Please, tell me this is not a bad idea.

[briana1975]

Well our local TSC got chicks in today. I know this because I keep calling to find out. We just got our first chicks Friday from Ideal .They all arived alive but 1 little one wasn't thriving. She didn't make it. Anyways if you don't count the peanuts we will now only have 11 chicks. The peanuts will go in the freezer when they are big enough. The problem is I ordered all of our chicks vaccinated for Merecks. The chicks from TSC are not vaccinated. My understanding is that I shouldn't mix them. Is this correct? Because I will need to go pick up feed this weekend and I would really like to add a couple more BO. But I also do not want to get them home and have them die because of the Merecks vaccine that my chicks got. Ok let me know if you think getting these chicks is a bad idea or not.

 

[Wynette]

You need to keep vaccinated chicks AWAY from ANY other poultry for 10 days. This is imperative! You shouldn't even go near their brooder if you've been in contact with other chicks/chickens. It takes the vaccine 10 full days to be useful.

 

[briana1975]

Ok. So I should not get chicks, but not even visit chicks at TSC when I go get feed? Once my chicks are over 10 days old would it be safe to introduce an unvaccinated chicks into my little flock?

 

[Wynette]

The vaccine is not shed to other chicks/chickens as some folks think it is. So, you should be safe to introduce new chicks after 10 days. You just need to make sure that you are clean and wash hands, etc., before handling your chicks when you've been around/near others. I even go so far as to change clothes before I go into the room where the brooder is. You can't be "too safe" that first 10 days!

 

[JessaLynn]

I was concerned with this as well.I ordered 26 chicks from Welp and had them vaccinated but got impatient and went to our feed store and ordered 10 more (not vaccinated) I got my ten chicks already but still waiting for my 26 and was concerned about mixing them.I'll just have them in seperate brooders.I'll keep my ten inside and the 26 outside in the garage just to be sure.

 

[briana1975]

This weekend my chicks will be over ten days old. I don't get to get out durning the week. So I wouldn't be able to get to TSC till Saturday. At that point the chicks will be 11 days old. It would be safe at that point to introduce new chicks with no harm to them. We have 2 brooders but the big one has 2 turkey poults in it right now. It was really sad for me when I lost that little chick and I hope not to have to do that again any time soon. I would feel really bad if all the new chicks died due to me rushing. The brooders are in the basement so I am getting a lot of extra exercise running up and down the stairs to wash my hands between caring for the turkeys and the chicks.

 

[Whispering Winds]

Quote:
So, in otherwords, we need to either get ALL non-vac. or vac. just to be on the safe side?

 

[ging3rhoffman]

Oh no....i am new to chicks and i have gotten 3 different batches some from hatcherys and some from my local feed store, which came from a hatchery. The ones from meyers had their vaccines and the ones from mt healthy (feed store) were not vaccinated. I have them all together. The all seem healthy. I have 5 week olds and 2 week old chicks. I hope they will be okay.

 

[ChcknLady]

When I ordered mine I asked Mt Healthy about this and she said there is no reason why you can't keep vaccinated and non together. I wasn't sure on the topic either and have heard many different things from contaminated feces, to medicated feed being too much for the vaccinated ones, etc... All of which seems pretty crazy. But I just went with what the big hatchery lady told me (i'm a newbie and she's not).

 

[ilovechickens]

I received my chicks almost weeks ago and they were vaccanated for merek's , a friend of mine took her EE's from my order and a week later got chicks from another place, local feed store, they are all together and are all doing great. They also get medicated feed so far so good, her's and mine are doing fine