California - Northern

[Hangtown Farms]

So I realize this could sound controversial, but please hear me out.

The USDA recommends against Merek's vaccines for small flocks, so none of my birds are vaccinated. I have never owned vaccinated birds and I have never had a case of Mereks, a disease which is endemic EVERYWHERE. After 6 months of age virtually all chickens have been exposed to Merek's and most fight off the disease without ever having symptoms much the same way 85% of humans have been exposed to herpes by age 25, but only 12% of people ever have symptoms. In addition, the Merek's vaccine is only effective in 7% of birds. For a commercial flock of 300+ birds that is a significant enough number for the USDA to recommend it. For a small flock of 10-30 birds, it may not be effective for even a single bird in your flock.

I recommend against an immediate panic reaction when a case shows up in your flock of unvaccinated birds. Wait and observe your flock and remove any other birds that show symptoms, but you dont necessarily need to cull them all or replace them, as most will likely recover without ever showing symptoms.

i do not vaccinate. would rather have resistance in my flock

 

[casportpony]

Does anyone have info on the percentage one can expect to lose per year in an unvaccinated flock with Marek's?

-Kathy

 

[chrissyr]

You have made very sound points and the conclusions are spot on.

I too received  that doom and gloom message but ignored it. All I have ever had was one hatchery hen that died at 2.5 years old from the cancer that comes after mareks. No other symptoms.


edited to add:  after about a week, vaccinated and not vaccinated chickens can be in the same flock. There have been studies and the vaccinated chickens will not infect the not vaccinated chickens.
One does not need to close a flock due to mareks since all chickens are exposed to it within several days of age.

The vet at the turlock UC Davis extension made it sound like the stuff that is available to us doesn't do much good anyways.
The hatcheries have the better vaccine, but I guess it needs to be stored in the nitrogen freeze tanks(don't rember his exact words).
But that's why backyard people can't get the better vaccine anyways. So I'm feeling that backyard vaccinating doesn't even do much good

 

[ronott1]

Does anyone have info on the percentage one can expect to lose per year in an unvaccinated flock with Marek's?

-Kathy

I have read them before. Vaccinating saves 1 to 3% over not vaccinating total, not per year.

That is likely why the USDA does not recommend vaccinating for small flocks. It is not really worth doing for small flocks. Small percentages make sense when you have millions of birds.

This is of course economics, not pet raising though.

Breeding for resistance makes great sense.

 

[casportpony]

I ask because I lose a few a year to it, mostly to the neural form, but I also lost a couple of mature birds to the visceral form. Nothing here is vaccinated, mostly because it's not feasible and all of my vaccinated hatchery birds have died (purchased in 2003). No point to my post, lol, just sharing.

-Kathy

 

[Hangtown Farms]

Does anyone have info on the percentage one can expect to lose per year in an unvaccinated flock with Marek's?

-Kathy

I have only lost a few. one was a vaccinated one and the other not. I'm not positive what actually killed them though.

 

[QueenBubbles]

I did last winter too! They are led Christmas lights

We have new blue light (day light range) street lights that are on all night. Messed up my front yard veggies (all growth, no fruit), but might be *great* for getting chickens to lay

 

[AmyPaperlady]

We've lost Omelette (our White Rock) to internal laying. We've already agreed that one of the chicks will be named after her.

 

[ronott1]

We've lost Omelette (our White Rock) to internal laying. We've already agreed that one of the chicks will be named after her.

I am so sorry!

Whit rocks are very nice and one of the recommended breeds for starting out breeding Heritage birds.

 

[ronott1]

I ask because I lose a few a year to it, mostly to the neural form, but I also lost a couple of mature birds to the visceral form. Nothing here is vaccinated, mostly because it's not feasible and all of my vaccinated hatchery birds have died (purchased in 2003). No point to my post, lol, just sharing.

-Kathy

I only know of one and that was two years ago.

We may live in an area that does not have a bad strain tough. Coccci seems worse in other places too.

Either that or the chickens are resistant?