can adult chickens be vaccinated for marek's?

[Kasia]

This may sound silly, but after reading so many negative comments online (not here) about what it can do to adult chickens, I was half expecting some of my chickens to be dead this morning, but all are just fine, including the sick one. I was almost in tears on my way home from work with the syringes in my scrubs pockets yesterday evening. Thinking of all the things I've read and all the horror stories. I almost changed my mind. But then I thought about the ones I've already lost and made myself do it. Now I'm really glad that I did.

 

[informative]

This may sound silly, but after reading so many negative comments online (not here) about what it can do to adult chickens, I was half expecting some of my chickens to be dead this morning, but all are just fine, including the sick one. I was almost in tears on my way home from work with the syringes in my scrubs pockets yesterday evening. Thinking of all the things I've read and all the horror stories. I almost changed my mind. But then I thought about the ones I've already lost and made myself do it. Now I'm really glad that I did.

I also did a ton of research on this and the most likely scenario is your chickens would be "most likely" to get this between 4-10 weeks of age. Not sure why babies generally don't die of it very young but it may also be partly because the "acute mareks" has an incubation period of like 10 days so it takes two weeks to kills them according to this and has something like an 80% or better kill rate.

Many references to the deadly acute mareks says they "almost never" get it after 6 months (26 weeks) of age. Conditions vary greatly from flock to flock and so does stress and other potentially synergistic infectious factors including if the flock is outdoor free range, time of year, migrating birds in the region, cleanliness of your brooders and henhouses, weather in the region, recent additions to the flock and their history.

Personally, I vaccinate all birds under the age of 1 year. I vaccinate all baby chicks during the first week. I keep a strictly isolated flock! I would suggest everyone do the same. I have only added a single bird (one time) that was not a day old chick or hatching egg. He was a year old and has never been vaccinated - not sure about his prior owner. I have an extremely healthy flock and have never suffered a widespread illness so I plan to stick to this behavior.

What I struggle with most is the cost. I buy the dry powder live virus in the tiny bottle and at $20 for the vial and $14 shipping I can't afford $34 every time I hatch some chicks so I carefully with rubber gloves split the powder on a disposable plate into four doses and this brings the cost of mareks vacs down to under $10 per set which can cover up to 50 or more birds with only 0.2 ml per chick - I would even feel safe doing 0.15 ML to stretch this out. I keep the dry powder in the original amp bottle in a double zipper bag in the refrigerator and I don't store it for more than a year. That's my two cents - hope it is helpful for others

 

[SaraBlock]

Vaccines build immunity the same way catching the real disease does, except without the full blown disease (& subsequent death, for many diseases). Vaccines and their method of action are far too often misunderstood.

The same immunity is built through (most) vaccines as if the bird had caught and survived a potentially deadly disease. I often hear people say they are making their birds "stronger" by not vaccinating, but the opposite is true. Vaccines are deliberate challenging of the immune system to teach it what to look for, like training your troops before battle how to fight a particular enemy. The real disease is more of an ambush of the immune system, and your troops are unarmed and uninformed.

The purpose is of vaccinating is:
1) often, catching the actual disease will kill the chicken.
2) Even if they survive, depending on what they caught, they may then be contagious forever, becoming carrier birds who have periodic re-infections. If even one of your birds catches something, they'll be contagious to the rest of your flock, causing you to either lose a bunch of birds, or have to cull &/or quarantine. You're also putting everyone else's flocks at risk if your survivor birds are then carriers...for example, if you were to sell one, or take it to a show or auction, or one of your poultry friends comes to visit/handle your birds, your "healthy' bird could spread disease to others.
3) Catching one disease, even a mild one, will weaken a bird's immune system and often they will then catch other diseases too, compounding the severity of their sickness and causing you to lose your bird from something simple that could've been vaccinated for, but weakened your bird enough that something more serious took root (Mycoplasma often operates this way).

So in reality, by NOT vaccinating, you're
1) saving money (MAYBE, depending on the value of your birds & what you have invested)
2) saving a few minutes of your time & effort,

BUT

3) risking a lot depending on what diseases are endemic to your location, and what weather patterns are like where you live (for example, MG often strikes in cold, wet weather); the risk also depends on your activities, whether you bring in a lot of birds or ship them out, or go to shows, or visit other poultry enthusiasts, or have wild birds on your premises, all of these are risk factors. Of course the risk is more the more money & care you've invested in your flock as well. If you're keeping show birds, its well worth it to vaccinate. Even the most expensive vaccine I know of is more cost effective to give compared to the price of just a couple show birds (and keep in mind each vaccine is usually good for at least 1000 doses).

4) And lastly, its far more costly to treat a bird after sickness (it may be costly even if you decide to cull rather than treat, assuming you are putting down a pricey show bird or your darling pet). Most antibiotics now require a vet prescription as of Jan 2017. Then you pay $40-80 for a couple courses of the antibiotic plus $50-100 vet visit fee. And antibiotics are losing effectiveness and don't work as effectively even when using multiple kinds, and you may have to buy multiple kinds.... You may also have to pay a diagnostics fee before the vet will give you a prescription, and if you try to avoid this fee, you may treat with the wrong antibiotics and see no improvement!


Unless you keep a small hobby flock from birds that cost you only a handful of dollars and aren't treasured pets, not vaccinating is probably a risk you would feel comfortable taking. When I lived in TX, the only disease we saw was the occasional fowl pox outbreak. In TN, there's a lot more to contend with with the harder winters. So if you have rarely seen disease in your flock in your location, then maybe its worth it.

Otherwise, the pros weigh heavily on the vaccination side!

 

[Texasblue4]

Please DON'T vaccinate for Marek's. It's rare for small flock owners to have problems with it, usually only large commercial meat vacilities and what not vaccinate. Marek's is a live vaccine, so the chicks vaccinated will be immune, but then they can pass it on to non-vaccinated birds. Scary that hatcheries don't mention this. Unless everything I've read has been garbage. Haha. Either way it makes me nervous to think about.

In FL there a a lot of small flock owners being hit with Marek's....myself included.

 

[quackersandfern]

They can but it doesn't do anything

 

[aart]

In FL there a a lot of small flock owners being hit with Marek's....myself included.

@Texasblue4 do you realize that the post you replied to is 9 years old?
Things may have changed.

 

[ministerDianeMarie]

Please DON'T vaccinate for Marek's. It's rare for small flock owners to have problems with it, usually only large commercial meat vacilities and what not vaccinate. Marek's is a live vaccine, so the chicks vaccinated will be immune, but then they can pass it on to non-vaccinated birds. Scary that hatcheries don't mention this. Unless everything I've read has been garbage. Haha. Either way it makes me nervous to think about.

I picked up a mixed flock from tractor supply, bowling green, ohio with Mareks disease. Its highly contagious and ive lost 20+ 5 to 6 month old hens, leghorns , bantams n silkies. Please get a Mareks Vaccine kit from local hatchery and or it can be shipped overnight ups to you. If u dont vaccinate you will have to Cull yur entire flock! Mareks causes paralysis of the wings and feet, lesions, tumor growths on organs and eventually they starve to death.

 

[Selgar]

Quote:

This is in stark contrast to what our avian vet says. He sees Marek's all the time in small flocks and he highly recommends that you get chicks that have been vaccinated (not sure if it is climate dependent -we are in Northern CA). Second, although it is a live vaccine it does NOT make your bird a carrier that can infect other birds (at least not a normal reaction). As with anything, do your own research but thought I'd share what my vet said, which on many other occasions goes against what I read on BYC.

I know this is old, but I did a mega-analysis of the scientific data from published academic literature and in a nut shell, you are right, vaccinating for Mareks doesn’t give non vaccinated birds mareks, but instead vaccinated birds can still get Mareks and pass it along to non vaccinated birds, just like non vaccinated birds can pass it along to other non vaccinated birds. It’s like the covid vaccine. The vaccinated are usually protected from the symptoms, but can still contract and spread it. Hope this helps.

 

[CKfarm22]

Please DON'T vaccinate for Marek's. It's rare for small flock owners to have problems with it, usually only large commercial meat vacilities and what not vaccinate. Marek's is a live vaccine, so the chicks vaccinated will be immune, but then they can pass it on to non-vaccinated birds. Scary that hatcheries don't mention this. Unless everything I've read has been garbage. Haha. Either way it makes me nervous to think about.

I disagree. My 5 month old chick has mereks and it’s a small flock.

 

[Henhouse Harlot]

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/science/tthis-chicken-vaccine-makes-virus-dangerous

Interesting article!