When to give up looking and let go of wishful thinking?:
I wanted to start this off with saying the title is a little deceiving. I am not literally asking when I should stop looking for her, and or clues to what happened to her. I probably never will!!
I want to tell my story of my mareks resistant silkie who I recently lost.
I recently had a silkie go missing while free-ranging. (They free-range almost everyday) Yes missing, like without a trace. No feathers, nothing to alert me something was amiss.
We are in South Texas and have recently survived through hurricanes and the latest floods.
Her name is Stupid( my kids came up with that one) She is four years old, a habitual broody, an awesome mom, and of course my favorite pet. One thing that really set her apart though, is that for the last four years I've had several cases of mareks in my flock. Stupid was a silkie that was resistant to mareks.
As many of you know silkies are not known to be resistant to mareks. They are in fact known to be quite susceptible to this virus.
I hatched her and her 2 sisters (who are also still with me), and none of them were ever vaccinated. I had just gotten into chickens at that time, so I was uniformed of what illnesses chickens could get.
I have lost a total of 7 chickens to mareks over a 3 1/2 year period. I started ordering vaccinated chicks after I sent the 3rd to Texas A&M necropsy , and it came back as mareks.
I spoke with the vet (Dr. Moore) at Texas A&M and I told him, about Stupid and her sisters(Pong, and Short Stuff). He was a little surprised that they had not been effected by the mareks.
He asked all sorts of questions pertaining to time frame, and losses, and so on and so forth.
Then he asked something that I never gave too much thought to either.
Did she ever hatch any of her own eggs? If so what became of them?
Yes, she did brood and raise 6 of her own chicks, and many other eggs from other hens.
All of Stupid's direct offspring (6 of them) also seem to be resistant. None of them have been vaccinated, yet they've all been exposed to the virus. Different ages all of them are still fine.
From 2 different roosters.
All of the other chicks she brooded and raised from donated eggs succumbed to mareks.
I couldn't stop stupid from being broody, so I let her go ahead with it. Half of them are 100% silkie, and the other 3 are silkie mixes.
All 6 are full grown, some are over 2 years old. I do not have all 6 of them anymore. I couldn't handle the constant brooding. I am limited on space and have expanded so many times already.
I have 2 of her sisters, however Stupid was the prettiest one!
Here she is with her last batch of chicks under her who succumbed to mereks right before they were coming into lay. They were from our friends EE hen.
The flock free-ranges almost daily, and right after the floods the run was so nasty I let them out as usual, and when I closed up that evening I never did the usual count.
The next morning I let them all out again, not paying any attention because my mind was elsewhere, and I didn't notice Stupid was missing until later that day.
I believe with the flooding it must have put predators in a desperate situation.
Has anyone ever had a silkie that seemed to be resistant to mareks?
She sounds like a very special hen. I understand you aren't still looking for her, but this story might make you feel a little better. 
