Lavender patterned Isabel duckwing barred - lavender brown cuckoo barred - project and genetic dis

[ChicKat]

I'm so sorry.

Thanks BantyChooks....it's a sad thing -- yet, I still see no signs/symptoms - so maybe with good care they can have semi-normal existence for the rest of their lives. Time will tell I guess.

 

[cjwaldon]

 

[BantyChooks]

Thanks BantyChooks....it's a sad thing -- yet, I still see no signs/symptoms - so maybe with good care they can have semi-normal existence for the rest of their lives. Time will tell I guess.

Might not be an stance agreed with, but in my opinion breeding for resistance is our only chance against MG and MS. Either that or test every bird in the US/Canada and kill so many birds that all but the most common breeds are wiped out beyond repair.

Depends on the strain too. If it were a violent strain with birds ill and dying than absolutely cull or close. A light strain---not so much. Could even prove useful with immunities, who knows.

 

[ChicKat]

Might not be an stance agreed with, but in my opinion breeding for resistance is our only chance against MG and MS. Either that or test every bird in the US/Canada and kill so many birds that all but the most common breeds are wiped out beyond repair.

Depends on the strain too. If it were a violent strain with birds ill and dying than absolutely cull or close. A light strain---not so much. Could even prove useful with immunities, who knows.

agree 100% - Y'know -- The cockerel that I took, (and they had to euthanize him) weighed around 4# while his contemporaries -- one of them was 6#. Underweight is one sign of Marek's in a bird. They tested negative for Marek's - .

Marek's took my very first pullet, (to die when I was just starting with chickens 5-years ago or a bit more). She was a black sex-link. And I know some people vaccinate for Marek's -- or suggest vaccination - and that hatcheries will give vaccination as an option, but years ago I decided that 'breed for resistance' is the best approach for me. So as of that Necropsy date, I can say that my flock doesn't have Marek's

You have such a good point, every situation varies, every person should have their own management approach - and in this case -- as long as others are aware and safe, then I am going to see what develops. (and try really hard to eliminate stressors in their little chicken brains). Sometimes chicken owners think that what they do is what everyone else should do. There are tough crossroads in chicken keeping sometimes.

 

[BantyChooks]

agree 100% - Y'know -- The cockerel that I took, (and they had to euthanize him) weighed around 4# while his contemporaries -- one of them was 6#. Underweight is one sign of Marek's in a bird. They tested negative for Marek's - .

Marek's took my very first pullet, (to die when I was just starting with chickens 5-years ago or a bit more). She was a black sex-link. And I know some people vaccinate for Marek's -- or suggest vaccination - and that hatcheries will give vaccination as an option, but years ago I decided that 'breed for resistance' is the best approach gor me. So as of that Necropsy date, I can say that my flock doesn't have Marek's

You have such a good point, every situation varies, every person should have their own management approach - and in this case -- as long as others are aware and safe, then I am going to see what develops. (and try really hard to eliminate stressors in their little chicken brains). Sometimes chicken owners think that what they do is what everyone else should do. There are tough crossroads in chicken keeping sometimes.

Absolutely! There is no perfect approach.

 

[Kiki]

I gotta chime in too...
I think breeding for resistance is the only way to go too.

Like you said...no one is showing the classic signs of having MS so if I were you I'd carry one just as you were.

(minus the selling for now)

 

[Kiki]

LOL - no you wouldn't want to steal them....crime never pays.

 

[ChicKat]

Absolutely! There is no perfect approach.

I gotta chime in too...
I think breeding for resistance is the only way to go too.

Like you said...no one is showing the classic signs of having MS so if I were you I'd carry one just as you were.

(minus the selling for now)

Thanks for the 'moral support'.

I guess -- since I once had a chicken die of Marek's - and that one was bought from a mass seller, long ago, who didn't know that she had it in her flock.... And have had two (years apart) subsequent necropsies (the recent one, and the one that I wrote the article about -- which may have been 2015 or so ) with no Marek's -- it does seem that breeding for resistance does work.

I'll keep on the same path, albeit with closed flock, and see what develops. Kiki'sgirls, great minds think alike. lol.

Wish that there were a test that one could do -- like twice a year, at home, for a reasonable cost (swabs, drop of blood -etc. sent to an independent lab for processing by a neutral 3rd party ) -- There are expensive site visits that could be arranged. I know someone in the North East that has extra tests done as part of her NPIP -- but she pays for those tests, and I've heard that they are really pricy. In Canada, I think (from that article about egg dipping in antibiotics) that they can swab and send the things to a lab. Perhaps we have it here too through A&M - I'll have to check out their price pages.

Meanwhile -- 'Keep Calm and Carry on'

 

[ChicKat]

Look at this:
https://tvmdl.tamu.edu/?s=Mycoplasma&species=avian&post_type=tests&test-submit=Search+Tests
looks like you can swab and send it to TVMDL for analysis -- for 35.00 for general mycoplasma and 40.00 for specific (if I read that rightly) -- less that the cost I had thought -- and something to bear in mind.

 

[Kiki]

Look at this:
https://tvmdl.tamu.edu/?s=Mycoplasma&species=avian&post_type=tests&test-submit=Search+Tests
looks like you can swab and send it to TVMDL for analysis -- for 35.00 for general mycoplasma and 40.00 for specific (if I read that rightly) -- less that the cost I had thought -- and something to bear in mind.

I had to re read about MS last night. I read something somewhere about maybe a blood test to test for MS in a live chicken.
Let me see if I can find what I read again.
But IMO if your birds aren't "sickly" then why test, especially if you are planning on breeding for resistance.