Marek’s Disease

[h2oratt]

I have had last year. Only a couple of birds got it. The rest must be immune to that strain. You can’t quarantine for it and it is everywhere.

 

[h2oratt]

Not sure if you can help with some advice on Mareks. I had a few of my young chickens die last year and some from that same batch I gave to my friend and they ended up dying as well. She got a necropsy done and it was Mareks. I'm worried mine have it since some were dying and the ones I gave her died. I just hatched chicks this Tuesday and more hatched yesterday. I have the Mareks vaccine, should I actually vaccinate them? I didn't want to open the vaccine on the first hatch day because only 2 hatched but the majority hatched yesterday morning. I also have a few on this hatch that will be raised for meat (Bresse) - can/should I vaccinate them as well? Just not sure if I'm way too late in the vaccination process since they would now be 2 day old chicks...I currently have 24 full grown chickens in total...chicks were hatched at my moms offsite....Any help is greatly appreciated!

I would not vaccinate.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/the-great-big-giant-mareks-disease-faq.66077/

 

[seminolewind]

I'd like to add.....Marek's does not follow any rules. The info you read should be read as "more likely" or "less likely". Vaccination is actually a "safe" exposure to Marek's which starts to build a resistance in birds. I vaccinate and quarantine for approx. 3 weeks . If you get chicks from now on you will have to vaccinate them to prevent death. You can go without vaccinating new chicks but you will lose a lot of them. I vaccinate because I don't want to lose any.

Resistance is created by exposure to Marek's virus and letting the body build immunity. It does not make any difference if it's contagious virus or vaccine virus. Both are the real thing except a vaccine virus is sterile and works 95% of the time. It's still an exposure needed to start an immunity. Marek's does not kill everyone, it picks and chooses it's victims.

Marek's was first documented 115 years ago. In that time if there was no cure found and no resistant chickens have been born and documented, it's hard to believe that it would happen in someone's back yard. Like most vaccines, it's a little piece of a virus that causes exposure in a safer way.

There are 2 choices, vaccinate or don't. Most or all of my chicks survive because I vaccinate or the hatchery does.

 

[seminolewind]

h2oratt, what have you read in this article that causes you not to vaccinate?

There were several us involved in the accuracy of this article. The accuracy was taken from scientific journals, researchers, reference books, and the dates of the articles were also considered. It's the most accurate information to date .

There are different strains but this the same virus in different strengths, each strength labeled a "strain".

Nambroth did an excellent job in gathering the best information and writing it in an understandable way.

 

[h2oratt]

h2oratt, what have you read in this article that causes you not to vaccinate?

There were several us involved in the accuracy of this article. The accuracy was taken from scientific journals, researchers, reference books, and the dates of the articles were also considered. It's the most accurate information to date .

There are different strains but this the same virus in different strengths, each strength labeled a "strain".

Nambroth did an excellent job in gathering the best information and writing it in an understandable way.

I had mareks DX by The state necropsy, I have introduced many new chicks into my coop with no one getting it. They were not vaccinated. They were bought from an outside source.

 

[h2oratt]

I believe The virus is everywhere. You cannot quarantine for it. I think many people have had it but if you don’t necropsy how would you know what the bird died from. Vaccine isn’t a viable option for me. I hatch my own chicks and I buy from heritage farms that don’t vaccinate.

 

[seminolewind]

h2oratt, You can vaccinate yourself. The vaccine cost $20.00 and does 1000 chicks, but there's no smaller bottle. I've hatched my own chicks many times and vaccinated my own. I have also gotten from a hatchery and vaccinated when I got them.

I don't think Marek's is in every flock but that's purely my opinion and I've heard both sides.

I think you bring up an important point in that you introduced new chicks to your flock that are fine. My other own opinion from dealing with this for 8 years is that I think a lot has to do with concentration of virus. I think there's also certain times of years that the concentration of the virus is greater. You may be lucky and your new chicks may have only had a small exposure which would start their resistance. I hope so. And one time I gave someone a hatch of Jersey Giants. They were unvaccinated and had little but some contact with my flock. At 4 months the people didn't want the rooster and I took him back. He lived happily for 4 more years-unvaccinated and exposed. But I do think that the living elsewhere for 4 months gave him much less of a concentration of virus and at 4 months he had his resistance.

Getting a DX by state lab is a very important and good thing to do. It's a good way of "keeping tabs" on what's up in your flock.

 

[h2oratt]

I was told unless you vaccinate at hatch the vaccine is worthless. I was also told that the vaccine us laypeople buy is worthless. Where do you buy your vaccine?

 

[seminolewind]

h2oratt, the vaccine is most successful at day old, or 2-3 days if 100% quarantined. For the vaccine to be successful it has to be given before any possible exposure to Marek's and chicks need to be quarantined at least 2 weeks following the vaccine to give it a chance to build those antibodies. I've vaccinated my own incubator babies for about 8 years with almost 100% positive results. In fact, my success has been better than the hatcheries (several verified by Lab).

The vaccine is usually several strains, the most common one and one other that may be a current problem. The instructions need to be followed to the letter. The vaccine needs to be kept cold until used. The mixed vaccine is only good for about an hour or so.

 

[seminolewind]

h2oratt, I think I bought the last batch at Jeffer's (?). I buy it where I find it like a poultry supply.