Mareks Vaccine

[knightsky]

I have a 5 month old "Easter Egger" cockerel that I'm trying to rehab. It started on Saturday limping on left leg. I didn't find any sores or thorns. By the end of the day the other chickens were attacking him and he couldn't stand up. He has 2 brothers and they all hang out together (have never seen them fight as of yet) Now I'm keeping him inside in a dog kennel. Has good appetite and drinks water. poop looks fine. He sometimes seems to pant. He sits on his hocks with toes curled. He still crows...loud but at the end he has a little gasp. Am giving him vitamin B12 with potassium. We bred and hatched him so no Mareks vaccine. All other (13) chickens seem ok. The one's that we didn't hatch ourselves were vaccinated as chicks so am not sure how they could have gotten Mareks if that is what they have. I want him to pull through but If he doesn't make it, does anyone know where he could be autopsied near San Antonio? Could it be Mareks? Thank You in advance for any feedback.

I would call your local ag extension office. They should be able to tell you where the nearest place to have your chicken necropsied would be.

 

[nknkdvt]

He's not dead. Just a hurt leg. Is re"coop"ing (haha).

 

[Keggen]

So, for hen-raised chicks, is there any point in vaccinating? Since you won't be able to quarantine, is there any benefit?

Can anyone answer this, please? I have newly hatched chicks from the incubator that I am trying to get vaccinated ASAP (looking for a vet to do it) but I also have a broody hen that will hatch her eggs in about 10 days in the coop with the rest of my adult flock. The adults were all vaccinated as chicks when I got them from a hatchery.

The incubator chicks are separated in my barn, away from the adults. But what about the broody hen chicks? I would like to vaccinate them but is it pointless?

 

[jflower]

Thank you for the report!

 

[hen srcatch]

I recently hatched 11 chicks that were breed here on my ranch. I thought it would be best to vacinate them for Mareks, however our local feed store chicken expert said not to worry about it because they would essentially pick up an immunity from their mama hen. Does any one else know about this?
Also, he told me that Marek's vacinations only cover 1 type of Marek's strain and there are 52 other strains the chickens can pick up. Very similar to flu vacines. I had a flu shoot last year and 3 months later contracted a horrible case of the flu because it was a different type than what I was vacinated for.
In other words chicks vacinated for Mareks can still contract Mareks, so is vacinating against it a false sense of security?

 

[chookaholic]

I've just read this thread with great interest and am shellshocked about the misinformation that is out there.

Firstly - chickens vaccinated against Mareks disease are carriers AND shedders for life. Here is just one source:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15757475

I learnt this the hard way.

The season before last I lost two thirds of my flock of heritage breed birds to Mareks disease. The cause? I had bought 6 day-old Hyline pullets which had been vaccinated against Mareks. The strain of virus that had been used to vaccinate these chicks had only recently been introduced. My heritage breed poultry had no immunity against this strain of Mareks disease.

None of my birds who were adults when these commercial hybrids joined our flock got Mareks. This tells me that vaccinating an adult bird is not necessary.

None of my chicks who were older than 6 months at the time the vaccinated chicks arrived succumbed to Mareks. So their immune system must have been strong enough to develop immunity in time.

I raised the Hyline pullets in the same brooder as 3 other breeds: Silkies, Orpingtons and Cochins.

None of the vaccinated Hyline chicks died. All grew up healthy and strong and a few of my free rangers were able to walk right up to their brooder which is in the garage.

All Silkie chicks died from Mareks - not only those who grew up with the Hylines but also all that were hatched long after the Hylines had started to lay. The parents were unaffected.

About half of my Orpington and Cochin chicks died. This included those who were raised with the Hylines and all chicks hatched and raised while we had the Hylines. The survivors were those who were hatched and raised by a mother hen (didn't help the Silkies, though). Some hen hatched and raised chicks still succumbed to Mareks but the incidence was a lot lower than among incubator hatched chicks.

Death by Mareks occurred between 3 weeks and 18 months of age. I have done post mortems on many of them and most had tiny tumors all through their lymph system. Only about one third displayed classic Mareks symptoms like paralysis. Others were emaciated or blind or had huge skin tumors.

What they all had in common was that they were bright and eating well until 2 or 3 days before they died (or were euthanised).

This past season I lost maybe half a dozen chicks to Mareks - out of hundreds. I do not vaccinate.

The most important thing to do is to slowly and carefully subject new chicks to the virus. This can be done by either letting a hen raise them or by using common sense when caring for chicks in a brooder.

I don't sterilise my brooders. I clean them with water (they are made from plastic), let them dry in the sun and fill them with new bedding material. Drinkers and feeders are scrubbed with water and dishwashing liquid.

I don't sterilize my clothing or hands or anything when making the rounds.

And last but not least - I guess those individuals who were not strong didn't survive and therefore weren't able to pass on their weak genes which resulted in far fewer losses. I do no longer have Silkies.

 

[Keggen]

Chookaholic, thank you for your post, it was very informative and helpful!

 

[pips&peeps]

I've just read this thread with great interest and am shellshocked about the misinformation that is out there.

Firstly - chickens vaccinated against Mareks disease are carriers AND shedders for life. Here is just one source:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15757475

I learnt this the hard way.

The season before last I lost two thirds of my flock of heritage breed birds to Mareks disease. The cause? I had bought 6 day-old Hyline pullets which had been vaccinated against Mareks. The strain of virus that had been used to vaccinate these chicks had only recently been introduced. My heritage breed poultry had no immunity against this strain of Mareks disease.

None of my birds who were adults when these commercial hybrids joined our flock got Mareks. This tells me that vaccinating an adult bird is not necessary.

None of my chicks who were older than 6 months at the time the vaccinated chicks arrived succumbed to Mareks. So their immune system must have been strong enough to develop immunity in time.

I raised the Hyline pullets in the same brooder as 3 other breeds: Silkies, Orpingtons and Cochins.

None of the vaccinated Hyline chicks died. All grew up healthy and strong and a few of my free rangers were able to walk right up to their brooder which is in the garage.

All Silkie chicks died from Mareks - not only those who grew up with the Hylines but also all that were hatched long after the Hylines had started to lay. The parents were unaffected.

About half of my Orpington and Cochin chicks died. This included those who were raised with the Hylines and all chicks hatched and raised while we had the Hylines. The survivors were those who were hatched and raised by a mother hen (didn't help the Silkies, though). Some hen hatched and raised chicks still succumbed to Mareks but the incidence was a lot lower than among incubator hatched chicks.

Death by Mareks occurred between 3 weeks and 18 months of age. I have done post mortems on many of them and most had tiny tumors all through their lymph system. Only about one third displayed classic Mareks symptoms like paralysis. Others were emaciated or blind or had huge skin tumors.

What they all had in common was that they were bright and eating well until 2 or 3 days before they died (or were euthanised).

This past season I lost maybe half a dozen chicks to Mareks - out of hundreds. I do not vaccinate.

The most important thing to do is to slowly and carefully subject new chicks to the virus. This can be done by either letting a hen raise them or by using common sense when caring for chicks in a brooder.

I don't sterilise my brooders. I clean them with water (they are made from plastic), let them dry in the sun and fill them with new bedding material. Drinkers and feeders are scrubbed with water and dishwashing liquid.

I don't sterilize my clothing or hands or anything when making the rounds.

And last but not least - I guess those individuals who were not strong didn't survive and therefore weren't able to pass on their weak genes which resulted in far fewer losses. I do no longer have Silkies.

The mareks vaccine does not spread from bird to bird. You have not given any scientific proof that it did. It sounds to me like you brought in a very virulent virus and it killed the birds that were not vaccinated, that simple.

 

[chookaholic]

The mareks vaccine does not spread from bird to bird. You have not given any scientific proof that it did. It sounds to me like you brought in a very virulent virus and it killed the birds that were not vaccinated, that simple.

That's correct - the Mareks vaccine does not spread from bird to bird - it is injected either into the chick or the soon-due-to-hatch embryo.

However, a bird vaccinated against Mareks will be carrier and shedder of the Mareks Disease Virus (MDV) for life, therefore such a bird is able to infect other birds, especially when they are young.

If you don't understand the following sentence, taken from the source I initially quoted: 'However, vaccinated chickens still become infected and shed MDV'

from an article published by 'Head and Avian Immunology Group, Institute for Animal Health, Compton, Newbury, Berkshire, RG20 7NN, UK' and if this source isn't good enough for you then I'm sorry but I can't help you any further.

I'm not the only poultry breeder who sustained huge losses the season after the new vaccine was introduced so it's not just my experience.

The MDV is a herpes virus. It belongs to the same family that causes herpes - an STD (Sexually Transmitted Disease) in humans which also happens to be infective for life.

 

[pips&peeps]

The bird can shed mareks only if it is infected.

Like I said though, the vaccine does not spread bird to bird. In your previous post you give the impression that the vaccine caused your problems when it did not. The vaccine had nothing to do with you losing birds to mareks.


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