Mareks resistant chicken breeds?

[microchick]

No problem. No, you can't give up. Let us know what you find out.

Blessings.

 

[cubalaya]

You breed resistance into your flock over many years. It is time consuming and takes many generations. People dont want to hear that. They think they can buy a breed or get a vaccine. Quick way is not the best way

 

[Weeg]

As to their ability to carry MD, the one thing I would suspect is that if they are exposed to birds that are carrying Marek's they could inadvertently carry the dander of their flock mates on their own feathers if the disease is present on the flock owner's property/chickens. As for them becoming infected from MD positive flock mates, so far mine haven't. I have lost one bird to parasite load but my remaining Fayoumi's are disease free.

So to be very clear, if EF's were exposed to MD and you realized that the flock was infected. You could remove the rest of the flock and keep EF's without them being infected/carriers?
This question is probably more of a guessing game unless you've tried it yourself, but I would like to hear everyones opinions.

 

[Weeg]

Along this topic of Mareks resistant breeds, are any other landrace breeds also resistant like the EF?
I'm thinking icelandic, or swedish flower hen, swedish black hen, all off which are significantly more cold hardy than EF.
I could not responsibly bring an EF into my flock knowing they are not cold hardy when we routinely get -30C in winter months here. But would be interesting to see if another landrace breed offers similar disease resistance.

Someone mentioned earlier that Turkens may be Mareks resistant. I want to say I read they were cold hardy, but I know that most breeds don't need supplemental heat until -25, so maybe they would do alright. I don't have any experience with that temperature though.

 

[RubyLady]

Thank you for the tag, @pennyJo1960.

I don't have any experience with naked necks but I have heard from people that have them that they are a resistant breed when it comes to Marek's Disease.

I do have 5 EFs in my flock though. I chose the breed because of their remarkable resistance to Marek's Disease and other Avian illnesses.

As to their ability to carry MD, the one thing I would suspect is that if they are exposed to birds that are carrying Marek's they could inadvertently carry the dander of their flock mates on their own feathers if the disease is present on the flock owner's property/chickens. As for them becoming infected from MD positive flock mates, so far mine haven't. I have lost one bird to parasite load but my remaining Fayoumi's are disease free.

I did find this article which goes into the genetic resistance and how it works. It's a bit technical but you can wade through those parts and go to the conclusions.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6247869/

One article that I have read stated that there was a hypothesis that the more 'wild' a breed of chickens, the higher their resistance to Marek's Disease. One thing I will say, stay away from breeds like Silkies, Cochins, Buff Orpintons and Seabrights. They are all highly susceptible to MD along with Speckled Sussex's.

Read that Sussex is resistant to Marek's. There doesn't seem to be a really reliable list of birds with resistance, does there?

 

[phasianidae]

Along this topic of Mareks resistant breeds, are any other landrace breeds also resistant like the EF?
I'm thinking icelandic, or swedish flower hen, swedish black hen, all off which are significantly more cold hardy than EF.
I could not responsibly bring an EF into my flock knowing they are not cold hardy when we routinely get -30C in winter months here. But would be interesting to see if another landrace breed offers simila

Traditionally chickens in northern Europe overwintered in barns together with the livestock. In Iceland, they were kept in turf houses connected to many other houses. They benefited from the body heat of humans, cattle, horses, sheep, etc. Many of the northern breeds don’t have the cold adeptation that people might expect. Regardless, domestic chickens across the board can intrinsically handle very cold temperatures without selective adeptation, they just won’t thrive the same way that throughly adapted breeds will. They will spent most of their time fluffed up on a roost while a genetically adapted hen will be scratching around on the floor and still laying eggs. I would expect that Fayuomi’s would survive -30 similar to an Icelandic. To really thrive in extreme cold, a chicken should have as small of comb and wattles as possible.

 

[Weeg]

Also, does anyone have any study's/research showing NN's being disease resistant? I found one on EF's, but I would be interested in reading up on the NN's. If I had to choose one over the other, I think NN's might be easier to source.
Thanks everyone for piping in!

 

[raingarden]

Both of these groups see signs that it may be possible
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/6659344/

These guys selected for disease resistance over nine generations, but it is still not enough.
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/03079458108418468

 

[Crookadoodle]

Along this topic of Mareks resistant breeds, are any other landrace breeds also resistant like the EF?
I'm thinking icelandic, or swedish flower hen, swedish black hen, all off which are significantly more cold hardy than EF.
I could not responsibly bring an EF into my flock knowing they are not cold hardy when we routinely get -30C in winter months here. But would be interesting to see if another landrace breed offers similar disease resistance.

 

[Goldenwahintofboss]

Thank you for the tag, @pennyJo1960.

I don't have any experience with naked necks but I have heard from people that have them that they are a resistant breed when it comes to Marek's Disease.

I do have 5 EFs in my flock though. I chose the breed because of their remarkable resistance to Marek's Disease and other Avian illnesses.

As to their ability to carry MD, the one thing I would suspect is that if they are exposed to birds that are carrying Marek's they could inadvertently carry the dander of their flock mates on their own feathers if the disease is present on the flock owner's property/chickens. As for them becoming infected from MD positive flock mates, so far mine haven't. I have lost one bird to parasite load but my remaining Fayoumi's are disease free.

I did find this article which goes into the genetic resistance and how it works. It's a bit technical but you can wade through those parts and go to the conclusions.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6247869/

One article that I have read stated that there was a hypothesis that the more 'wild' a breed of chickens, the higher their resistance to Marek's Disease. One thing I will say, stay away from breeds like Silkies, Cochins, Buff Orpintons and Seabrights. They are all highly susceptible to MD along with Speckled Sussex's.

I give my chickens cds water 3 times a month. That kills all blood born viruses. I drink it also. I make sure they get it. My silkies x cochins have never been vaccinated and are very healthy. Not sure if that helps. But I have zero sickness here. None. My birds are free-range on my fenced in acre. I have marans, Oppringtons, silkies,ee. Americauna, and some crosses. Hope we never get that here. I am 100% organic as well.