Moving Forward- Breeding for Resistance to Marek's Disease

[Nambroth]

The best most concise and correct information I've found is in a book called "Diseases of Poultry" by Chief Editor Y.M. Saik. The chapter was compiled by over 100 scientists/researches.

Can this book be ordered online, such as on amazon? I'm having a hard time finding it.

 

[chooks4life]

That's a whole lot of non-info in the test results. :/ 'Bird was indeed female' reported like it was something important. (I know gender in test results does have some importance for most diseases but I'd hoped for more than that).

Sounds like the vets have a dearth of info as well, unfortunately. But, we already knew that.

About that book, I also couldn't find it, but once I saw a few pages of completely unrelated info I gave it up as a bad sign, generally when you search for something using so many specific keywords you'll find something soon enough...

Regarding the 7-year cycle, I've only heard of one reference to that, which I linked to, but I have heard of other diseases and parasites with 7-year cycles. I.e. paralysis ticks being incredibly deadly on one part of their 7 year cycle, able to kill a host within 20 minutes to an hour, whereas normally it takes them up to a week or more. Not sure how exactly they become so deadly within that cycle, that still means there's many generations of less harmful ticks inbetween.

Anyway, best wishes to all.

 

[seminolewind]

Quote:
yes it's on amazon,

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias=aps&field-keywords=diseasess of poultry

there are 2 here. one is 2008, and the other is 2003. I have the 03 one.

 

[Nambroth]

yes it's on amazon,

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias=aps&field-keywords=diseasess of poultry

there are 2 here. one is 2008, and the other is 2003. I have the 03 one.

Gracious! It's always sad when an important resource of a book is out of the financial grasp of most folks. I will have to wait a while before I can consider it. Thank you for the link!

 

[Northie]

I have one little pullet who was slower to feather out, has mild occular symptoms (part of her iris is an off color in both eyes) but at the moment is in good health and weight. She's been like that for as long as I can remember... She's 15weeks old so hasn't started laying yet. Should I expect to see her having trouble in the future, like, around the time they start laying? She's a sweety so it will be sad to see her go down.

I do have a bunch of roosters crowing loud and clear though which is a good sign.
Lots of CockaDooooodleDOoooooos in the morning and one "RoooooooooWoooooooooow!" Someone hasn't really found their voice yet lol!

One thing I'm having trouble with is *not* watching their every move, waiting for a slight sign, a missed step, a dip of a tail or a weak moment that would betray the next bird to become sick.... It's really sucking the fun out of keeping chickens

 

[sassybirds]

That's a whole lot of non-info in the test results. :/ 'Bird was indeed female' reported like it was something important. (I know gender in test results does have some importance for most diseases but I'd hoped for more than that).

Sounds like the vets have a dearth of info as well, unfortunately. But, we already knew that.

About that book, I also couldn't find it, but once I saw a few pages of completely unrelated info I gave it up as a bad sign, generally when you search for something using so many specific keywords you'll find something soon enough...

Regarding the 7-year cycle, I've only heard of one reference to that, which I linked to, but I have heard of other diseases and parasites with 7-year cycles. I.e. paralysis ticks being incredibly deadly on one part of their 7 year cycle, able to kill a host within 20 minutes to an hour, whereas normally it takes them up to a week or more. Not sure how exactly they become so deadly within that cycle, that still means there's many generations of less harmful ticks inbetween.

Anyway, best wishes to all.

Yes, the "indeed female" part was a pretty silly thing to put on a report. I knew that. I had written it down. I don't need a gender confirmation. Still haven't heard any official results back yet. Should be soon...I know they reported the cockerel as having roundworms, but that's pretty insignificant at this point...a quick worming with Valbazen is much easier than culling 95% of your birds :/

I asked the vet that I did talk to about this 7 year cycle thing and again, she didn't know. Hmmm

 

[sassybirds]

I have one little pullet who was slower to feather out, has mild occular symptoms (part of her iris is an off color in both eyes) but at the moment is in good health and weight. She's been like that for as long as I can remember... She's 15weeks old so hasn't started laying yet. Should I expect to see her having trouble in the future, like, around the time they start laying? She's a sweety so it will be sad to see her go down.

I do have a bunch of roosters crowing loud and clear though which is a good sign.
Lots of CockaDooooodleDOoooooos in the morning and one "RoooooooooWoooooooooow!" Someone hasn't really found their voice yet lol!

One thing I'm having trouble with is *not* watching their every move, waiting for a slight sign, a missed step, a dip of a tail or a weak moment that would betray the next bird to become sick.... It's really sucking the fun out of keeping chickens

It's always fun when the cockerels start trying out their voices. Very comical.

I'm sorry to hear you are dealing with this as well. And I agree, it definitely sucks a lot of the fun out of it.

 

[chooks4life]

It's always fun when the cockerels start trying out their voices. Very comical.

I'm sorry to hear you are dealing with this as well. And I agree, it definitely sucks a lot of the fun out of it.

I also was disheartened when Marek's showed up, but it's been a few years since I lost one to Marek's, and I no longer worry about it. Things will get better I reckon, you guys are on the right track.

Best wishes.

 

[Northie]

I also was disheartened when Marek's showed up, but it's been a few years since I lost one to Marek's, and I no longer worry about it. Things will get better I reckon, you guys are on the right track.

Best wishes.

That is very encouraging! Thanks

 

[seminolewind]

I have one little pullet who was slower to feather out, has mild occular symptoms (part of her iris is an off color in both eyes) but at the moment is in good health and weight. She's been like that for as long as I can remember... She's 15weeks old so hasn't started laying yet. Should I expect to see her having trouble in the future, like, around the time they start laying? She's a sweety so it will be sad to see her go down.

I do have a bunch of roosters crowing loud and clear though which is a good sign.

Lots of CockaDooooodleDOoooooos in the morning and one "RoooooooooWoooooooooow!" Someone hasn't really found their voice yet lol!

One thing I'm having trouble with is *not* watching their every move, waiting for a slight sign, a missed step, a dip of a tail or a weak moment that would betray the next bird to become sick.... It's really sucking the fun out of keeping chickens

I think you're better off not watching for every little sign. It can take the fun out of anything. Especially with Marek's.
I guess you'll have to wait and see what the pullet does in the future. The few I've had with ocular changes also wasted away. Hopefully yours eats well .