The Evolution of Atlas: A Breeding (and Chat) Thread

[getaclue]

I hope Druscilla gets better soon.

 

[h2oratt]

That's exactly what I do. I add new birds every year, either by hatching or hatchery. I haven't found Mareks to be a rampaging problem for me, just a nuance. In general my birds don't experience much stress which can cause Mareks to become active. That's my theory why I don't see more cases than one every year or two.

I personally consider Mareks is everywhere. It just depends on the resistance that birds have and a good immunity system. I don't vaccinate, I prefer to cull any sick birds, and do what I can to keep my flock healthy and as stress free as I can.

Hi,
I agree with you. You can’t quarantine for it. I see people buying birds from all over, swaps, auctions, Craigslist. I bet most people don’t even take them to find out what they have. Just euthanize at first sign of weakness.

 

[speckledhen]

Hi,
I agree with you. You can’t quarantine for it. I see people buying birds from all over, swaps, auctions, Craigslist. I bet most people don’t even take them to find out what they have. Just euthanize at first sign of weakness.

I saw somewhere that when you buy birds, you quarantine them for 12 weeks to see if they are Marek's carriers, but I don't know where that information came from or how it would even work. If they don't suddenly go down in their legs, you still don't know, right? You are 100% right about folks not investigating at all. One person I can think of on BYC claims never a sick bird in decades....well, that member is one who takes an axe to a bird if it shows a weakness, so the claim is bogus to the max. And of course, this member has a legion of minions/followers. I had to make a video about the gurus, it bugged me so much. Sorry, chickens become ill, contagious or not, but you cannot help it. They are animals and they have internal weaknesses you can't see, encounter germs you can't see. Anyone claiming that is a liar (or completely oblivious)
I had one hen who became lame and it progressively got worse, however, she always had a habit of flying off the roost and right into an opposite wall. I saw her do it more than once and I believe she hurt herself badly the last time she did it, possibly fracturing something. She wasn't technically paralyzed. We eventually euthanized her when she got too bad and completely lost the ability to walk over time. It was obvious she was not going to live in the end anyway. It's not like Amanda, who lost one leg's mobility over a several year period from arthritis, yet seems bossy and still lays eggs. Amanda was probably 8 years old when she finally lost that one leg entirely, not 2 years old like the other injured hen. And no other birds ever were like that one girl. I think she was two years old at the time.
People must assess the situation, not jump to conclusions, to worst case scenarios all the time. It's awful to know there is Marek's in the flock, no doubt. It's also awful to think there is and there really is not, which happens all the time when folks here ask for help in emergencies with lame birds and the first answer is "Marek's Disease". That always drove me crazy!

 

[getaclue]

Dh bugged me all summer to throw out my dead plant. I told him it was just fine, to leave it alone. He enlisted the help of his cohort, one of our neighbors, and they both insisted it was dead, and bugged me to throw it out. Here's my dead plant. What do you think?

 

[speckledhen]

Yeah, looks like a zombie-plant to me, Cheryl!

 

[speckledhen]

For your chicken health arsenal, I'd suggest the stuff pictured below. My Snow had an eye irritation, most likely from the dust she throws around when she flaps crazily while trying to gain control of her legs. If you recall, she's crippled from arthritis like Amanda. Her eye was running, gooey and irritated, shavings were sticking to it and getting under the lid, even. Though I felt it was just an irritation, not an infection, I tried Terramycin eye ointment, as well as Visine drops to rinse it out, to little avail. So, knowing how good Vetericyn Wound Spray worked on Bailey's scalped head, I searched for a good price on the eye wash version of it that was okay for birds. I found this bottle for $16 (which, as you know, is cheaper than terramycin ointment, generally). In two days, her eye was better, clear and not watery any longer. Not sure you remember my late Blue Orp, Dusty, who had a very irritated eye from her semi-detached comb flopping into that eye. She eventually lost sight in it, couldn't get it fixed for long on her. I bet this would have helped her tremendously.

 

[h2oratt]

I love vetericyn. The vf formula is the double strength so I always buy it. Very good stuff. I use it in my dogs and chickens.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

and it's got a long time to go yet. If you never hear from me again, I am buried under the snow.

 

[speckledhen]

And I just completed the quilting on the current project, ready to start a twin I was commissioned to do, bind another twin I already quilted and find what I want to use for binding on this one.

 

[speckledhen]

and it's got a long time to go yet. If you never hear from me again, I am buried under the snow.

I saw you had a severe winter storm warning, Lisa. Be careful out there! Your temps are awful, too. Brrrr!