MJ's little flock

[ManueB]

I'm happy Eddie is doing better. Is she completely back to usual behaviour now ?

A couple of my original flock survived this grizzly period as well as Bernie from a later batch of chicks all of whom died apart from Bernie.

It was terrible and like MJ I remain in admiration of you dealt with it. I remember you first thought of food poisoning that summer because it was so sudden and unexplained, except for Bela who had leukosis.

And there are still unsolved questions for me. Maybe the strain of Marek's that was in your environment is specific. Why were the chicken's tests negative? Were Eli's trouble laying correlated with the virus or was it completely unrelated ? And how sudden can the virus kill, that Babs passed overnight ?
Also, I've kept wondering if the fact that Bernie was the only hen to survive had anything to do with the dosage of vitamin B you gave her when she was growing up or if it was totally a coincidence.
If you have the possibility of getting vaccinated chicks it does sound like the better solution in your situation !

That sounds like a tough time, especially when the cause for the deaths was unknown. I sympathise with your wanting to avoid the collateral losses that come with breeding for immunity too. I need to learn more about Marek's disease.

I don't really understand the concept of breeding for immunity and especially in a small flock. For one thing I suppose you need to start with many roosters with different genes since they also will be exposed to the virus and at first many will die. And in a setting like yours, @Perris, you wouldn't be sure which rooster fathered the eggs. So I don't see how you could actually get there without having physically separated chicken families or taking a very long time and many, many generations ? Also, while it's said that Marek's kills mostly young chickens and that if they survive they have a good chance not to show symptoms, I've seen a number of posts here and on other social medias where an older hen develops Marek's symptoms at a senior age, probably once her immune system weakens, or because of stress, at an age where she could die of something else. So these hens are not "immune" to the virus, they just don't develop symptoms at an early age and live a normal chicken life. Is this what people are looking for when breeding for immunity ? Chicken who are carriers but more resistant to actually develop symptoms?
Maybe it's because I don't understand how it works, but I get the impression it's not a concept that could really apply to a small flock with numbers like mine - less than twenty chickens.

 

[RoyalChick]

I'm happy Eddie is doing better. Is she completely back to usual behaviour now ?

It was terrible and like MJ I remain in admiration of you dealt with it. I remember you first thought of food poisoning that summer because it was so sudden and unexplained, except for Bela who had leukosis.

And there are still unsolved questions for me. Maybe the strain of Marek's that was in your environment is specific. Why were the chicken's tests negative? Were Eli's trouble laying correlated with the virus or was it completely unrelated ? And how sudden can the virus kill, that Babs passed overnight ?
Also, I've kept wondering if the fact that Bernie was the only hen to survive had anything to do with the dosage of vitamin B you gave her when she was growing up or if it was totally a coincidence.
If you have the possibility of getting vaccinated chicks it does sound like the better solution in your situation !

I don't really understand the concept of breeding for immunity and especially in a small flock. For one thing I suppose you need to start with many roosters with different genes since they also will be exposed to the virus and at first many will die. And in a setting like yours, @Perris, you wouldn't be sure which rooster fathered the eggs. So I don't see how you could actually get there without having physically separated chicken families or taking a very long time and many, many generations ? Also, while it's said that Marek's kills mostly young chickens and that if they survive they have a good chance not to show symptoms, I've seen a number of posts here and on other social medias where an older hen develops Marek's symptoms at a senior age, probably once her immune system weakens, or because of stress, at an age where she could die of something else. So these hens are not "immune" to the virus, they just don't develop symptoms at an early age and live a normal chicken life. Is this what people are looking for when breeding for immunity ? Chicken who are carriers but more resistant to actually develop symptoms?
Maybe it's because I don't understand how it works, but I get the impression it's not a concept that could really apply to a small flock with numbers like mine - less than twenty chickens.

Interesting thought on Bernie and the vitamin B. Hadn’t thought of that.
We don’t know everyone died of Marek’s. We only know Eli did.
It is not quite a perfect analogy, but think of it like chicken pox and shingles. There is an acute disease. It affects young chicks. Some die. Those that don’t die continue to have the virus, it is just dormant. But it can have effects later by causing cancers.
So the reason a chicken might test negative is that the virus is dormant and not detectable.
I am not convinced Babs dies of Marek’s but I was too sad to cope with the whole necropsy process so we will never know.
I am also not convinced that there wasn’t another cause for some of the others. You may not remember, but I found the feed had turned orange in their feeder and so a mold or fungal thing can’t be ruled out.
But whatever their cause of death, and even if only Eli had Marek’s, the fact that she had the disease means that I now have Marek’s in the flock.
Sigh.
Breeding for immunity is straightforward conceptually. Natural selection will do it for you. But there will be many deaths. Over time you can hasten the process by only allowing older chickens to pass on their genetics. The older the chicken the better they have survived in a Marek’s environment. Some of that will be luck. But some may be genetic and by letting those chickens breed you keep those genes going in your flock.

 

[MaryJanet]

I'm happy Eddie is doing better. Is she completely back to usual behaviour now ?

I think so. I didn't see anything to make me worry yesterday, but I had to be in the office most of the day. I'll be in the office for the rest of the week too, so my next chance to sit with the hens will be Saturday.

 

[MaryJanet]

These two chums.

Peggy wears Ivy most nights, even in summer.

 

[MaryJanet]

Reasons to be positive about the hens:

• Poops that suggest good digestion
• No poopy butts
• No moulting
• High energy
• Good appetites
• Full crops at roosting time
• A little more social harmony than usual
• Reliably regular egg laying

Edie seems a-ok this evening but I'll keep watching her.

 

[BY Bob]

These two chums.

View attachment 3951259

Peggy wears Ivy most nights, even in summer.

She really pulls off the look well.

 

[BY Bob]

Reasons to be positive about the hens:

• Poops that suggest good digestion
• No poopy butts
• No moulting
• High energy
• Good appetites
• Full crops at roosting time
• A little more social harmony than usual
• Reliably regular egg laying

Edie seems a-ok this evening but I'll keep watching her.

All any chicken servant can hope for.

 

[MaryJanet]

She really pulls off the look well.

almost as well as Ivy herself!

 

[MaryJanet]

All any chicken servant can hope for.

It feels good.

 

[MaryJanet]

It is such a gorgeously peaceful evening. I can hear the traffic over on the main road, baby birds cheeping from their nest in the gumtree a few houses up the street, a train rumbling, birds calling to each other and the hens tapping away at their food. The only smell is from the mosquito coil.

Here's a minute thirty of Mary enjoying her daily happy hour while I waited for the team to turn in for the night.