The Old Folks Home

[Hangtown Farms]

Congratulations to Bunnylady and Chickadoodles!

It must be badge day here....

nice Ron

get your best oo and ahh voices ready



our first turkeys!! A bronze and black. We have six poults doing well



our first pekin ducklings





Motza the water buffalo





pigs 1-3







A few chicks







finally we have australorps

I want a water buffalo

 

[Pozees]

Tara, we are on the same page, but you have all the references Thank you for posting.

 

[chickisoup]

Quote: and a single prayer

 

[chickisoup]

 

[CanuckBock]

Tara, we are on the same page, but you have all the references Thank you for posting.

No worries and you are most welcome. I tend to be anal (aka ample golden butt)...I use "scientific method" to support my conclusions...it is tedious but unless we have the "references" to fall back on...the conclusion has no solid foundation to support it and no where to continue progressing forward from.

All these oldtimers have something to contribute right now, today. If we lose them and forget what they said...we go back to wasting resources having to "re-inventing the same ol' wheel." I want us to stand on the shoulders of all those that came before us; so we can reach for the stars...yes, starlight chickens...can you envision it...hee hee...I know, it sounds corny but chickens figure corn is the BEST candy ever!

Glad to help.

Tara

 

[ozexpat]

Coryza is endemic in my area. I can not vaccinate and lose 25% of my birds or vaccinate and not lose any. The final product is a bird exposed to coryza that is immune. I would rather control exposure with a dose of attenuated virus than watch them die "getting stronger"

I also vaccinate for Newcastle Disease. Now its a vaccination that has to be given often but I cant afford to be wiped out. My birds were very hard to come by.

There are some breeds that are more resistant to Mareks but not many and not the breeds I want. If breeding to resistance was effective then all birds would be resistant - the bugs have been around a long time and resistance would have occurred in all the heritage breeds by now. The vaccines that are "causing" all these weak birds are a lot more recent. I would love to see data on effective breeding for resistance.

I vaccinate myself and my kids. I vaccinate all my animals as well.

Its a bit like all the recent talk on shingles - you can get a vaccination or risk the agony of a normally non-life threatening ilness. We humans did not developed resistance to mumps measles or chicken pox in multiple milenia, but we save lives with vaccines

 

[getaclue]

oz, I am far from being an expert, so take this for what it's worth. In regards to raising any type of animal, you must do what is necessary, which is dictated by location, climate, prevalent biohazards, altitude, etc. Years ago, when my dad's company sent him to Puerto Rico, we took our poodles. One got very sick, and the local veterinarian couldn't figure out what was wrong. It eventually died. A couple months later, when we were at the airport, there was a person next to us in the waiting area. He an my parents exchanged a few pleasantries, and he mentioned he was a veterinarian for the military and was stationed at one of the local bases. My mother mentioned the incident with the dog. The veterinarian explained that many years ago the rats on the island carried a disease that affected dogs, and rabbits, but the local animals had long since developed an immunity which was passed on through heredity. There was a vaccine for it, but the local veterinarian had probably never encountered the need for it, since he dealt with local animals that had been totally immune for many years.

Do what you've got to do in your own situation to keep your animals healthy!

 

[ozexpat]

Please understand that I am offering a different perspective when it comes to vaccines not arguing. Obviously each to their own.

I understand resistance and resilliance to diseases that are endemic. History will show us how effective white man was in killing off the locals (sometimes even accidently) with diseases they carried simply because of no historic exposure to the diseases.Newer viruses like current swine and avian flu still ravaging the aboriginal populations of Canada and Australia at rates far more significantly to those less isolated for thousands of years.

I have local chickens as well as my imported batch. They are much more hardy. One of my projects is to cross them with a variety of intoduced dual purpose breeds so that I get local resistance and vitality in a "better" chicken. I dont have thousands of years to build resistance so cross breeding will go a long way.

Some vaccines are a pain to use - Mareks is an all or nothing vaccine - once mixed it hased to be used in an hour. its also 20 bucks a vial - for a thousand doses. I open the freeze dried disc vial using a small sterile field and then cut the disc in four. I then reconsitute one disc at a time.At five bucks its affordable and allows me to do more hatches.

I practice biosecurity but I also have wild birds. NCD can get on the farm pretty easily so mixing some vaccine into the water of the birds is no big deal.

Coryza vaccine is given at eight weeks and eleven weeks. They also get an examination for lice and any other visable issues at that time. Coryza is a multi dose vial that can be stored

 

[getaclue]

oz, I am in total agreement with you, as you can tell from my previous post.

 

[chickadoodles]

Thanks, even though mine isn't new. I think I overlooked one, though - ChickenCanoe, isn't that "Spirit" award new? Well deserved; congrats!

Praying for good news on your tests.

Congrats ChickenCanoe on your new badge!