Do Your Baby Chicks Really Need Marek's Vaccination?

[mithious]

The vaccine is only good for ONE HOUR after you mix it. Yes you can vaccinate older birds, but there is no research to back up whether it works or not. This is a herpes virus, with quite a few strains and seems, from flocks that are now infected, mutating and getting stronger.

There is much speculation on whether the vaccine we can buy, for back yard flocks, really works also. In the US, I have only heard of the turkey virus being used. Australia does use a chicken virus and maybe England? but not sure on the later.

As leadwolf said, you can pick this up anywhere...you go to the feed store or buy feed in a store, right? You most likely have come in contact with it. This is a very bad bad virus, and one you have it, no way to get rid of it, from your flock or your land!!!

Here are some of the top suggestions I have read to help keep your flock healthy and clean.

1. chicken math is a recipe for disaster, as you do not know where the chicks/chickens are coming from or their history and they could be infected and carriers, even if vaccinated, as the vaccine ONLY prevents the tumors from developing so the majority of chickens don't die from it, so might not even show symptoms.

2. practice biosecurity

3. maintain a closed flock

4. Isolate and keep all new chicks in quarantine for 2-4 weeks, longer is better

5. buy from large, reputable hatcheries, or breeders, or buy hatching eggs, would highly recommend BYC breeders!

Those are just a few of the suggestions I have read! There are more detailed ones on the following thread I put up below.

There is a thread on this forum in managing you flock, I believe it is called, can you vaccinate adult chickens for marek's . There are a lot of professionals on there and lots of people that are currently going through this disease that are teaching us how to be safe and have a healthy, clean flock. Please read if you want to keep your flock healthy. You can type in the name in the search box for the forum and the thread will come up.

If you remember nothing else, please remember this. A vaccinated flock CAN have the virus and be carriers, and the owner not even know it, not because the vaccine cause it, but actually hides the virus!!! Vaccination will not keep your flock from getting marek's disease, only the tumors that cause death and possible some or all of the other symptoms! Nor does it keep you flock from becoming a carrier!

leadwolf, thank you soo much for helping us learn!!! God Bless you!!!

 

[mithious]

the vaccine have is a two part (powder & liquid) after a portion is mixed try to use it within a few hours. The parts can be kept separate for a while in the fridge. See package. Yes you can give boosters. That is a good way to use the "left overs" from when you vaccinate chicks, if too much gets mixed. I was told not to give boosters more than once a year....no advanced science knowledge here, just frugal use...so check other sources if you are still concerned because I am not an expert.

Once mixed, you only have an hour to use it, then it must be disposed of properly! You can NOT keep if for the next clutch! This is a live turkey strain, and is currently the only vaccine offered for the back yard chicken owners. There is much speculation if it even works anymore...no scientific research yet to know.

Yes you can give a booster, but most that have done so, have, from personal experience, not seen a difference in a one time vaccination to a booster shot.

IF you are going to do a booster shot, you MUST buy another batch and again, use in ONE hour then dispose. It is VERY hard to separate the dry part and figure out how much of the wet part to save, so you could be giving too much, or too little. But that part is up to you, the flock owner, but once mixed, you only have an hour to use it!

I have not read of anyone that does annual boosters!

Just an FYI, the large hatcheries use a 2 or 3 way strain that is kept in nitrogen, and is only cost effective for the large hatcheries, so if it is a small, family farm hatchery, the chances are slim, for getting what the big hatcheries give. Most likely, they will be giving the same vaccine you could purchse, for about $19.00 bucks! That is for the 1000 does option, You can not, at the present time, buy small doses, but since it is so cheap, most will use what they need and discard the rest and buy new as needed.

 

[mithious]

I recently hatched 11 chicks that were bred here on my ranch. I thought it would be best to vacinate them for Mareks, however our local feed store chicken expert said not to worry about it because they would essentially pick up an immunity from their mama hen. Does any one else know about this?
Also, he told me that Marek's vacinations only cover 1 type of Marek's strain and there are 52 other strains the chickens can pick up. Very similar to flu vacines. I had a flu shoot last year and 3 months later contracted a horrible case of the flu because it was a different type than what I was vacinated for.
In other words chicks vacinated for Mareks can still contract Mareks, so is vacinating against it a false sense of security?

The chicks do have some immunity for a few days from mamma, but that is it. Marek's is becoming epidemic in back yard flocks! It used to be the hatcheries in the 70's. They lost 60% to marek's. They now practice all in/all out, and the larger ones vaccinate also, so have gotten their loses down to 5-10%.

The vaccine that we can use, is only for ONE strain, this is a herpes virus, and so far, they have about ( I think) 6 different strains of it isolated, but the back yard farmers that are dealing with this disease are finding that is seems to be mutating and getting stronger.

Chickens vaccinated for marek's can still get the virus and become carriers, the only thing the vaccine does is stop the development of the tumors that cause the chickens to die. Thus a flock that is vaccinated could come in contact with marek's, get the disease, and the owner might not ever know. There is NO cure!

 

[southernfiction]

Can someone explain why a hatchery would recommend I not have my Barnevelder babies vaccinated for Marek's even when they offered the vac. for 10 cents? I appreciate the forum talk. It explained a lot.

 

[Dr Bjorn Netland]

Can someone explain why a hatchery would recommend I not have my Barnevelder babies vaccinated for Marek's even when they offered the vac. for 10 cents? I appreciate the forum talk. It explained a lot.

Barnevelders and Marek's: bad combination! It was the spread of the Marek's Disease that caused the demise of the Barnies as the premier brown egg layer in Europe in the late 1920s early '30s (The Netherlands), as they proved much more susceptible to the disease than some of the breeds developed in the US (RIR, New Hamps, and others). I originally imported a trio of Barnies from a German immigrant in Canada (I suppose his birds originated from German imports as well, though I don't know for sure). The birds appeared strong and healthy and laid fairly well (but the eggs were not all that dark), and EVERY chick I hatched that season died...some at the age of 9-10 weeks or so, some later, and some at the point of lay. I questioned the fellow about this, and he claimed I didn't feed them right...although I had no such bad luck with the others that season. Subsequently, I was able to import some (eggs) from The Netherlands and also had the opportunity to read some Dutch literature about the breed and came across the reference to their susceptibility to Marek's. I vaccinated every chick hatched and lost only a couple. Alas! by now I suddenly started losing chicks of other breeds (which I did not vaccinate), and the single comb White Leghorns (can't recall how many) chicks almost all died. Again: Marek's. Now I realized I had it in my flock, even if I have several different barns with separate runs. I have vaccinated every year since then, except two years ago when I had run out of the vaccine and it was too late to have some shipped. I lost the single comb White Minorca chicks, some Welsummers, and only one Norwegian Jaer. Some breeds, perhaps strains, are apparently more susceptible than others, but it's a matter of record that the Barnevelders are especially so. And, yes, Marek's is now pretty much a pandemic disease.

 

[4mybcs]

Thanks for the info

 

[southernfiction]

Thank you, Dr. Netland. I have just a few grown birds and these new babies. I'll try not to worry.

 

[write2caroline]

I wonder why bantams vaccinated for mareks and the standards can - Is it due to size? I am then troubled with feeding non medicated to the standards and medicated to the bantams.

Just curious.

Caroline

 

[Buggys Beaks]

All this information begs the question: If you do have a bird that gets infected how do you handle it?

I would assume immediate quarantine if it's possible. But what about the rest of the flock? Is this a situation where culling an entire flock and cleansing or moving the housing would be necessary? It is only passed from contact with infected birds?

Please forgive my ignorance as I am still an incubating egg at this point.

Wow! Sorry, I missed the other pages of this post. I shall go back and see if I will be enlightened further.

 

[Tropit]

I picked up 2 chicks from a Craigslist breeder last summer (bad idea) and one later died from Marek's and the other survived. I had other chickens in the coop with them at the time which had all been vaccinated. I now have new chicks hatching soon and would like to vaccinate them, as well as the one bird that survived. Where can I buy vaccine? Is this an injectable? If so, what is the proceedure for injecting the young chicks? Can I vaccinate the older bird? What other vaccinations might be neccesary? I'm also thinking of vaccinating for Newcastle and perhaps a couple of others.

Thanks!