoming one of my favourites.
Next, our Brahma started to become picked on a lot and it was at this point that I discovered it wasn't well. It has been separated from the flock since December 20th and it looks as thought it has Mareks (not confirmed but all the signs are there).
The rest of the flock are healthy and happy. I then noticed that my French Maran suddenly 'came of age'. Although it has not crowed yet I am 99% sure it is a cockerel. I have seen it mount a hen and it just has that cockerel 'thing' about it.
What do I do about 2 cockerels? I have the added problem that according to research, my flock all probably have Mareks so I presume that I can't give 1 cockerel away? I also have 3 birds that I thought would be laying that aren't. I would like to buy some more - how does this work if I have Mareks in my flock, is it just a risk that I have to take?
I would really appreciate any advice or help especially if anyone has had experience with Mareks before.
Thanks in advance.
I am looking for some advice/help. It is a little complicated so I apologise in advance for the long post. I have a flock of chickens which consists of 4 Warrens, 3 Araucanas, 1 Pekin Bantam, 1 Brahma and a French Copper Maran. All (apart from warrens) were under 10 weeks when we had them.
The first 'event' was that one of the Araucanas turned out to be a cockerel. Not what I planned for but we decided to keep him (neighbours don't mind) and he is slowly becoming one of my favourites.
Next, our Brahma started to become picked on a lot and it was at this point that I discovered it wasn't well. It has been separated from the flock since December 20th and it looks as thought it has Mareks (not confirmed but all the signs are there).
The rest of the flock are healthy and happy. I then noticed that my French Maran suddenly 'came of age'. Although it has not crowed yet I am 99% sure it is a cockerel. I have seen it mount a hen and it just has that cockerel 'thing' about it.
What do I do about 2 cockerels? I have the added problem that according to research, my flock all probably have Mareks so I presume that I can't give 1 cockerel away? I also have 3 birds that I thought would be laying that aren't. I would like to buy some more - how does this work if I have Mareks in my flock, is it just a risk that I have to take?
I would really appreciate any advice or help especially if anyone has had experience with Mareks before.
Thanks in advance.