NY chicken lover!!!!

[Gramma Chick]

This has me very concerned.
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/updates/tthis-chicken-vaccine-makes-virus-dangerous/

Leaky virus what is the point of that ? definitely needs to be fixed ...

 

[Pharkas]

Hmm, I've heard birdbath heaters work excellent. Maybe not all are created equal? Some better than others?
I plan on making two just like Pharka's above. One for the big coop and one for the bachelor coop/tractor.
I'll be looking into what birdbath heaters work the best instead of getting what I find first now.
My brother just made one but hasn't got the heater yet, I'll have to let him know he might want to research to make sure he gets a good one.

Here is the exact model I have used over the years with no problems. I think I originally purchased it years ago at Agway but they are still selling the exact same model on amazon. This past winter was the longest and coldest I have seen in Upstate NY and this kept the nipples ice free.

http://www.amazon.com/Farm-Innovato...1443030351&sr=8-1&keywords=utility+deicer+250

 

[missmichelle911]

Glad to help you ...We need some specifics of your coop & pics would be great

Thanks . It' a bungalow style coop with 3 attached runs .

hold 6 chickens ...I have 5 now I ended up with 2 roosters out of 6 so I was able to rehome one of the guys . We installed 2 additional perches towards the top of the coop . They preferred them to the two that were on the bottom of the coop. It only has 3 nesting boxes . There is a latched cut out of wood that can be removed. I called the manufacturer as of right now the dont have an add on nesting box yet . But told me i could build one if I wanted or there might be one for purchase in the future .

 

[boskelli1571]

I think we all should be concerned...Even more concerning is the ignorant replies below the article. We are doomed.

I remember reading about this a while back while doing some research, so yes - it is sort of 'old news'. However, it did open my eyes to the potential for problems within the flock. And - yes, sadly the uninformed & ignorant always seem to have an opinion on something they know nothing about. They read it in the paper so it must be true!

That's not to say that my point of view is correct..........altho' it is..

 

[tao chick]

I need advice too.

1. I don't have a fenced run. My chickens ate everything possible in the run I had fenced, so I let them roam the whole property now. Is this still feasible in winter? Would they even want to go out in deep snow?

2. I'm building my nipple watering system, which says 10 nipples is good for 30 chickens. Does that sound right? I'm thinking about this and confusing myself. I should just draw it out and do the research.

3. If your chickens have to be cooped for longer amounts of time, would you increase the ratio of square footage per chicken? I'm really confused about how many chickens I could keep in my coop during winter.

I put four of my 7-week old cockerels in their bachelor pad today. Right now there's 14 chickens in the bigger coop. Its floor space is about 8' x 10'. Surrounding the floor space is shelving, nesting and storage. There is a single roost that is 8' long between the top shelves. Do you recommend another roost?

I did read about Mareks and it is one of the reasons I've been shying away from buying chicks. For now I'll keep a closed flock and hope I can keep my chickens healthy without leaky immunizations.

 

[Beer can]

I remember reading about this a while back while doing some research, so yes - it is sort of 'old news'. However, it did open my eyes to the potential for problems within the flock.

New news to me. Just had my welsummer a few weeks ago come down with mareks like symptoms, brownleghorn last week. Everyone else seems healthy and energetic. Don't know, maybe it was something else. Both of them were vaccinated, along with about a half dozen more. Silkies and all my SandHill stock, NO! And they are all together....I only had the others vaccinated because Meyers offered it pretty cheap, didn't know. If I had to do it again, I wouldn't have.
Maybe everything will be fine, just doesn't seem like my luck ever goes that way....

 

[Pyxis]

New news to me. Just had my welsummer a few weeks ago come down with mareks like symptoms, brownleghorn last week. Everyone else seems healthy and energetic. Don't know, maybe it was something else. Both of them were vaccinated, along with about a half dozen more. Silkies and all my SandHill stock, NO! And they are all together....I only had the others vaccinated because Meyers offered it pretty cheap, didn't know. If I had to do it again, I wouldn't have.
Maybe everything will be fine, just doesn't seem like my luck ever goes that way....

I wouldn't worry too much about it. While it is true that birds vaccinated for Marek's can still contract Marek's and then spread it to unvaccinated birds, that doesn't mean they just give Marek's to your birds from the vaccine itself. They'd have to had come into contact with it and contracted it. The vaccine given to chicks for Marek's is actually made from a disease that affects turkeys, but is similar enough that it gives vaccinated chickens resistance to the symptoms of Marek's. That turkey disease, however, cannot give real Marek's to your other chickens.

So what you have to worry about is a wild bird introducing the disease to your flock. Your unvaccinated birds might be lost to it, but your vaccinated birds will probably be fine. However, they and all the unvaccinated birds that survive the disease would then be carriers and would pass it to any new bird you brought in, and it would stay on your property for years if you culled the flock, unless you had the soil scraped away.

So the real danger is still the same - the birds getting Marek's from outside sources or from any new birds you bring in.The vaccine itself won't cause any danger. The problem lies in that since it doesn't really prevent Marek's, the disease has still been able to spread and become very virulent without birds dying because of it, which of course is disastrous for any birds that get it that don't have the vaccine.

 

[PhoredaBurds]

My understanding of Mereks is that it's everywhere. You can burn ur coop down and it would still be there. Fortunately most back yard chickens raised in this country for generations are at least semi-immune to it. I vaccine bc I have a couple lines that have only been in this country for a few generations so have not had time to develop immunity. GFF vaccinates all their chicks perhaps bc most of their breeding stock are direct imports, not yet immune to the strains of Mereks here. Breeding for immunity (letting the weaker more susceptible birds die off & only breeding what survives) is a nice idea for the long term. But in the short term, if i lose all my birds, there's nothing left to breed.

If vaccinated birds come down w symptoms as adults, I might suspect a different illness as there are a couple with similar symptoms. I think tho the only true diagnosis of Mereks is necropsy.

I had wondered tho about the implications of using a vaccine which merely prevents symptoms rather than prevent contraction of the illness. Excellent article. Viruses are scarey and vaccines certainly have their shortcomings. I personally would not get the flu shot if it was not required by my employer. And I sometimes wonder what the connection between development/use of human flu shot and the current situation with avian influenza. It's all a very slippery slope.

 

[Gramma Chick]

Just had my welsummer a few weeks ago come down with mareks like symptoms, brownleghorn last week.

How old were these chickens ? Are they still on grower / starter / finisher ?
chickens with a vitamin deficiency can get mareks like symptoms
From my chicken medicine file -
"Some had issues with healthy chickens all of a sudden having leg problems described this way:
"signs of paralysis. Their curled toes put them off balance and they would rock back on their hocks. In advanced stages, their legs would scoot out behind them and they would scoot about pathetically on their breasts"....
After consulting my Merk Vetrinary Manual, I determined that it was curly toe syndrome caused by a riboflavin deficiency. Grabbing some beef liver from the freezer, I fed it to the chicks and the problem stopped immediately. Even the paralyzed chicks began walking again. Since putting brewers yeast in the ration, we haven't had the problem."
I'm wondering if this could possibly be what's going on? Interesting that it was beef liver that revived them!"

 

[Gramma Chick]

Hope for the honey bee ?

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/updates/mushroom-save-honeybee/