Mixing vaccinated and non-vaccinated chickens - real life experiences?

[socalchickens76]

Hi all,

I currently have three almost four year old hens that are unvaccinated. I am planning to purchase three more baby chicks next month. I am torn on whether to vaccinate them for Marek's or not. We've never had any issue with Marek's in our flock in the past four years we've owned chickens. I was really only going to vaccinate the new chicks to protect my existing flock in case one of the babies brought in Marek's into our flock.

I've been reading up on it and I see very mixed responses on whether mixing vaccinated and non-vaccinated chickens is a good idea. All I'm looking for here are people's real life experiences with doing this (mixing vaccinated and non-vaccinated chickens). How has it gone for you? Any issues or anything you would have done differently?

Thanks!

 

[RoostersAreAwesome]

Depends on where you get the chicks. If they’re from a large hatchery, it’s unlikely that they’re going to be exposed to Marek’s, and the vaccine itself does not cause a chicken to carry Marek’s, so they would not infect the unvaccinated chickens.

 

[Eggcessive]

Are you getting the 3 chicks from a hatchery, feedstore, or a breeder? I don’t recommend getting chicks from others, since you never know if they have a disease in their flock, now or in the past. Since you haven’t got vaccinated chickens, it is probably safe to not vaccinate the chicks. If you are getting them from a breeder, and they offered to vaccinate, that would raise a red flag to me. I have had both vaccinated and non-vaccinated chickens over the years, and never saw Mareks. Many people now think that vaccinating may cause the Mareks virus to mutate. I am still undecided about that.

 

[No Coop No Problem]

I have a large organic flock that lives outside 24/7. Over the years I've had a few chickens here that were vaccinated and so far those are the only chickens I've ever had that caught sudden paralysis and death. I assume the vaccine interfered with the proper functioning of their immune system

Nowadays I don't allow vaccinated chickens here, and I haven't seen a sick chicken at all in a very long time. Not since the last vaccinated chicken died suddenly

 

[socalchickens76]

Are you getting the 3 chicks from a hatchery, feedstore, or a breeder? I don’t recommend getting chicks from others, since you never know if they have a disease in their flock, now or in the past. Since you haven’t got vaccinated chickens, it is probably safe to not vaccinate the chicks. If you are getting them from a breeder, and they offered to vaccinate, that would raise a red flag to me. I have had both vaccinated and non-vaccinated chickens over the years, and never saw Mareks. Many people now think that vaccinating may cause the Mareks virus to mutate. I am still undecided about that.

I am planning to get them from a hatchery (Cackle) or a local feedstore.

 

[Debbie292d]

I am planning to get them from a hatchery (Cackle) or a local feedstore.

I'd never say not to get chickens at a feed mill or TSC, etc, as I've done the former, but I would think it was safer to go with Cackle or any hatchery if I had the choice.

If most feed mills are like ours, farmers and citizens are going in and out of there daily, sometimes even able to hold the chicks.

 

[socalchickens76]

I'd never say not to get chickens at a feed mill or TSC, etc, as I've done the former, but I would think it was safer to go with Cackle or any hatchery if I had the choice.

If most feed mills are like ours, farmers and citizens are going in and out of there daily, sometimes even able to hold the chicks.

So true...I didn't even think about that! Thank you.

 

[adladladl]

I have Maraks....can anyone of you tell me if your chickens with Maraks laid eggs normally? Did you cull them? Breed them and vaccinate the babies? I had two that died after acted paralyzed and that caused me to test. Arkansas Lab says positive for Maraks. They are young--came from Ideal Poultry--and I never had any birds before them (not in months anyways) so I know it came from the environment.
The problem is: I have 100 pullets. After those two died, no one else is sick. No one. They all eat and drink normally. They run around having fun. They are 3-4 months old. Are they going to lay eggs normally? I am so upset. If they lay eggs normally, I may keep them but I don't want to do the wrong thing so....did you keep yours? Did they lay eggs normally or low production? Did you breed the babies and just vaccinate them?

 

[Eggcessive]

I have Maraks....can anyone of you tell me if your chickens with Maraks laid eggs normally? Did you cull them? Breed them and vaccinate the babies? I had two that died after acted paralyzed and that caused me to test. Arkansas Lab says positive for Maraks. They are young--came from Ideal Poultry--and I never had any birds before them (not in months anyways) so I know it came from the environment.
The problem is: I have 100 pullets. After those two died, no one else is sick. No one. They all eat and drink normally. They run around having fun. They are 3-4 months old. Are they going to lay eggs normally? I am so upset. If they lay eggs normally, I may keep them but I don't want to do the wrong thing so....did you keep yours? Did they lay eggs normally or low production? Did you breed the babies and just vaccinate them?

There are a lot of people here on BYC who have Mareks positive flocks. It is not the end of the world. You may lose more, but you may have birds who are productive egg layers, and who may be resistant to the disease. I would read this whole thread and other threads about Mareks that you can look up in the search above.

You cannot sell or rehome any of your birds. You must close your flock. Some or many might die, it is hard to know. Your land and facilities will be contaminated from the dust and dander for months to years after the last chicken is gone. Any new birds added will become carriers although they may never get the symptoms. I would breed your most resistant chickens, so their offspring have a good chance of surviving. It will be a long time before you know which ones. Any new baby chicks if vaccinated should be kept away from any exposure for at least 2 weeks after vaccination. Read all you can on Mareks. Read the professional articles. People’s opinions and knowledge on the subject may all differ, but learn who you can believe here. There are some good people who offer their knowledge on these threads.

 

[No Coop No Problem]

There are a lot of people here on BYC who have Mareks positive flocks. It is not the end of the world. You may lose more, but you may have birds who are productive egg layers, and who may be resistant to the disease. I would read this whole thread and other threads about Mareks that you can look up in the search above.

You cannot sell or rehome any of your birds. You must close your flock. Some or many might die, it is hard to know. Your land and facilities will be contaminated from the dust and dander for months to years after the last chicken is gone. Any new birds added will become carriers although they may never get the symptoms. I would breed your most resistant chickens, so their offspring have a good chance of surviving. It will be a long time before you know which ones. Any new baby chicks if vaccinated should be kept away from any exposure for at least 2 weeks after vaccination. Read all you can on Mareks. Read the professional articles. People’s opinions and knowledge on the subject may all differ, but learn who you can believe here. There are some good people who offer their knowledge on these threads.

80% of the chicken population is estimated to carry Marek's virus. It's impossible to avoid without keeping chickens in a strict quarantine fortress all the time- and ironically I believe it's these isolation practices that get chickens sick and killed in the first place

Chickens with high levels of environmental exposure will have well developed immune systems

Chickens in isolation will die when a wild songbird breaches quarantine and exposes them to a random virus

Pay attention as you browse BYC and you'll notice that the more isolated chickens are the more sickly they are. The more freely immersed in nature they are, the healthier they are