Gotalotofpetstoo
Songster
Since our journey with Ethel, we have gained a whole new appreciation and perspective for chickens. Many of you followed my posts about Ethel and know that she is now gone as of a few weeks ago. She taught us so much about chickens and now the chickens that live here will live their lives being well cared for as pets, not just egg machines. Have a total of 21 chickens at the moment, 4 of them are older, close to probably 7 years old and are 3 golden comets and 1 Americana. 5 are light brahmas about 7 months old, and 3 are 7 month old Americanas. All of the above are free range during the day and locked in their new coop at night. They are all hens. The other nine are bantams so they do not get to free range mainly due to hawks and their small size. My question in this post is this: we want to add a black rooster to the free range flock. Because we learned that we had Marek's in some of our chickens and now on our property, we would only want to get a rooster from a hatchery that has been vaccinated for Marek's. The 7 month old light brahmas came from McMurray and the 3 Americanas came from another hatchery and were all vaccinated. We got them at 12 weeks old, not directly from the hatcheries. McMurray is the only hatchery that I really know of out of the many out there. We don't really want or need six or more chickens but from what I've seen that is usually the minimum order. I'm looking for suggestions on a reputable hatchery and also a good breed that comes in black that we can add to our free range flock. We are not looking to raise any babies as we collect eggs every day, we just want the rooster as an added level of protection for the free range girls. I was thinking a Jersey giant, but would he be too big and hurt our girls when he breeds them, which I know he's going to do.
Since Ethel came into our life and she had Marek's, I've done a lot of reading on that subject, and I've read a lot of people saying that once you have it, you should not bring new birds onto your property for at least 2 to 3 years after your last chicken is gone, but if I get one or six that are vaccinated, is it safe to bring it on the property? Please be kind with your replies, I'm still learning and trying to do the best by the chickens that are here.
@Allsfairinloveandbugs
@mrskenmore
@Wyorp Rock
@azygous
Since Ethel came into our life and she had Marek's, I've done a lot of reading on that subject, and I've read a lot of people saying that once you have it, you should not bring new birds onto your property for at least 2 to 3 years after your last chicken is gone, but if I get one or six that are vaccinated, is it safe to bring it on the property? Please be kind with your replies, I'm still learning and trying to do the best by the chickens that are here.
@Allsfairinloveandbugs
@mrskenmore
@Wyorp Rock
@azygous
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