This weekend I lost a hen to what I now suspect was Mareks. She was an older hen and had recently had a run in with a hawk but only lost a few feathers. A few weeks after, she was lame and when I picked her up to check her foot/leg, I noticed she was emaciated. I immediately separated her and she died a couple days later. All other birds (15) appear to be fine. It wasn’t until later I realized that a hen last July had similar symptoms. She was also older at 9 years and due to her age I didn’t think anything of her passing. My problem now is that I have chicks ordered to be delivered the last week of April. When I spoke to the people at Ideal Poultry i was told that I can have them vaccinated, and I will, but she seemed to say that any other chicks I ever get must also be vaccinated because once you vaccinate you must always vaccinate. From their website:
MAREK’S DISEASE VACCINATION: .20 per chick. IDEAL recommends that you vaccinate your flock only if you are mixing young and mature poultry, have ever been diagnosed with Marek’s Disease, or have ever had any chickens vaccinated for Marek's Disease live on your property. If you do not meet any of the criteria listed previously we do not recommend introducing Marek’s Disease to your property. The vaccine used is a live virus vaccine.
This isn’t a problem for me since I suspect Mareks is in my flock, but some of the chicks in my order are going to friends and they are also buying chicks from the feed store that are not vaccinated. I guess this is a long way to ask if these unvaccinated chicks would be at risk from the vaccinated ones? What about their unvaccinated hens, or mine for that matter if it wasn’t Mareks that my hen died from? Does the vaccine introduce Marek‘s to your property like the Ideal website claims? TIA
MAREK’S DISEASE VACCINATION: .20 per chick. IDEAL recommends that you vaccinate your flock only if you are mixing young and mature poultry, have ever been diagnosed with Marek’s Disease, or have ever had any chickens vaccinated for Marek's Disease live on your property. If you do not meet any of the criteria listed previously we do not recommend introducing Marek’s Disease to your property. The vaccine used is a live virus vaccine.
This isn’t a problem for me since I suspect Mareks is in my flock, but some of the chicks in my order are going to friends and they are also buying chicks from the feed store that are not vaccinated. I guess this is a long way to ask if these unvaccinated chicks would be at risk from the vaccinated ones? What about their unvaccinated hens, or mine for that matter if it wasn’t Mareks that my hen died from? Does the vaccine introduce Marek‘s to your property like the Ideal website claims? TIA