Moving Forward- Breeding for Resistance to Marek's Disease

[ackie]

I havent read the thread but this first post is big thumbs up!

 

[microchick]

Out of curiosity, do you have pictures of your fayoumi mixes? I’d love to see them.

That's like asking a new grand parent if they have any pictures of the new grand baby, LOL!

I couldn't get them to stop preening those pesky pin feathers and look up at the same time. The three standing are all cockerels Fayoumi crossed with Amish barnyard mixes. The far right cockerel stayed pretty light colored with some beige saddle feathers. The little pullet sitting with them is their little sister who is a Silver Duck Wing OEGB.

This is Trouble at 4 months. I have an 'adult' picture of him somewhere but for the life of me I can't find it. He is bigger than his sire, has beautiful brown penciled breast feathers and brown highlights with a black tail. I've noticed recently that he has challenged Tut and appears to have overthrown him as flock master. He is a very sweet natured rooster but his game bird gene makes him a little more scrappy than the Fayoumi rooster is. I may have to pull him from the flock come spring so Tut can have his way with the ladies.

This guy just challenged one of the other roosters and lost some neck feathers. Once again an Amish barnyard/BBR/Fayoumi cross. I think he was sired by one of the Amish birds I have that has a Cochin gene in him as all of his offspring all have the same shaped comb.

I'll try to find the pic of Trouble and if I can't I'll get a new one.

 

[RoostersAreAwesome]

That's like asking a new grand parent if they have any pictures of the new grand baby, LOL!


View attachment 2527697
I couldn't get them to stop preening those pesky pin feathers and look up at the same time. The three standing are all cockerels Fayoumi crossed with Amish barnyard mixes. The far right cockerel stayed pretty light colored with some beige saddle feathers. The little pullet sitting with them is their little sister who is a Silver Duck Wing OEGB.


View attachment 2527702
This is Trouble at 4 months. I have an 'adult' picture of him somewhere but for the life of me I can't find it. He is bigger than his sire, has beautiful brown penciled breast feathers and brown highlights with a black tail. I've noticed recently that he has challenged Tut and appears to have overthrown him as flock master. He is a very sweet natured rooster but his game bird gene makes him a little more scrappy than the Fayoumi rooster is. I may have to pull him from the flock come spring so Tut can have his way with the ladies.
View attachment 2527703
This guy just challenged one of the other roosters and lost some neck feathers. Once again an Amish barnyard/BBR/Fayoumi cross. I think he was sired by one of the Amish birds I have that has a Cochin gene in him as all of his offspring all have the same shaped comb.

I'll try to find the pic of Trouble and if I can't I'll get a new one.

Wow! That color is rarely mixed, they’re beautiful.

 

[ackie]

if a mareks resistant bird is exposed to mareks, do they become a carrier like they would if theyd had the vaccine?

 

[McKeownkd]

Hi Katie,

Sorry your poor birds and you have had to deal with this terrible disease. We have Mareks in our flock too. I'm definitely not an expert, but I don't think the vaccine will be effective on your day-old chicks if they are in any way exposed to virus shed by the dander of your broody hen or any of the other birds in your flock.

We got vaccinated chicks eight months ago and kept them in a brooder for several months far away from our flock. I think though you'd be ok keeping your birds separated for a few days to a week, but that would mean going the brooder route again.

Thanks feather13. I've ordered my baby chicks and we're prepared to do the brooder again and keep them separated for the first few weeks of life until their vaccination takes effect. Unfortunately in the last 2 weeks we had our 2nd Marek's fatality. The little girl who's in my profile picture. She hadn't even started laying yet. It started with limping and then curly toe paralysis. I was treating her for a Vitamin B deficiency but when the wasting weight loss started happening I brought her to the vet immediately where an x ray showed lots of bad things going on inside. I sent her out for a necropsy to know for sure, but it's presumptive Marek's.
I'm quite upset at having this happen in my first year of owning chickens. I know people who have had them for much longer and have never had a Marek's outbreak. I don't go to shows or visit other people's chicken coops, and no one who owns chickens comes to mine. There are other people in my neighborhood who have chickens, and if I understand correctly it can travel through dander on the wind for many miles. I'm sure I'll never know for sure how it got here but I'm hoping that in the future my losses will not be so high. I'm not sure I can stand losing 2-3 chickens a year to this.

 

[McKeownkd]

I only use it once or twice if a bird is likely to be stressed, like after a predator attack or if one got sick and had to be separated for a while. The drug blocks the enzyme that the herpes virus uses to spread between cells so using it before symptoms appear or at the first sign of symptoms is important to stop it from progressing.

I haven't had a bird get sick from Mareks since I got the valtrex , though if I had known about it when I did have birds going down from mareks I would have given them a small dose every day. Like most drugs there is a risk of liver problems etc...but Mareks is far worse so it is a minimal risk IMO.

Though I think the main reason I haven't had any sick birds is because I stopped integrating adolescents into the flock. Now I only buy chicks when a broody is ready to raise babies, they grow up with the flock and avoid all the integration stress.

Hi Sonya9,
I'm sorry if I missed this in any earlier post. Do you bring in vaccinated baby chicks or unvaccinated? Either way, are they not then exposed to the Mareks virus before they have any resistance to fight off? Do you lose any of the baby chicks? Thanks for your help.
Katie

 

[feather13]

Thanks feather13. I've ordered my baby chicks and we're prepared to do the brooder again and keep them separated for the first few weeks of life until their vaccination takes effect. Unfortunately in the last 2 weeks we had our 2nd Marek's fatality. The little girl who's in my profile picture.

Yes, this disease is virulent, painful for the chickens, and heartbreaking. I'm so sorry you lost your beautiful hen.

We waited three years before we ordered new chicks this summer. What we did is wear "coop clothes" to care for our chickens and then change into "house clothes" and wash our hands very, very carefully. We kept them indoors like you're planning to do, far away from the Mareks-exposed birds.

There are others on this thread who know much more than I do about Mareks and I'm sure they'll also chime in. We've had this virus in our flock for 5+ years and it's devastating.

On a brighter note: What kinds of chicks did you order? Hope you'll post photos of them!

 

[McKeownkd]

Yes, this disease is virulent, painful for the chickens, and heartbreaking. I'm so sorry you lost your beautiful hen.

We waited three years before we ordered new chicks this summer. What we did is wear "coop clothes" to care for our chickens and then change into "house clothes" and wash our hands very, very carefully. We kept them indoors like you're planning to do, far away from the Mareks-exposed birds.

There are others on this thread who know much more than I do about Mareks and I'm sure they'll also chime in. We've had this virus in our flock for 5+ years and it's devastating.

On a brighter note: What kinds of chicks did you order? Hope you'll post photos of them!

I bought some Oxine. And I'm going to be completely cleaning the areas that my 2 sick birds were in because I had brought them into the garage. Hopefully that decreases the likelihood of exposure for the babies. I'll be doing the "chicken clothes and shoes" as well and will only interact with outdoor flock after I've taken care of the babies for the day. I hope it's enough.
I'm very excited about our new babies! This is our first experience getting chicks through the mail so I'm nervous about that. We're getting them through My Pet Chicken which I've heard great things about. They will all be vaccinated since I'm not breeding any of my own chickens at this point. We're getting a Black Copper Maran, Buff Orpington, Speckled Sussex, Cream Legbar, and a Black Sumatra (for the Hubs who wanted an all black badass chicken). We also have a Carolina Coop coming in March which I think will keep our girls healthier overall. Trying to stay positive! I'll definitely post photos when they get here.

 

[feather13]

What a beautiful mixed flock you've ordered! We have a seven year old (I think) Buff Orpington who has survived Mareks so far and had a Speckled Sussex in the past (who was killed by a stray husky). Wishing you lots of luck! As you know, the vaccine isn't 100% effective, but it will give your chicks a fighting chance. There's lots of debate on here about whether to vaccinate or not. Knock on wood, our vaccinated pullets are now 9 months old and so far, so good (although one did coccidiosis despite being vaccinated).

 

[ackie]

are you talking about the mareks vaccine or coccidosis or both?