Mareks resistant chicken breeds?

[Weeg]

I stumbled across a BYC post from last year asking about Mareks resistant chicken breeds. It got me thinking and now I have a few questions. Heres the thread- https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/mareks-resistant-chickens-experience.1484481/
The OP posted a link talking about a study showing that Fayoumi and other Egyptian breeds were resistant to Mareks. Someone on that thread also said that Naked Necks were resistant. Is this true? The study seemed to be a good source, but I'm not entirely sure.
Also, if those breeds are resistant, what exactly does that mean. Does it mean they wont get it/can't be carriers for life. Or does it mean they can become infected carriers for life, but not show symptoms?
A friend of mine is starting using her small flock to start a breeding business coming Spring, and we're looking into adding more breeds. I thought I'd look into it since that would be a cool breed to add/sell.
Thanks for the help, I appreciate everyone helping to clear up the topic on this. Thank you!

 

[JedJackson]

Way too complex for me to judge, but I am interested in this subject, too.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

I think its that they simply dont have some of the more debilitating symptoms and typicallynlook like a okay bird.

 

[pennyJo1960]

Actuall let me call friend that has this going on now
@microchick
She is keeping birds with Mareks
https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...-i-learned-to-deal-with-mareks-disease.76944/

 

[Weeg]

Way too complex for me to judge, but I am interested in this subject, too.

Same. I find the topic fascinating. Interested to see what others have to say.
Thanks @JacinLarkwell for your input. Thats interesting. I assumed that they could still be carriers, a flock who couldn't get Mareks would be too good to be true.

 

[microchick]

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.

 

[Weeg]

Thank you for the tag, @penny1960.

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.

Thank you for taking the time to write up such an informative post, this is very helpful.
As a flock owner with ALV carriers and two losses so far, this topic is very interesting to me, especially since EF's are resistant to other illnesses as well. I'm going to have to look for that breed. Thank you!
This post was very informative, I appreciate it!

 

[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]

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!

 

[microchick]

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.

It wouldn't matter. Once you lose a bird to MD or even suspect you may have a problem with MD it has already spread through your flock so the Fayoumis would be exposed no matter what. Even if you removed them and they were within 5 miles of where you live they would still be carriers if they have the virus on their feather dander. Marek's dander can travel 5 miles on the wind. I touch upon this in my article that @pennyJo1960 mentioned:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...-i-learned-to-deal-with-mareks-disease.76944/

Think of it this way. Draw a 5 mile circle around your property. Every time one of your birds shakes out it's feathers it will be releasing dander that has the potential to travel that far depending on what direction the wind is out of and how fast the wind is blowing on that given day. Say you have an 18mph wind going and dander from infected carriers on your property travels 4 miles to farmer Jones' farm where it lands on his birds and oops, now his birds are infected/and/or carriers. They shake out their feathers and their dander travels four miles from their coop/run and infects birds at the Brown farm. Just using those two distances by hopscotching from farm to farm that virus has traveled 8 miles. And that isn't even taking in to account the wild birds that can carry the disease on their feather dander also and may fly even further spreading it along the way.

Scary, huh? This is why Marek's disease is everywhere.

IF you have MD on your property. Best to close your flock try to bring in resistant birds and try to breed for resistance. Or bring in EFs or other resistant birds. I love my EFs. They have these beautiful hawk like faces, very fierce looking but they aren't. They are flighty and not birds that are going to want to ride around on your shoulder or sit on your lap but they are very independent, loads of fun to watch (mine will run down and eat mice) and the roosters are very docile with other roosters to the point that they will not fight and will simply give up control of the flock to another roo that challenges him.

Thank you for the kind words, @Weeg. I've been dealing with MD in my flock since 2016 and love to help fellow flock owners who are facing the prospect of living with MD in their flocks.