New Babies and Mareks

[Lovelylegs]

I’m curious as I am wanting to potentially add to my flock. I have 16 chickens that are not vaccinated for Mareks and I am looking at adding to the flock. Is it ok if the new ones are vaccinated or is that a death sentence for my existing chickens as I have read it is a live virus that the babies would be injected with. And if I got eggs to incubate myself would that be safe as well since parents came from a vaccinated source. I didn’t know about the vaccine when I first got my chickens but became aware shortly after getting my birds. Thank you for any knowledge you can help me with.

 

[azygous]

Adding vaccinated chicks to the flock will not increase the danger of the older ones getting Marek's. The vaccine is poorly understood by many people, causing them to think it causes unvaxed chickens to get Marek's from being exposed to vaccinated chickens.

The only concern is to keep the newly vaxed chicks quarantined for two weeks while the vaccine establishes resistance in their bodies. After that period, the chicks will be far less likely to contract Marek's, but it's still a possibility they could if they are directly exposed to the virus. That is when the vaxed chickens can infect your unvaxed chickens. It's not the vaccine that is passing the virus on, rather the virus itself from an outside source that is the infecting agent.

 

[Lovelylegs]

Oh ok that is great to know. When I got my silkies they said do not have is so the vaccine since we have unvaccinated chickens already so I didn’t and all is fine but then I read elsewhere that it is ok. I would love to get these specific silkies and the breeder vaccinates all her chicks so I thought maybe I couldn’t do it so I’m glad I asked. Thank you so much!!

 

[igorsMistress]

I’m curious as I am wanting to potentially add to my flock. I have 16 chickens that are not vaccinated for Mareks and I am looking at adding to the flock. Is it ok if the new ones are vaccinated or is that a death sentence for my existing chickens as I have read it is a live virus that the babies would be injected with. And if I got eggs to incubate myself would that be safe as well since parents came from a vaccinated source. I didn’t know about the vaccine when I first got my chickens but became aware shortly after getting my birds. Thank you for any knowledge you can help me with.

Before you make any decisions please read this. It’s science, not my opinion

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/...es-enhance-spread-of-deadlier-chicken-viruses

 

[Folly's place]

Here we've had both hatchery vaccinated chicks, and home hatched unvaccinated birds for decades. If Marek's disease ever hits our flock, those vaccinated birds are much less likely to die of the tumors that Marek's disease produces in unvaccinated birds.
And the vaccine does NOT spread the disease!!!
Vaccinated birds do contract Marek's disease if they are exposed, but don't get sick as often.
Biosecurity is what keeps your flock from being infected, and being lucky enough to not have a neighbor with an infected flock.
Mary

 

[azygous]

The above mentioned National Geographic article merely elaborates on what I posted. It does not point to any danger of vaccinated baby chicks to a flock of unvaccinated birds. You may feel completely confident no harm will come to your flock if you add the vaxed Silkie babies.

The only real risk would be if those babies had somehow been exposed to the actual Marek's virus and were infected. (Not talking about the vaccination, but the virus in the environment) Then the disease could infect your flock.

There would be an even greater risk of adding vaccinated adult birds to your flock as they would have had more time to be exposed to the virus in the environment and the vaccine would keep them from getting sick and dying while they would still carry the virus and be able to infect other birds.

The article was not a scientific paper, going into the science behind the vaccine. Like all journalistic articles, it plays up one aspect and neglects to flesh out other aspects, in this case, the benefits of the Marek's vaccine, as imperfect as it is.

Again, you should feel very confident that these vaxed Silkie babies will not pose any threat to your other birds.

 

[Lovelylegs]

The above mentioned National Geographic article merely elaborates on what I posted. It does not point to any danger of vaccinated baby chicks to a flock of unvaccinated birds. You may feel completely confident no harm will come to your flock if you add the vaxed Silkie babies.

The only real risk would be if those babies had somehow been exposed to the actual Marek's virus and were infected. (Not talking about the vaccination, but the virus in the environment) Then the disease could infect your flock.

There would be an even greater risk of adding vaccinated adult birds to your flock as they would have had more time to be exposed to the virus in the environment and the vaccine would keep them from getting sick and dying while they would still carry the virus and be able to infect other birds.

The article was not a scientific paper, going into the science behind the vaccine. Like all journalistic articles, it plays up one aspect and neglects to flesh out other aspects, in this case, the benefits of the Marek's vaccine, as imperfect as it is.

Again, you should feel very confident that these vaxed Silkie babies will not pose any threat to your other birds.

Awesome thank you so much!! I always keep my babies inside with me for at least 5-8 weeks so that should be a good quarantine time I would think. I appreciate you taking the time to respond. Very helpful indeed! Appreciate you!!