MJ's little flock

[MaryJanet]

Thank you MJ. High praise!

It's so poignant.

 

[MaryJanet]

Today's high was 44.4C (112F).

The chicks have done remarkably well! I've just been cleaning up their brooder and they're bouncing around and cheeping to their heart's content.

The fan was on all day and I renewed their water and added ice as often as I could. I also decided to allow Blossom to have access to the chicks' room to allow the air conditioning to flow through to them a little, which I think probably took the edge off. Blossom spent most of the day asleep in the spare bedroom, so it was all good, although I was excessively vigilant.

 

[MaryJanet]

The chicks are still doing well on another very hot day - temperature is 42.4C at present and may climb higher.

Again, the doors are open to facilitate flow through from the air-conditioning, which means Blossom can enter the chicks' room but so far she has been sleeping through the heat in the spare bedroom.

Eta 43.8C was today's high.

 

[MaryJanet]

Martha filled her tummy right to the very top.

Good job, Martha!

 

[MaryJanet]

Growing in size, energy and confidence.

 

[LozzyR]

Today's high was 44.4C (112F).

The chicks have done remarkably well! I've just been cleaning up their brooder and they're bouncing around and cheeping to their heart's content.

The fan was on all day and I renewed their water and added ice as often as I could. I also decided to allow Blossom to have access to the chicks' room to allow the air conditioning to flow through to them a little, which I think probably took the edge off. Blossom spent most of the day asleep in the spare bedroom, so it was all good, although I was excessively vigilant.

Yikes, you’ve had it a lot hotter than we have! We’ve been wetting all the shady spots in the garden morning and evening, and I put some frozen peas, carrots and corn in some water before.

 

[LozzyR]

Growing in size, energy and confidence.

Adorable!

 

[MaryJanet]

Yikes, you’ve had it a lot hotter than we have!

Yeh! A couple of real stinkers!

We’ve been wetting all the shady spots in the garden morning and evening, and I put some frozen peas, carrots and corn in some water before.

They would've loved that!

 

[MaryJanet]

Adorable!

I'm trying not to get attached in case one or more of them don't make it. Trying, and mostly failing.

 

[BY Bob]

Hi MJ. The chicks are adorable.
Sorry for not responding earlier - I have been taking some quiet reflection time to absorb my learnings from having Mr. Chips in the flock, and my feelings from his death. I am writing something to cover both of those, so maybe more on that later.

Meanwhile, I had to weigh in on the Marek's vaccine question.
I assume a vet is your source for the time for a Marek's vaccine to take? Ask them for their scientific back-up to that.

I have dug pretty deep into the research on this topic and there are no studies that support benefit beyond 10 days for it to take, and the most thorough work (funded by the Australian Research Council coincidentally) finds no increase in benefit past 7 days.

Attached is a link to the best paper along with the summary I made for myself when deciding about giving chicks to broody Tassels. This team have done most of the rigorous research work on the topic and have many papers, but this one had the most data for what I was trying to decide.

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/03079450701802230?url_ver=Z39.88-2003&rfr_id=ori:rid:crossref.org&rfr_dat=cr_pub 0pubmed#d1e390

My notes:

Getting chicks for Tassels
Plan to get vaccinated chicks and give them to Tassels and hope she adopts them.
Marek’s vaccines come in two flavors:
- Rispens. Live Marek’s virus serotype 1. Available only to large hatcheries, can be given either in ovo or on day 1 of hatch. Considered the most e􀆯ective vaccine available (
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/7677647/#:~:text=Both serotype 1 vaccine vir
uses,when%20compared%20with%20other%20vaccines).
- Turkey Herpes virus. Live Turkey virus. Given on day of hatch, and chicks must be quarantined until the chick develops its own antibodies. Used by small breeders. Considered less e􀆯ective
than Rispens because of increasing virulence of Marek’s disease virus, but practically the only option open to me.


How long do I have to wait for the THV vaccination to take?

Source 1: PennState Extension (reputable source) say 4-7 days but does not give a source.
https://extension.psu.edu/mareks-disease-in-chickens

Source 2: Australian study on vaccine to challenge interval (VCI) impact on survival of chickens
vaccinated with THV on day of hatch.
 Simplifying the stats: about 74% of unvaccinated chicks will get Marek’s; that can be reduced to about 16% in vaccinated chicks if there is a 7-day interval between vaccination and exposure. The protective index of the vaccine is correlated to the VCI (though statistically a 4-day VCI was no better than a 2-day VCI which was close in mortality to being unvaccinated).
 A surprise finding is that vaccination and exposure on day 0 is as e􀆯ective as a VCI of 7 days probably the result of maternal antibodies that have decayed by day 2, and opens up the
possibility of giving Tassels hatching eggs, but I would have to vaccinate each chick as soon as it hatches.
 Abstract: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18568648/ Full Text:
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/03079450701802230?url_ver=Z39.88-
2003&rfr_id=ori:rid:crossref.org&rfr_dat=cr_pub%20%200pubmed#d1e390

The Australian study supports the PennState 4-7 days, with 7 being the safest from a Marek’s point of view. This needs to be balanced against the probability of Tassels accepting an older chick. Would
she be more likely to accept a 4-day chick than a 7-day chick?