Hey I never raised or had turkeys before is there anything I should know before they come?
I have baby turkeys coming
- Thread starter CherishedFowlGuardian
- Start date
chrismahon
Well-known member
I haven't either for a reason. They are very cute indeed, so if rearing for the table it probably won't happen. Read plenty of reports where people bought chicks for Christmas dinner and then couldn't despatch them. They ended up as pets, as I'm sure ours would.
I getting them to prevent marek disease not for eating!
I don’t thimble family would ever think about it.
chrismahon
Well-known member
I don't understand how or why getting them prevents Marek's and in who?
I remember going way back to when we had our first chickens and in a panic called the vet because I thought we had an outbreak of 'blackhead', which turned out to be cherry juice and soil on the combs and wattles. But I also remember that Turkeys carry the virus and so must be kept well away from chickens as it is fatal to them.
I remember going way back to when we had our first chickens and in a panic called the vet because I thought we had an outbreak of 'blackhead', which turned out to be cherry juice and soil on the combs and wattles. But I also remember that Turkeys carry the virus and so must be kept well away from chickens as it is fatal to them.
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What diseases are you talking about?
I will do some research.
The Marek’s disease vaccine is made using a safe, weakened virus that can train a chicken’s immune system without making it sick. Scientists usually use a related virus (often from turkeys) or a weakened form of the Marek’s virus. They grow this virus in clean laboratory conditions using special cells, where it multiplies but stays harmless.
After enough of the virus is grown, it is carefully purified and mixed with protective ingredients so it stays stable and safe. This finished product becomes the vaccine for Marek’s disease. When chicks get the vaccine, their bodies learn to recognize the virus and fight it off later, helping prevent serious illness.
This is what I found out with multiple sources if you need, but that’s also why people recommend raising turkeys and chicks together.
I definitely want to know what disease I could kill the chickens so I was like to know, but I also know that lots of people have raised chickens and turkeys together without having issues.
chrismahon
Well-known member
Quick look at Wikipedia says that it's the other way round, so Turkeys are more susceptible to 'Blackhead' than chickens and can catch it from being in an area that chickens have grazed. Sorry, my mistake.
Mareks is an unknown quantity to me, having no experience of it other than reading of people having it diagnosed by their vet. We have a chicken with Marek eyes, so pupils shrunk and irregular. They went like that after going broody repeatedly, otherwise she is fine. Now if she subsequently became ill and I took her to the vet, would they say Mareks?
Mareks is an unknown quantity to me, having no experience of it other than reading of people having it diagnosed by their vet. We have a chicken with Marek eyes, so pupils shrunk and irregular. They went like that after going broody repeatedly, otherwise she is fine. Now if she subsequently became ill and I took her to the vet, would they say Mareks?
Im unsure if the vet would say so.
I think the only way to tell if she get tested or passed away and you open the chicken and found tumors but that if she had tumors.
Ok thanks I will definitely look into blackhead and make sure my birds are safe.
