Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[Ponypoor]

Six is six too many wives!
My rooster would tend to disagree

But your Roo is young. He may not know how to deal with 6 wives. Mr P has it down to a science . When he gets fed up he flies up on the roost where the silkies can’t go

 

[featherhead007]

But your Roo is young. He may not know how to deal with 6 wives. Mr P has it down to a science . When he gets fed up he flies up on the roost where the silkies can’t go

Smart lad

 

[Ponypoor]

That is a theoretical option too. Higher risk because they will be exposed to Marek’s the instant they emerge from the egg, but I could reduce the exposure by bringing her in before they hatch and changing bedding so the only exposure would be if she is shedding (which she may well not be).
The vaccine probably has a shelf life once opened but I am guessing that it may be OK for the span of time for the eggs to hatch.
I will add that to the list of options.
I still think trying to get her to accept 7-10 day olds is going to be the simplest. May not work but feels worth a try. Just prefer to try when I am here!

I found this:

Recap:
Vaccine needs to be used within 2hrs of reconstituting, then discarded after that time.

Chicks need at least 4 days for vax to work.

https://extension.psu.edu/mareks-disease-in-chickens

So you could get the vax chicks then place them with her at 4 days. They would still be super tiny, and not so prone to want to be off on their own. I think at 10 days they would not want to stay under mama.

 

[RoyalChick]

I found this:

Recap:
Vaccine needs to be used within 2hrs of reconstituting, then discarded after that time.

Chicks need at least 4 days for vax to work.

https://extension.psu.edu/mareks-disease-in-chickens

So you could get the vax chicks then place them with her at 4 days. They would still be super tiny, and not so prone to want to be off on their own. I think at 10 days they would not want to stay under mama.

Thanks. I will look into the timeframe again. It doesn't have a source for the 4 days so while I am a psu fan, I am a tad skeptical. There are other sources that say 30 days!

 

[TOMTE]

Chicken in a bucket... KFC anyone?

It even comes with a toy! Crack it open and see what's inside!

 

[Sylvester017]

What was for lunch? Well I made tuna salad sandwiches. One for me, and a little one for Coco.
(she loves tuna as much as I do)
I wonder if she would like peanut butter and jelly sandwiches?

That's sweet . I love how you treat your birds. I wish you could post a pic of one of them eating w/you.

Personally I detested grape jelly since I had one PB&J as a kid in the 1950's. I preferred mom's homemade apricot jam w/pnut butter! Actually, I skipped the pnut butter most of the time cuz I really didn't like it. Supposedly we're not to give chickens pnut butter or sugar but everyone has different opinions.

We use blueberry jam ~ better antioxidants. I figure if I give our hens a "little" taste of sugar at least make it w/good berries ~ blueberry, strawberry, boysenberry, raspberry, or blackberry & organic w/ no added "natural" flavors or chemicals that we can't pronounce!
SAMPLES

 

[RoyalChick]

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Chicken in a bucket... KFC anyone?

View attachment 4076741
It even comes with a toy! Crack it open and see what's inside!

Chicken in a bucket!

And yes, I have gone deeply down the rabbit hole of Marek vaccines and time to develop immunity. A topic made more complicated by the fact that there are different vaccines available. Small hatcheries use Turkey Herpes virus whereas the big industrial outfits use an attenuated Marek's disease virus. Both are live viruses so the time interval is to allow the virus introduced in the vaccine to replicate.
Looks like the 4 days assumes vaccination with Rispens (the big hatchery vaccine), whereas the turkey virus looks like 7 days but meaningful immunity at 5 days.
Just another couple of research papers to read and then I am going out to cuddle my broody chicken because it is the only time I get to handle her.

 

[rural mouse]

I am leaning towards later.
I think going away a week or even ten days after I give them to her feels very stressful. For me I mean!
And this is going to be tricky because I need to give the chicks time indoors for the vaccine to take. There is some data on how long that takes which suggests 10 days. I could do a week maybe and accept the higher risk.
So I will be hoping she accepts week old chicks as newly hatched overnight. My gut says she will accept them just based on her broody behavior where she accepts anything as worthy of sitting on and doesn’t peck me at all when I pull eggs out from under her. But who knows?!

The added challenge is getting the chicks to accept her....

 

[RoyalChick]

The added challenge is getting the chicks to accept her....

Oh no! Is that an issue? I never even thought of that. Meaning they wouldn't run under her to warm up and could die of cold? Yikes!

I think I have nearly got my mind around the vaccine thing and could risk 5 days.
A weirdly interesting finding is that if I got eggs or newborn chicks from a Marek's infected flock I could actually introduce them immediately because maternal antibodies give as good protection days 0-5 as the vaccine does from day 5 on. I feel this finding should be immensely useful, but can't figure how to make it practical.
I could call around local farms and get them to admit they have Marek's in the flock and do vaccinate and then ask them for chicks!
Hmmmm.

 

[RebeccaBoyd]

The silkies new nest condo. The egg was not actually laid in the middle shelf. I found that one out in the middle of the coop and just set it there so I did not step on it.

The bench I brought home to sit on. They have taken over it, 2 of them roosted on it last night.

Everyone is fighting over the bottom nest this morning. Patsy and Martina have made it a mission to throw out all of the bedding I placed in.

I moved the bench closer so they could use it as a step ladder to get to the middle box. Martina, don't you dare toss out all the bedding.

Davy, I brought that in there for me not you. He does not care and pooped on it some more....brat.

Barbosa. With his silver leakage I do not know what color he is. He and Davy both came from BBS eggs. Branch also had leakage, his was just gold. I suspect seeing as how Branch carried the partridge gene Barbosa does as well.

Davy doing his best to impress Siri from inside the cage. Little man, even if I let her in she is too big for you.

Barbosa again. There is something about him. It is his behavior now that he has settled down. I'm having Branch flashbacks.

After that picture he came up and hopped in my lap on his own and did this. Branch did this as does George. Davy will sit beside me and let me pet him. I can pick him up and hold him but he has yet to hop in my lap willingly. Branch is hard at work on the other side sending me the roosters I need to keep his memory alive.

He purred, snuggled in and took a nap. I did not move until he woke up. Little man, I have not felt this much happiness and peace in 10 months.

George is by no means being replaced. I still love that little turd. He let me hold him for a few minutes as well. George just has a purpose now. He has grown up and when a hen sings the escort call, he drops me like a hat and has places to be and laidies to serve. He has turned into a excellent flock rooster and leader. I very much look forward to sometime this spring/summer when the time is right to see him as a father as well. I know he will not let me down.