D'uccle Thread

[nothingbutbirds]

I have not been on for a while due to having a terrible run in with mareks. At of my 50 original birds I had I have 5 left. I talked to a couple of breeders in my area that I have become friends with, I cleaned up my remaining birds and their coop. I gave some eggs to a friend before the mareks killed them off and she gave me back the chicks she hatched. I vaccinated them and after introducing these birds with the remaining five(They were around 6 months when I introduced them) I had no more birds getting sick and the breeders said that I was probably safe to begin adding more birds as long as they get vaccinated before being exposed to the rest of the flock. They said they vaccinate between a day to a week old. I havent had any deaths due to mareks except in a silkie rooster that got vaccinated too late. I now have about 50 d'uccles again in a variety of colors in a new coop were my guineas used to be. So it has never had mareks in it. I'm hoping they are safer from getting it in this coop and the fact that all my birds have now been vaccinated. I talked to multiple breeders and they said I should be safe from having another large outburst of it like before. I might still have some die from it though despite them being vaccinated. I've been clean of it for quite some time and chicken keeping is back to being enjoyable. I thought about not having anymore birds after that but I can't picture a world without my feathered friends.

 

[Metella]

there are some birds that are special to me which I would vaccinate ... but as far as I know - resistance to Mereks can be genetic and if you let those that survive become breeders - you won't have to vaccinate

However, if you have show birds vs backyard birds - then you may be forced to vaccinate ...

I am saying this to judge - but to invite others here to share what they know about Mereks and how they handle it and why .....

Thanks

 

[fuzzybutt love]

vaccination does NOT keep them from getting mericks. What it DOES do is give them a weaker strain of it (used to be a wild turkey strain) That stimulates their immune system to fight it, and then if they are exposed to the chicken kind they get a lesser amount of internal damage. They will still be carriers if they come in contact with the chicken strain, even a flock that was all vacc at chick-hood can be a carrier flock without knowing if they are exposed to the chicken strain. Since a vacc bird will automatically test positive, you'd never know! Only vacc i know of that actually GIVES a disease instead of preventing; dr's don't have a true preventative vacc yet unfortunately. Supposably it's pretty common, though i haven't had it yet *that i know of* The common symptom of the "splits" is only one of the strains; there is an eye strain, and sometimes it is as simple as "failure to thrive" where the birds don't grow and put on weight. It isn't transmitted through hatching eggs.

That being said, i wish some of you would have spoke up sooner! Even though the vac is usually for chicks, during an active outbreak you are supposed to vac your adult flock ASAP if they haven't been vac already, and that way you won't lose so many! If given soon enough to the exposed birds the vacc will give them some resistance before the chicken strain irreversably damages their organs.

My friend keeps silkies which are apparently very succeptable to mereks and she did this with great success, only losing 2 after the vac was given to the flock. Before that i believe it was losing a bird every few days! I will ask what kind/ where she got her vacc from. It was for ALL the types of merecks; $60 and you can't save it once opened though. Her flock got it from something as simple as someone at a chicken sale petting various birds at the sale from various sellers; those birds came down with it and gave it to their new flocks. That's why show birds need to be vaccinated for sure!!! They get handled a lot. You'd think that if a bird tested positive after vacc that the babies would automatically get the vacc form, though..... I have read that they do not however. But i don't see how not???

if her silkies hatch any out for her i'll let you guys know if the babies do well or not. Mine show no signs and i didn't go to that sale, but i still want to get mine tested to be sure........ and vac too! I don't like vac at all but since it is now going around MI i think it's prudent.

 

[fuzzybutt love]

http://www.merckmanuals.com/vet/poultry/neoplasms/mareks_disease_in_poultry.html?qt=mareks&alt=sh

 

[CCCCCCCCHICKENS]

I know everyone has there opinion on weather to vaccinate or not. I don't try to pursuade other people to do one or the other. But I do not vaccinate. (knock on wood) I have never had mareks in my flock and hope to never have to deal with it. It is a terrible disease and feel for every person who has had it in their flocks. The only disease I have every had a run into with is CRD and that was because of one bad buy at a show. I bought a pair of Crele OEGBs.I sat there and talked to the guy. Asked him why he was selling them. His answer was they were getting into dutch bantams and this was their last pair of OEGBs. They seemed healthy until the day after I got home. They hen died the next day and the rooster 4 days later. After the hen died he had foamy eye and sneezing. Of course I can't prove it, but I am pretty sure that guy knew they had CRD when he sold them to me. Thanks to quarientine, they were the only ones infected. But thats all water under the bridge now.

 

[NYREDS]

there are some birds that are special to me which I would vaccinate ... but as far as I know - resistance to Mereks can be genetic and if you let those that survive become breeders - you won't have to vaccinate

However, if you have show birds vs backyard birds - then you may be forced to vaccinate ...

I am saying this to judge - but to invite others here to share what they know about Mereks and how they handle it and why .....

Thanks

You're right-resistace can be bred for. There are a couple of extensive threads here on breeding for resistance. Many years ago I read Fred Jeffrey's book on Chicken Diseases where he advocates just that. What he had to say made sence to me so that's the path I followed & it has worked well for me. There's a pretty virulent strain of Mereks here & when I have started working with new birds I have usually had some Mereks losses duing the first generation or 2. As soon as a bird shows any sign of Mereks they're culled. After that-no more Mereks.
Not sure what you mean by your show birds/backyard birds comment.

 

[nothingbutbirds]

I vaccinated all my adult birds after finding out it was mareks. My birds are in their 3rd generation and I had 1 mareks loss out of it and haven't had trouble except with a silkie that I found all paralyed except his head/neck. The chicks that got raised inside did worse with mareks than the ones raised outside with hens. I lost almost all the ones raised inside. One out of the outside chicks Though I'm not certain it was mareks. I get my vaccines with a breeder that orders some for me when he orders it. Hes been helping me with the mareks and has been getting me good quality birds from a poultry judge/breeder in NY. Will any bird I put in with my flock become a carrier for mareks?

 

[schnebbles]

Yes, any bird you bring in will be a carrier since it will be exposed to the virus.

My birds have it as well. I've lost 4 out of my 8, last was a d'uccle, I sure miss her.

I don't think breeding for resistance is always going to work either, (see mareks thread in emergency section, it's long!).

I would still vaccinate any chick that I hatched here. I won't be doing that though because I've had the mareks birds in my house and I won't ever be positive enough that they wouldn't be exposed if I hatched inside. If we move, I might be able to try it but I don't know. We are planning to move soon.

IMO all breeders should vaccinate, not because they have mareks, but because birds can go anywhere to anyone and get it. We all find this out the hard way. I know it's costly but it could save the lives of the birds when they go to their new homes. It's a very awful thing to have.

I'm sorry you lost so many nothingbutbirds That's awful. I'm in Ohio.

 

[Lorilyn Farms]

 

[msladyhawke]

Oh my, your birds are STUNNING!