Washingtonians Come Together! Washington Peeps

[Hinotori]

Mareks is everywhere. If you have air on your property, it's there. Some breeds are highly vulnerable to it (ex. Silkies) and others are fairly resistant.

So the birds I have that are from a hatchery are they vaccinated ?

Not unless you ordered them from the hatchery and paid the extra for vaccination.

I don't stress on the hatchery layers I get. I did loose two of the buckeyes to it last year.

 

[Babybockbock]

Is this a roo? 4 weeks old the other pic (more fethered ) is 5 weeks old both are black english orphingtons.

http://m.imgur.com/8DiRnqE,i2cJL1I

 

[Duck Drover]

So far I just have the 2......so far...............

My little buggers will stand in the rain all winter but on a beautiful day like today there are far too many hens hanging out in the coop. I know my daughter is leaving eggs in the coop for them so now they all want to be broody together. It is a broody bunch!

 

[Duck Drover]

Thanks for the great information! Do you think most people vaccinate?

I don't vaccinate and I am careful not to get birds that are vaccinated or from vaccinated flocks. I understand people vaccinating their own closed flock but if any of those birds were to leave a vaccinated flock they have to be presumed diseased because they are asymptomatic and will therefore infect other flocks without ever showing symptoms. I need to know my birds are disease free and not carriers. The best way to start an epidemic is to transfer exposed asymptomatic birds into as many flocks as possible.

My daughter used to play a game where the goal was to infect the entire planet with a lethal virus. If carriers show symptoms it is possible to track the spread of the disease and stop it from spreading further but without symptoms the virus will spread uncontrolled until it wipes out everyone on the planet.

I have heard that the vaccine will cause vaccinated birds to shed the virus in feather dander without ever showing symptoms in quarantine. This is part of the reason I will not go to poultry shows, it is not worth the risk for me. My flock is free of disease but if a bird were to get infected by wild birds, etc. then I would want to know and prevent it from infecting other birds.

There are many forms of the virus and not all are fatal but I would rather quarantine and cull a sick bird than to infect healthy birds. I was advised to breed for resistance to disease so that is what I do. If my birds ever got sick I might have losses but at least I would not be causing losses in other people's flocks.

I am not judging people for their choices, it is just a good idea to know the long term consequences before making a choice that carries consequences for others. If people ask me if I vaccinate our chickens, I worry that they could expose my birds to vaccinated carriers and I would rather they not even step foot on my property because they could be carriers themselves by transporting dander on their shoes or clothing. I would prefer to lose business than to lose our birds.

That being said, ducks can be carriers of chicken diseases because they are asymptomatic as well. If ducks have been around vaccinated chickens, I don't want to risk bringing them on my property either. Fortunately our best means of biosecurity is hatching our own eggs to replenish our flock over time so I don't need to take unnecessary risks. If my ducks were carrying any chicken diseases, my flock would be symptomatic so at least I could take appropriate measures to isolate and cull infected birds.

With natural immunity my birds can be exposed to risk factors but their immune system would keep them healthy without spreading any diseases. They pass this immunity on to their offspring through their genetics so hopefully that will keep them healthy for many generations.

 

[Duck Drover]

This is the time of year for broody mamas to hatch babies. We originally got Silkies to use as natural incubators for our duck eggs but we incubate most of our duck eggs and our Silkie eggs in our Little Giant incubators. Even so, we have over half a dozen ducks sitting on nests.

I noticed a Call duck was sitting on more eggs than she could fit under her so I had my daughter pull the eggs to candle them. It turns out my Easter Eggers have been laying in the duck nest box so that explains the lack of chicken eggs I had been expecting from them after we moved them in with the Call ducks. I had thought they stopped laying due to stress, just when I was ready to start hatching. The Easter Egger eggs went into the incubator so now the Call hen can cover her eggs again (plus a few from another Call hen my daughter slipped under her). We are going to have daily hatches now and we won't have due dates for them so we have to candle frequently to check development.

I am not sure how I am going to keep up with babies since my surgery was postponed but my daughter is taking the lead this year so that is good for her now that she is nearly sixteen. I hope I taught her well.

 

[pennyJo1960]

@ Duck Drover
so when are they going to do the surgery now ??????

 

[junebuggena]

We have to stop talking broody. I now have a Black Australorp broody hen. We are jinxing each other.

I've got an Australorp flittering with going broody, too. She's been on the nest at roosting time 2 nights in a row now. If she's still on tonight, she's getting some eggs to hatch.

 

[ForrestGump]

Is Marek's one of the things they test for during NPIP testing? Can you still be NPIP if you vaccinate?

 

[CarolynF]

Is Marek's one of the things they test for during NPIP testing? Can you still be NPIP if you vaccinate?

@Chickielady is NPIP and she vaccinates for Mareks.

 

[Leigti]

I've got an Australorp flittering with going broody, too. She's been on the nest at roosting time 2 nights in a row now. If she's still on tonight, she's getting some eggs to hatch.

I think mine changed her mind. I don't have any roosters so no fertile eggs. I might be able to get one or two from the neighbor but I really don't want to mess with it. So I'm going to go read the "broody hen thread".