Recently had a definitive diagnosis of Marek’s from necropsy at state lab, trying to figure out what to do now. Note that: A) we are attached to these chickens and want to keep as many as possible, B) we would still like to do some breeding in the future, but these will be replacement birds for us, not for sale. There are three groups of chickens, 1) 7 month old barnyard mix, five pullets and one cockerel. All vaccinated as day old chicks with the usual cell free vaccine. 2) 8 five month old pure breeds from local breeder, not vaccinated. 3) four 2 month old chicks from same breeder, not vaccinated. We have most group 1 and 2 birds in a coop/run. None of these have shown disease yet. 50 feet away from this coop is a tractor that had a silkie and Frisian gull cockerel. We lost the gull to Marek’s 10 days ago, silkie still looks normal. Note that guineas constantly move between tractor and coop, and that I had two unvaccinated coop chickens out with the silkie two weeks ago. Therefore, I expect all coop birds have been exposed. The youngest, group 3 chicks are some distance from coop, separated by our house. There, we’ve lost 3 of 7 chicks, with Marek’s confirmed in the last. Three remaining birds look healthy, one I’m worried about but no obvious Marek’s yet.
Plan: euthanize any birds that show lameness or wasting. I’d like to get more vaccine and vaccinate/revaccinate groups 1/2. I realize this is probably ineffective, but before eventually combining groups, I’d like to be confident that all have been vaccinated or exposed since no one in the coop has been sick yet. I had planned to separate group 1 into their own pasture coop so I guess I’m still planning to do that. Two weeks after vaccination, I plan to put the silkie cockerel into a “bachelor pad” with black copper Marans cockerel from group 3. I had planned to integrate the rest of group 3 birds into main coop. Should I wait until they are full grown (6 months) at this point so they will have gotten the virus under control as much as possible first? Or should I vaccinate and wait two weeks then move them in?
Any thoughts appreciated!
Plan: euthanize any birds that show lameness or wasting. I’d like to get more vaccine and vaccinate/revaccinate groups 1/2. I realize this is probably ineffective, but before eventually combining groups, I’d like to be confident that all have been vaccinated or exposed since no one in the coop has been sick yet. I had planned to separate group 1 into their own pasture coop so I guess I’m still planning to do that. Two weeks after vaccination, I plan to put the silkie cockerel into a “bachelor pad” with black copper Marans cockerel from group 3. I had planned to integrate the rest of group 3 birds into main coop. Should I wait until they are full grown (6 months) at this point so they will have gotten the virus under control as much as possible first? Or should I vaccinate and wait two weeks then move them in?
Any thoughts appreciated!