buy, ship, use marek's vaccine?

[Kim_NC]

Thanks, Cara! Found it this time. How interesting that you give the shot in the thigh rather than back of the neck. I'm thinking that would be a lot easier.

And thanks for the tip/info about dividing the vaccine into 1/4s. That's very helpful.

Except for my oldest layers, all of my birds are vaccinated too. And the non-vac older group are separated anyway.

I was thinking it's more of an issue to keep the newly vaccinated chicks separated for the 10 days to prevent them from exposure until the vaccine has time to work? (A question really, because it seems I read it somewhere, maybe on one of the hatchery websites. Now I'm not sure.)

 

[chrisalis]

Where do you get your vaccines?

Thanks,

Chris

 

[AHappychick]

oh thank you for this post. how do I get needles no one will sell me any I am going to do all of my chicks.

Can I do some that are a few months old? they have not been exposed to any adults still in a brooder in their own room.

 

[chrisalis]

Most of the feed stores have syringes, but if not, you can get them at the pharmacy. The kind you want is the tuberculin syringe. it is a 1ml and comes with a 25g needle (which is perfectly small for the tiny chooks).

My first hatch from an incubator is due in 10 days, and I haven't found my vaccine yet . . . but I will.

I can't wait to see who is in my six eggs.

Chris

 

[AHappychick]

Ok my needles just arrived so I am all set. I have one big question first...

I have been dealing with Mareks, not with the ones I want to vaccinate, but I feel it is safe to assume that even though I wash my hands and change my clothes that I may have spread it to my brooders. None have showed any signs of it but since it spreads so easily I figure it must be everywhere.

What will happen if I now vaccinate these chicks and they have been exposed already? will I be killing them? I am so scared to do the wrong thing, these are my real Ameraucanas, BCM, Araucanas, silkies and showgirls all from excellent lines all took me a while to aquire and I cant risk killing them all.

 

[MoodyChicken]

Yes it must be kept cold. I ordered mine in the mail and it came still chilled. I use the smallest size needle and whatever sryinge fits and reads as low as .2cc (as that's the dose they get).

 

[Kim_NC]

I want to thank Ryu, Smoky73 and Mahonri again for their help. DH & I have now vaccinated 2 groups of hatchlings and older chicks since this thread was started. It's so nice to be able to do the vaccinating on our own. Giving the shot in the thigh is easy enough, especially with one holding the chick while the other administers the shot.

Anyone who wants to learn more should read the page Smoky73 has on her site. She linked to it in post #9 on the thread.

Chris...did you ever find vaccine? We're getting it and syringes from jefferslivestock.com.

Quote:
I haven't been back to this thread in awhile. I guess you already found an answer. But anyway - it can't hurt them. I've done chicks as old as 8 weeks. The only issue is if they've been exposed and already contracted Marek's, then the vaccine does nothing for them.

edit: typo

 

[AHappychick]

yes I did find out and no it does not kill a chick if it has been exposed already, it just does not work if tht is the case. I can even do the whole thing myself now with no help

whicj is good cause I only have my 3 year old ds most of the time lol

 

[Kim_NC]

Glad everything worked out for oyu. Thanks for the reply.

 

[ArizonaDesertChicks]

Jeffers may be cheap for some (depending on location), but would cost me, an AZ resident, $37.93 for 1 vial (without adding a cooler or ice pack to the order.) The vial itself is a nice, low price of $9.95, but then they add $10.95 for shipping, $11.03 for freight charge, and another $6 service charge (the service charge applies to orders under $49) to the order to bring it up to almost $40.

I need to vaccinate about thirty 2 week old chicks that are still in their indoor brooder. Does anyone know of any other places to get the vaccine?