Washingtonians Come Together! Washington Peeps

[Chickielady]

I love being a parent.. But being up at 5AM to hide eggs on Sunday is for the birds...


Happy Easter!

That is the part of parenting that is not only precious, and fleeting, but awesome at Christmas too.....I loved that part of parenting.
It was the poop and dirty diapers and ok we'll drop it right there.............

 

[Chickielady]

Yes chickielady, it is Marek's. My birds were sent to the lab and confirmed to have Marek's. The hens are fine since it mainly affects only young birds. I'd already moved both my hatches from last fall out in the barn before I knew what hit them. I'm going to lose almost all my pullets from both hatches, in addition to one cockerel (so far).

Did they tell you about how it can continue to be "shed" to younger birds, from those that survived ?
Have you ever vaccinated ?
Last time I saw anyone sending a bird to the Avian Health Lab that had Marek's, the "team" came out & confiscated ALL of the birds, and after that, premises were sterilized.
What lab did you send this necropsy to ?
And I guess they do not care about infected flocks anymore ?????

 

[Chickielady]

Yes chickielady, it is Marek's. My birds were sent to the lab and confirmed to have Marek's. The hens are fine since it mainly affects only young birds. I'd already moved both my hatches from last fall out in the barn before I knew what hit them. I'm going to lose almost all my pullets from both hatches, in addition to one cockerel (so far).

Just to let you know, I have quite a few vials of Marek's innoculent & needles, should you decide to vaccinate. let me know.
The bad part is birds exposed, can shed the virus to any new birds, so forever you'll have this pop up, from your survivors, so very sad, and yet another reason to add sufficient chlorine to your water, another way the virus spreads.

 

[Chickielady]

probly woulda been cheaper to simply put u p two fences deer cant jump double fence they get stuck in the middle

Then what do you do with stuck deer struggling between fences ?

 

[Chickielady]

This pasted on the right headlight when we got home today>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

 

[ochochicas]

Quote: The birds went to the state lab. There is no doubt they died from Marek's. I'm not sure where all the second guessing is coming from. I am pretty sure all my pullets hatched last year are going to die in addition to the pullets I sold to a friend. Fortunately all of her other birds are much older (3+ years) so their chances of becoming sick are pretty low.

Marek's is everywhere and can be spread by wild birds in addition to being found on the ground, in coops, etc. It is not 100% fatal, and there is a vaccine that can prevent most deaths, so it is not a reason to confiscate or cull all the birds. There is also no way to "sterilize" the farm or the house.

Washington is a breeding ground for Marek's due to the climate here. The problem is that a lot of people, and even those on this forum, have Marek's birds and will trade birds with people and not inform them. That is how I got a Marek's bird. The guy confessed to me 8 months later that he had had two pullets die from Marek's a month before I got my bird from him. By that time my entire farm was infected and I already had three dead birds.

Now it is just something I have to deal with and move forward. My barn, coop and breeding operation have become a mini-laboratory where I am experimenting with different vaccine protocols and exposure/isolation procedures. I will not be bringing in any more young or adult birds. Anything that comes to the farm will be chicks and they will all be vaccinated at least one time for Marek's. Of course I do not have a large enough number of birds to have a full blown scientific study. However, I do plan to summarize my findings, hopefully by the end of the year. Meanwhile, I'm getting pretty good at culling my babies. It was never something I had wanted to learn to do, unfortunately.

 

[Silseb]

This pasted on the right headlight when we got home today>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Allens or Rufous Hummingbird?

 

[Silseb]

The birds went to the state lab.  There is no doubt they died from Marek's.  I'm not sure where all the second guessing is coming from.  I am pretty sure all my pullets hatched last year are going to die in addition to the pullets I sold to a friend.  Fortunately all of her other birds are much older (3+ years) so their chances of becoming sick are pretty low.

Marek's is everywhere and can be spread by wild birds in addition to being found on the ground, in coops, etc.  It is not 100% fatal, and there is a vaccine that can prevent most deaths, so it is not a reason to confiscate or cull all the birds.  There is also no way to "sterilize" the farm or the house.  

Washington is a breeding ground for Marek's due to the climate here.  The problem is that a lot of people, and even those on this forum, have Marek's birds and will trade birds with people and not inform them.  That is how I got a Marek's bird.  The guy confessed to me 8 months later that he had had two pullets die from Marek's a month before I got my bird from him.  By that time my entire farm was infected and I already had three dead birds.  

Now it is just something I have to deal with and move forward.  My barn, coop and breeding operation have become a mini-laboratory where I am experimenting with different vaccine protocols and exposure/isolation procedures.  I will not be bringing in any more young or adult birds.  Anything that comes to the farm will be chicks and they will all be vaccinated at least one time for Marek's.  Of course I do not have a large enough number of birds to have a full blown scientific study.  However, I do plan to summarize my findings, hopefully by the end of the year.  Meanwhile, I'm getting pretty good at culling my babies.  It was never something I had wanted to learn to do, unfortunately.  

yeah it is everywhere so best just assume you have been exposed to it. We started vaccinating a few years ago and have not lost any to it since! Success!

 

[Chickielady]

The birds went to the state lab. There is no doubt they died from Marek's. I'm not sure where all the second guessing is coming from. I am pretty sure all my pullets hatched last year are going to die in addition to the pullets I sold to a friend. Fortunately all of her other birds are much older (3+ years) so their chances of becoming sick are pretty low.

Marek's is everywhere and can be spread by wild birds in addition to being found on the ground, in coops, etc. It is not 100% fatal, and there is a vaccine that can prevent most deaths, so it is not a reason to confiscate or cull all the birds. There is also no way to "sterilize" the farm or the house.

Washington is a breeding ground for Marek's due to the climate here. The problem is that a lot of people, and even those on this forum, have Marek's birds and will trade birds with people and not inform them. That is how I got a Marek's bird. The guy confessed to me 8 months later that he had had two pullets die from Marek's a month before I got my bird from him. By that time my entire farm was infected and I already had three dead birds.

Now it is just something I have to deal with and move forward. My barn, coop and breeding operation have become a mini-laboratory where I am experimenting with different vaccine protocols and exposure/isolation procedures. I will not be bringing in any more young or adult birds. Anything that comes to the farm will be chicks and they will all be vaccinated at least one time for Marek's. Of course I do not have a large enough number of birds to have a full blown scientific study. However, I do plan to summarize my findings, hopefully by the end of the year. Meanwhile, I'm getting pretty good at culling my babies. It was never something I had wanted to learn to do, unfortunately.

So sad !

 

[Chickielady]

Allens or Rufous Hummingbird?

I think it is a juvenile male ruby throat, at certain angles, his throat feathers shine like ruby red lights.