Coronavirus, Covid 19 Discussion and How It Has Affected Your Daily Life Chat Thread

[ShrekDawg]

So, question.... (really curious, not trying to be a downer)
If you (general you) have, or suspect you have Mareks in your flock do you get the new chicks vaccinated and hope for the best?
I know the vaccine doesn't actually prevent it, but does it give them a certain percentage better of a chance?

Yeah, I’m going to be only getting vaccinated chicks from now on. This is also why I have decided not to hatch again even though I was really looking forward to babies from Jack.

I MIGHT if I can keep them in a totally separate spot across the yard where I know they won’t come in contact with the other flock and maybe won’t get it. Or if I can somehow get the vaccine to be able to vaccinate them.

Supposedly it helps them develop an immunity or resistance to it but I don’t think it’s 100%. Just makes them less likely to show symptoms/die from it.

 

[21hens-incharge]

So, question.... (really curious, not trying to be a downer)
If you (general you) have, or suspect you have Mareks in your flock do you get the new chicks vaccinated and hope for the best?
I know the vaccine doesn't actually prevent it, but does it give them a certain percentage better of a chance?

Good question.
I am by no means an expert at all!
My understanding is that the vaccine doesn't necessarily keep them from getting it but it helps them stay alive.

 

[BullChick]

Bedtime!

Poetic! I love it!

I’ll never stop dreaming of you every night of my life, no way!
and I would do anything for love, but I won’t do that!

 

[BullChick]

I cannot believe you don’t know Bat outa Hell forwards and backwards! It’s an album everyone over 35 owns!

 

[SnapdragonQ]

Good question.
I am by no means an expert at all!
My understanding is that the vaccine doesn't necessarily keep them from getting it but it helps them stay alive.

Yeah, that was my understanding.
Was wondering if there's any data to show XX% survive it with the vaccine vs not. I did read (I think) that though vaccinated birds may survive after getting Mareks, they will still be a shedder of it. The vaccine is from a similar turkey disease so it doesn't make a bird shed it, only actual Mareks does that.
I think I got that right?

So basically any incoming birds, vaccinated or not, will get Mareks. Right?

 

[21hens-incharge]

Yeah, that was my understanding.
Was wondering if there's any data to show XX% survive it with the vaccine vs not. I did read (I think) that though vaccinated birds may survive after getting Mareks, they will still be a shedder of it. The vaccine is from a similar turkey disease so it doesn't make a bird shed it, only actual Mareks does that.
I think I got that right?

So basically any incoming birds, vaccinated or not, will get Mareks. Right?

I think that is how it works. I am by no means an expert in it at all though.

 

[Molpet]

Yeah, I’m going to be only getting vaccinated chicks from now on. This is also why I have decided not to hatch again even though I was really looking forward to babies from Jack.

I MIGHT if I can keep them in a totally separate spot across the yard where I know they won’t come in contact with the other flock and maybe won’t get it. Or if I can somehow get the vaccine to be able to vaccinate them.

Supposedly it helps them develop an immunity or resistance to it but I don’t think it’s 100%. Just makes them less likely to show symptoms/die from it.

Did you send the cockerel in for testing,?

 

[Folly's place]

Birds vaccinated with Marek's vaccine will become infected if they are exposed, but are very unlikely to develop the tumors that kill unvaccinated birds with Marek's disease. It prevents suffering and early deaths if it's an infected flock.
Once a flock is infected, the disease will be present for at least a year after all birds are dead, because it's in the soil, coop, dander, and feathers left behind. A miserable disease best avoided if at all possible, and managed somehow if it arrives.
Mary

 

[Folly's place]

I hope he's at the lab, and that you get results fairly soon.
Mary

 

[ShrekDawg]

Yeah, that was my understanding.
Was wondering if there's any data to show XX% survive it with the vaccine vs not. I did read (I think) that though vaccinated birds may survive after getting Mareks, they will still be a shedder of it. The vaccine is from a similar turkey disease so it doesn't make a bird shed it, only actual Mareks does that.
I think I got that right?

So basically any incoming birds, vaccinated or not, will get Mareks. Right?

Yeah I think that’s right and I’ve also read that vaccinated birds actually produce a way hotter strain of the virus because they don’t die so the virus can survive to mutate and stuff. Which is why they say vaccinated birds actually usually or at least often end up killing any unvaccinated birds they are with.

But I had read that turkeys can help prevent it and we have tons of wild turkeys here so I heard from someone if we have them it probably means we don’t have Mareks or at least that the birds would be protected and safe from it. Which is why I put them together. But I guess that’s not true.

But some people actually like keeping both vaccinated and unvaccinated birds together because, as sad as it is, the unvaccinated ones sort of act as “canaries in a coal mine” so to speak and will let you know if you have Mareks on your property or not.

Although, that said, Mareks is essentially considered endemic in most flocks, at less in the US, and so it’s generally considered that all flocks have it/every flock is infected basically because it is so common and endemic.