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- #11
Wes, I respect your opinion and experience and the opinion of everyone else on this website; that's why I registered.(and why I sought your opinion for this) But I have to argue on that point. I have read (and also been told) that vaccinating adult chickens with a cell-free Marek's vaccine will stop them from forming the lesions that are characteristic of Mareks; thus stopping the progression of the disease. It is still unclear whether they are carriers after that, but I don't think so. I have spent hours lately reading up on these diseases and there is a ton of conflicting and controversial information, especially about Marek's. I can't remember the name of the website I was reading that on; I'll have to look. But I have other contacts that have also told me that. I agree that the safest way is to buy chicks from a hatchery, but even then people run into problems sometimes. We have had no problems at all with ours up until this past fall. Unfortunately, it seems that everyone in this area engages in a sort of trading game with their poultry; everyone buys, sells, and trades with each other, and our kids get a lot of pressure to play that game, too. Most of the farmers around here don't believe in vaccinations; they just cull; the plus side of all this is that my son, who was an Ag major, knows more about poultry now than most of the local farmers. We love our birds just as much as everyone else; that's why I'm spending so much time on them.