Silkie thread!

[Cynthia12]

diatomaceous earth maybe?

I say NO..to DE.

Everyone has their own thing..mine...easy peasy. I go to the pet store, and I buy the mite spray for leg mites. Yep! It works wonders .. I spritz some on the bum, thigh area, back, front, back of neck, under wings, chest, and in front of neck. Easy! Don't have to wait on eating eggs either.

Now..inside of ears? I've never had that problem..never did the spritz inside the ear. Maybe a Q-tip with some on it..might work.

 

[Fancychooklady]

​there was a ton of them so I am sure ! what can I do for it???

Any pyrethrum or permethrin spray will do. Just put your hand over the eyes .

 

[Duck Drover]

Here's what MPC said on the subject when asked , and I have seen similar things on other websites while researching this conundrum. "Q: Some of my chickens will be vaccinated for Marek's Disease, but others are not vaccinated. Can my unvaccinated chickens get Marek's from my chickens who did get vaccinations ?
A: The Marek's Disease vaccination is attenuated, which means, in most cases, it's not even developed using the Marek's virus. Instead, it's developed using a different illness common to turkeys, but which causes the chickens in question to develop immunity to Marek's. This is the same way the small pox vaccine was developed for humans: that vaccine is actually based on cowpox. However, cowpox provided immunity from deadly smallpox.

We know of no reports or studies showing that nonvaccinated birds can be infected with Marek's Disease by exposure to vaccinated birds. Similarly, infants that haven't been vaccinated for Measles, Mumps or Rubella, yet, don't get those illnesses by being exposed to their mother who has had the vaccinations (or even when drinking her milk)."

They don't get the disease from the vaccine, the vaccinated bird is a carrier of the disease because the symptoms are masked when they are exposed to the disease so the fact that they can have the disease without showing symptoms is what makes them so dangerous. Carriers allow the rampant spread of a disease because there are no symptoms to alert people to the fact that the bird is a diseased carrier.

 

[moomoodiddy]

Can I see everyone's breeding pens? I am redoing mine and need ideas, also do most people provide supplemental heat for broodies in the late fall and early winter?

 

[kajira]

Can I see everyone's breeding pens? I am redoing mine and need ideas, also do most people provide supplemental heat for broodies in the late fall and early winter?

Err........ In Texas, we have more heat issues, then cold issues.. so I don't provide any heat.... I do provide ice in the summer for them.

My ducks sleep in dog crates at night, and my birds all sleep in dog kennels - they free-range in designated areas during the daytime.
We have a livestock guardian dog who protects the birds... haven't lost one to a predator since we got her, unless the barn cat counts. We did lose a couple to the barn cats...

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We do have 1 coop my husband made, but it was when we realized that dog kennels worked better, were more secure, easier to move if needed, and could with stand abuse from larger animals like goats/dogs.

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[Sylvester017]

Since you already had a confirmed case and you don't sell birds or let them leave your property for any reason, it makes sense for you to have vaccinated birds. It just means your property is infected and every bird you have is infected so if you were to not able to keep a bird in your isolated yard, it would need to be destroyed rather than sold or given away to infect another flock (or many). Once you vaccinate, you have to quarantine your birds for life and use biosecurity measures to confine all feather dander to keep it from spreading. A simple trip to the feed store after touching your birds could result in spreading the disease to countless other flocks without ever knowing you were the reason for so many deaths.

There are people selling vaccinated birds from infected flocks and those people have contributed to the spread of the disease with countless fatalities as a result if their unethical choices. When you vaccinate you have to quarantine birds for life and you would ethically need to disclose that your property is infected if you were to sell your home. I would personally prefer to lose my own flock than to potentially contribute to the spread of a deadly disease but that is the basis of my morals and not everyone has the same moral standards that I do. Some people are more about protecting their own birds than caring about the wellbeing of other people's birds so that has contributed to the disease being so widespread.

As long as the vaccine is available for purchase, it will continue to wipe out massive numbers of birds due to the symptomatic carrier effect. Not everyone understands how the vaccine is different than most vaccines as it spreads the disease rather than helping control it from spreading.

Anyone wanting a healthy flock and disease-free property would need to take steps to eliminate the disease or have naturally resistant birds rather than using vaccinated birds to allow the disease to spread without symptoms. Stress makes birds more prone to contracting diseases so anytime a bird's regular routine is disrupted it can make that bird more vulnerable to disease on the new property. Changing homes is very stressful for birds so that is why it is so important to keep 2 or more together and to quarantine in a new environment. If you bring in a non-vaccinated bird and it gets sick, the disease is most likely on your property and not the property where the bird originated from if there is no sign of the disease in the original non-vaccinated flock.

We hatch our own birds so they only leave our property with no new birds coming onto our property. Since we have ducks, which are carriers of chicken diseases because they are asymptomatic carriers, it is critical for our birds to show symptoms if any of the chickens were to pick up a chicken disease. I do not want to spread chicken diseases through asymptomatic carrier ducks so I have to know there are no signs of illness rather than masking symptoms that would allow the disease to spread.

Fortunately good care has kept our birds healthy and that has helped them build a natural immunity to disease. If that were to ever change, we would have to eat all our birds as a means of the destruction of our flock and we would have to start over by hatching eggs to make sure the chicks are not vaccinated and we do not bring in disease through asymptomatic carrier birds.

This is a topic I feel strongly about so I tend to speak up as a means of educating new bird owners who may be unaware of the dangers of having vaccinated birds. Most people should not vaccinate because it does more harm than good in the long run but there are people who would not have any success with chickens due to the high level of infection that they are already dealing with on their property.

Hear hear!!!

People don't seem to understand that the vaccines aren't preventing the diseases, especially Mareks. I get the idea of "liking a vaccine" in theory, but in reality, it doesn't stop mareks, or stop it from spreading.

I hatch my own eggs. I keep the chicks seperate until they are healthy after birth, and then we integrate our flocks.

Most people can't have turkey's/chickens together either, due to black head. So far *knock on wood* we haven't had any diseases, but I will always turn down birds that get offered to me, since I have no idea where they came from and don't want to risk exposing my birds/animals to diseases they haven't had.

Natural resistance is also what i'm going for with my flocks. The hardier birds live, and those are the ones I breed if I hatch any of their eggs.

Here's what MPC said on the subject when asked , and I have seen similar things on other websites while researching this conundrum. "Q: Some of my chickens will be vaccinated for Marek's Disease, but others are not vaccinated. Can my unvaccinated chickens get Marek's from my chickens who did get vaccinations ?
A: The Marek's Disease vaccination is attenuated, which means, in most cases, it's not even developed using the Marek's virus. Instead, it's developed using a different illness common to turkeys, but which causes the chickens in question to develop immunity to Marek's. This is the same way the small pox vaccine was developed for humans: that vaccine is actually based on cowpox. However, cowpox provided immunity from deadly smallpox.

We know of no reports or studies showing that nonvaccinated birds can be infected with Marek's Disease by exposure to vaccinated birds. Similarly, infants that haven't been vaccinated for Measles, Mumps or Rubella, yet, don't get those illnesses by being exposed to their mother who has had the vaccinations (or even when drinking her milk)."

Since Marek's seems to be already highly exposed in most USA backyard flocks and outside entities like wild birds, mosquitoes, incoming new chicks/chickens, etc, can spread/expose the virus to an existing flock then I choose to vaccinate my birds to lessen the chances of losing any of my birds to Marek's. I'm zoned for only 5 hens/no roos and I pay good $$$ for private breeders' stock plus costly USPS shipping so I want to give my few birds the best chance at not contracting or possibly lessening the Marek's symptoms. If I had the luxury of getting breeding stock and was zoned to have a livestock property I would probably consider the "natural resistance" method. But I have only 4 birds that cost me a lot of $$$ so I want to keep what little I have as infection-free as possible. But there are other flocks around the neighborhood and I can't expect them to be Marek's-free or my flock to stay pristine/unexposed from nearby backyarders - considering the transfer of Marek's can occur by wild birds, dander in the wind, mosquitos, etc, I shall continue with my Marek's vaccination preference. No offense to those larger breeders that can afford the "natural resistance" method -- vaccination is just what I choose for my own few backyard birds/pets.

 

[codieshell]

Hen or rooster it's 4-5 months old

 

[moomoodiddy]

Hen or rooster it's 4-5 months old

hen

 

[codieshell]

I been thinking it's a rooster for 1-2 months but never seen it crow and it's a lot smaller then my other 2 chicks the same size other 2 chicks are def roosters

 

[Minny]

Is that streamers coming from the back of the crest?? My females crests were alot puffier at 4-5 months.

Also that stance and saddle feathers reminds me of male.

Cheers,
P.s. do u have any other photos of it?? Closeup of head would be great as well and tail. Comb looks big too