Silkie thread!

[Ravynscroft]

this is Monster Feet she is approx 12wks. I hope she is a pullet. I love how mellow and sweet she is

She is very pretty!

x2

And she does look like a pullet!

 

[Sylvester017]

You seem to have been doing a lot of investigating! It's always good when someone joins the group of us that want to stay up to date on Marek's and gets some good info

. You would think Marek's is a worthy research due to it's about a vaccine that prevents cancerous tumors-something humans can benefit from. Did I hear correctly that Marek's research led to developing a vaccine that young girls get to prevent a uterine cancer? Sorry , that turned out to be Marek's vaccine being the first vaccine developed and used in preventing a cancer.

I hear ya when you talk about accuracy. Most vets are not up to date on Marek's. It's a shame that a group of us here on BYC actually know more than the average vet about Marek's. But it's not their speciality. I think the best bet is an animal disease laboratory for a necropsy.

I have learned that if there are no tumors found, labs usually don't send tissue or blood out for dna testing. And things do get confusing when a bird might be exposed or given the vaccine. I think there is a bunch of variables that have to be considered to get an accurate diagnosis. I don't think it's easy. When I sent my chickens for a necropsy, I did write that my flock has Marek's, and this chicken has been exposed.

I'm sure there is some inaccuracy when tumors are not present or not seen.

My first necropsy 6 years ago was a vet that euthanized my silkie roo for me and I gave him permission to open him up. He called me later to say that he thinks the roo died of EEE (equine encephalitis) because he didn't see any tumors.
I don't know why there were no tumors visible. But I am 100% sure that my roo had Marek's. He developed leg paralysis. He developed lack of depth perception (not making contact with the food). He had one eye turn gray. The paralysis crept up his body to the point that he had no control of his head neck and wings, so if you set him down, he would tip forward on to his face and couldn't get up. I sure loved the little bugger.



Edited for clarification

Unfortunately I pick up snippets here and there on a lot of topics but not thoroughly on any one topic where chickens are concerned. I try to avoid detailed breeding, hatching, or rearing chick subjects. My brain is overloaded with topics just on juveniles through old-age hens - I even avoid roo subjects since we can't have them anyway. Yet, for instance, Marek's is a topic that has to be important to your flock because it starts with day-old chick vaccinations. If I'm only getting juveniles the Marek's vaccination at day-old is still a topic I should be versed on - same with all the other vaccinations and diseases that can attack adult birds. Marek's is one of those maladies I'm learning is hard to identify even at necropsy. I read there are like 5 strains of Marek's and 3 different symptoms that can lead a diagnosis astray while the bird is still alive. It's at that point of research that I decided all my future bird orders will be w/ vaccinations. No, it may not always save a bird but I'm willing to do whatever possible if it improves a bird's chances.

A feed store I used occasionally said he didn't order his hatchery chicks with the Marek's vaccination because he never had a case of it yet in a Decade - to me that is asking for danger - especially with the 100's of day-old chicks he orders and eggs he hatches, so I don't shop his store any more. It just takes one customer with the virus on his person to bring it into the store and the day-old chicks will go to several properties in the area and there goes an epidemic. I may be going overboard with that thinking but after the AI cases in the USA this past 8 months and the bird shows and 4H meetings that were cancelled have all made me a bit jumpy. Breeders seem to have started earlier this year to whittle down their flock sizes and many have ceased sales already for the year.

I am so sorry about your little roo with Marek's. It is such a heartbreaking decision to euthanize but I know with our vet he recommends it as his last resort. He's saved our spunky little Black Silkie through a couple CRD bouts when we thought she was at death's door. When he recommended euthanizing a new Ameraucana pullet we purchased from an "all natural herbs and garlic" breeder we listened to him. He was able to save the other bird from the same "natural" breeder but it cost us a bundle. I appreciate a breeder that does their best to go the natural and/or organic route in raising their birds but sometimes medicines/antibiotics/vaccinations SHOULD be used!

 

[seminolewind]

https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/chicken-vaccination-why-is-it-so-important

Bantamfan4life wrote this^ a while back. If you want to see the anti-vaccinist come out in me, read the comments.

100% natural resistance is when a living thing comes in contact with a disease and their body is quick to develop antibodies. A vaccine causes the same natural resistance without having to risk contacting the real thing.

I've heard all the accusations of what terrible conditions that vaccines may cause. I've also heard the one about people getting Multiple Sclerosis from the loose chickens in Key West that may have been exposed to Marek's. I'm sure some people can have a very negative reaction to a vaccine, and possibly death. But for every ailment a vaccine has caused, billions of lives have been saved.

Small pox was a big killer. Sure, we could have waited for natural resistance but that could only be gotten by being exposed to smallpox and surviving. The vaccine was a safe exposure which led to the same resistance. Sometimes there is just no other way to eradicate a deadly disease.

I think we all carry anti-vaccinist thoughts, but sometimes a vaccine is a necessary evil. Silkiecuddles, I'm glad you mentioned the potential awful side effects that vaccines can cause. I have been over loaded with vaccinations since I was 8 years old. My dad was in the Air Force and to go live in some of the countries we did, we had to be vaccinated for everything under the sun. Cholera vaccine made my arm hurt for days. But we went to live in a country where their fresh water was questionable as well as the fertilizer they used on their vegetables. I will always wonder if all those injections caused me to be the nutty chicken lady I am today.

 

[seminolewind]

Quote:
I know exactly how you feel about brain overload. I think mine's gotten even worse with age.

There's only so much room for so much information, LOL. I have to say I know very little about respiratory ailments. I've never had one here.

I never thought I would like silkies. But he was one of 3 I had. He had a very musical crow. I had 2 roos and a hen that lived together with no problems. On top of that, my one little hen only hatched female chicks. I had 3 hatches with her, her daughters, and one of 2 roos. Never hatched a boy. Some things are just strange. I ended up with 9 female silkies total and no boy. My last of the three is 71/2 years old. He needs help sometimes walking the plank up to the coop. When the hen of the original 3 died, I rocked her on my chest for an hour and cried my eyes out. So now I end up with 10 fluffy silkies that are now 14 weeks. They are just too sweet!

 

[Sylvester017]

I know exactly how you feel about brain overload. I think mine's gotten even worse with age.

There's only so much room for so much information, LOL. I have to say I know very little about respiratory ailments. I've never had one here.

I never thought I would like silkies. But he was one of 3 I had. He had a very musical crow. I had 2 roos and a hen that lived together with no problems. On top of that, my one little hen only hatched female chicks. I had 3 hatches with her, her daughters, and one of 2 roos. Never hatched a boy. Some things are just strange. I ended up with 9 female silkies total and no boy. My last of the three is 71/2 years old. He needs help sometimes walking the plank up to the coop. When the hen of the original 3 died, I rocked her on my chest for an hour and cried my eyes out. So now I end up with 10 fluffy silkies that are now 14 weeks. They are just too sweet!

I thought CRD was a really bad thing but compared to Marek's or AI, etc, it is relatively easier to handle and treat the bird. But if you have physical antibiotic resistance or allergies the eggs from a treated bird should never be eaten - I know there are people that can't be treated with antibiotics because of an overload of ingested meats treated with antibiotics over decades. For my flock of 4 birds they are more pets than for utility so I don't hesitate to have them treated.

We came to a crossroads of having to choose between dual purpose egg-laying LF or bantam Silkies because the LF were bullying the bantams. My DH preferred to re-home the LF and chose to keep the SILKIES instead! I thought he'd choose the macho bullies but he fell in love with the 2 little Silkies so now all our flock additions have to be gentle or docile breeds that play "nice" with the Silkies. When our ailing Silkie wheezed horribly from CRD he took turns with me holding her thru the night until we could take her first thing in the morning to the vet! I guess Silkies must be addictive if my DH chose to keep 2 little froo-froo Silkies over the prolific egg-laying LF!

Please thoroughly enjoy your 14 new Silkies since we can't have any more - (zone limit).

 

[silkiecuddles]

 
https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/chicken-vaccination-why-is-it-so-important

Bantamfan4life wrote this^ a while back. If you want to see the anti-vaccinist come out in me, read the comments.

100% natural resistance is when a living thing comes in contact with a disease and their body is quick to develop antibodies.  A vaccine causes the same natural resistance without having to risk contacting the real thing.  

I've heard all the accusations of what terrible conditions that vaccines may cause.  I've also heard the one about people getting Multiple Sclerosis from the loose chickens in Key West that may have been exposed to Marek's.  I'm sure some people can have a very negative reaction to a vaccine, and possibly death.  But for every ailment a vaccine has caused, billions of lives have been saved.

Small pox was a big killer.  Sure, we could have waited for natural resistance but that could only be gotten by being exposed to smallpox and surviving.  The vaccine was a safe exposure which led to the same resistance.  Sometimes there is just no other way to eradicate a deadly disease.  

I think we all carry anti-vaccinist thoughts, but sometimes a vaccine is a necessary evil.  Silkiecuddles, I'm glad you mentioned the potential awful side effects that vaccines can cause.  I have been over loaded with vaccinations since I was 8 years old.  My dad was in the Air Force and to go live in some of the countries we did, we had to be vaccinated for everything under the sun.  Cholera vaccine made my arm hurt for days.  But we went to live in a country where their fresh water was questionable as well as the fertilizer they used on their vegetables.  I will always wonder if all those injections caused me to be the nutty chicken lady I am today.  

Yes, I totally understand what you mean. I guess I've just been lucky or my birds have built up resistance, because I've never had any serious illness in my birds in 5years.

 

[Fancychooklady]

I thought CRD was a really bad thing but compared to Marek's or AI, etc, it is relatively easier to handle and treat the bird.  But if you have physical antibiotic resistance or allergies the eggs from a treated bird should never be eaten - I know there are people that can't be treated with antibiotics because of an overload of ingested meats treated with antibiotics over decades.  For my flock of 4 birds they are more pets than for utility so I don't hesitate to have them treated.

We came to a crossroads of having to choose between dual purpose egg-laying LF or bantam Silkies because the LF were bullying the bantams.  My DH preferred to re-home the LF and chose to keep the SILKIES instead!  I thought he'd choose the macho bullies but he fell in love with the 2 little Silkies so now all our flock additions have to be gentle or docile breeds that play "nice" with the Silkies.  When our ailing Silkie wheezed horribly from CRD he took turns with me holding her thru the night until we could take her first thing in the morning to the vet!  I guess Silkies must be addictive if my DH chose to keep 2 little froo-froo Silkies over the prolific egg-laying LF!  

Please thoroughly enjoy your 14 new Silkies since we can't have any more - (zone limit).

Antibiotics are dangerous when they are in the food chain. I can't see any problem with pet chickens being treated with them but when people are consuming the eggs and selling them to friends and neighbors , there will always be the risk of acquiring things such as VRE or CRE. I have medically acquired VRE and the last time I had pneumonia it nearly killed me before the doctors realized that the vancomycin wasn't working.
Antibiotics have been used extensively in the beef, pork and poultry industries for many years and it seems like the tide is slowly turning. I like the idea of growing my own ' drug and hormone free ' eggs. I think that the majority of people I speak to say that the reason they first started keeping chickens was their desire to know what they are eating.
Silkies are the ' teddy bear ' of the chicken world , once you've cuddled one , you just can't get enough of them.

http://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/2015/04/29/tyson-chicken/

 

[seminolewind]

Fancychooklady. I'm glad the tide is turning especially with chickens. I found out that antibiotic free actually means that the chickens are not kept on preventative antibiotics. But If ill they still can get a course of antibiotics. At times when I've used them, sick chickens don't lay a lot of eggs if any. But when they lay again hubby and I eat them and give chemical free eggs out to others. There are one or two chemicals that we won't eat the eggs either.

 

[earlybirdchirps]

does anyone know what color he will be ? His feathers are white with light black markings

. What were the colors of the silkies parents? I'm wondering go see what possibilities my chicks might turn out to be.

 

[Michelle27]

. What were the colors of the silkies parents? I'm wondering go see what possibilities my chicks might turn out to be.

The gal I got my silkies from hatched them from somebody she ordered eggs from she never did tell she said it was a silver but he's turning into more spots on his feathers an I noticed his tail feathers are light brown spots? Maybe due to the sun I'm new to silkies and I'm learning I thought somebody could tell me more .