question re: Marek's vaccine & starting chicks from multiple sources/ages?

medusine

Chirping
Jun 9, 2020
33
9
54
Hi folks,

First timer here (mostly--we had a few chickens when I was a kid but I was not very involved in their care and upkeep). I am sometimes prone to rambling, so the TL;DR is at the bottom in bold:

I'm waiting on an order of local chicks that will be vaccinated, which I'll be picking up on I don't know exactly what date (we'd said mid/late June when I put my deposit down, but there was a Marek's shortage and then the next hatch was not enough to fill my order, and the lady is very nice but inconsistent re: replying to emails so I don't know when to expect them).

I had only ordered Bielefelders because they are autosexing and I am in a no-rooster zone, but I've recently been made aware of an area school/farm which will adopt unwanted roos (Hallelujah! I feel like I won the lottery). Now I am wanting to indulge in my original impulse to get a diverse flock with maybe some silkies, faverolles, millefleurs, ayam cemani... endless possibilities which were previously so abridged by my unwillingness to risk the 10% chance of a supposed hen turning out to be a rooster. Didn't want to be desperately trying to rehome on FB/Craigslist while my neighbors get more and more testy due to 4 AM crowing, you know? And husband agreed to chickens on the condition that I think every eventuality through and don't involve him in any surprise shenanigans.

SO, I'm considering a few mail-order chicks. I have now read enough to understand that if some of my chickens will be Marek's-vaccinated, then they should all be, because apparently the vaccinated chickens can be carriers, due to its being a live vaccine? Not sure if they are only potential carriers immediately after vaccination, or forevermore.

So this rules out mypetchicken.com because they don't offer vaccination for their bantams, ie those silkies I so want. I've found another supplier that isn't sold out, and now I am just wondering: I've read that the vaccine takes 4 to 7 days to take effect and confer immunity. If I get the first batch of chicks, say, a week or two before the second, and I only have one enclosure prepared for chicks prior to going to the coop; is there a chance that the earlier chicks, once their vaccine "takes effect", could transmit the virus to the chicks who were just barely vaccinated and haven't developed their immunity yet?
 
Hi folks,

First timer here (mostly--we had a few chickens when I was a kid but I was not very involved in their care and upkeep). I am sometimes prone to rambling, so the TL;DR is at the bottom in bold:

I'm waiting on an order of local chicks that will be vaccinated, which I'll be picking up on I don't know exactly what date (we'd said mid/late June when I put my deposit down, but there was a Marek's shortage and then the next hatch was not enough to fill my order, and the lady is very nice but inconsistent re: replying to emails so I don't know when to expect them).

I had only ordered Bielefelders because they are autosexing and I am in a no-rooster zone, but I've recently been made aware of an area school/farm which will adopt unwanted roos (Hallelujah! I feel like I won the lottery). Now I am wanting to indulge in my original impulse to get a diverse flock with maybe some silkies, faverolles, millefleurs, ayam cemani... endless possibilities which were previously so abridged by my unwillingness to risk the 10% chance of a supposed hen turning out to be a rooster. Didn't want to be desperately trying to rehome on FB/Craigslist while my neighbors get more and more testy due to 4 AM crowing, you know? And husband agreed to chickens on the condition that I think every eventuality through and don't involve him in any surprise shenanigans.

SO, I'm considering a few mail-order chicks. I have now read enough to understand that if some of my chickens will be Marek's-vaccinated, then they should all be, because apparently the vaccinated chickens can be carriers, due to its being a live vaccine? Not sure if they are only potential carriers immediately after vaccination, or forevermore.

So this rules out mypetchicken.com because they don't offer vaccination for their bantams, ie those silkies I so want. I've found another supplier that isn't sold out, and now I am just wondering: I've read that the vaccine takes 4 to 7 days to take effect and confer immunity. If I get the first batch of chicks, say, a week or two before the second, and I only have one enclosure prepared for chicks prior to going to the coop; is there a chance that the earlier chicks, once their vaccine "takes effect", could transmit the virus to the chicks who were just barely vaccinated and haven't developed their immunity yet?
You know, I can't say for certain, but I have a mix of bantams (not vaccinated) and big girls (vaccinated). I haven't had any problems, but that's just me, and I might just be lucky.
 
You might just ask the hatchery you order from. I can tell you from experience that ordering sexed bantams from MPC is something you need to do many months in advance. I think you'll be ok, but I bet the hatchery will he able to tell you.
 
I agree hatcheries that offer vaccinations, would know the full range of questions involved with it. Since they been doing it for years for there customers.
 
Chickens do NOT get Marek's disease from the vaccine, and vaccinated chicks do NOT cause any problems with unvaccinated chicks. It takes maybe two weeks from being given the vaccine for the chicks to be protected (not from the virus, but from the tumors caused by the virus) so vaccinated chicks need to be isolated during that time from exposure to the virus.
I buy hatchery chicks, and have them vaccinated against Marek's disease, and isolate them for over two weeks before they go to my coop. Birds hatched here aren't vaccinated, and I so far haven't had this miserable disease appear in my flock.
Read about biosecurity!!!
One healthy looking but contagious bird can bring in Marek's disease, which is there for years, or some other nasty disease that can wipe out your flock.
If you allow visitors, no clothing or shoes from their farm, and keep your barn shoes and boots at home too.
I never get outside birds, except those chicks from good hatcheries. No other outside birds!
Mary
 
Chickens do NOT get Marek's disease from the vaccine, and vaccinated chicks do NOT cause any problems with unvaccinated chicks.

I forget which hatchery FAQ I was reading where they said re: ordering the vaccine, "if you've never had Marek's on your property we don't recommend introducing it" ie via bringing vaccinated birds. Google search produces this:

" Chickens vaccinated against Marek’s disease rarely get sick. But the vaccine does not prevent them from spreading Marek’s to unvaccinated birds.... A leaky vaccine is one that keeps a microbe from doing serious harm to its host, but doesn’t stop the disease from replicating and spreading to another individual. On the other hand, a “perfect” vaccine is one that sets up lifelong immunity that never wanes and blocks both infection and transmission."

But it sounds like you've had good luck so far... maybe there's a viral load factor to transmission (like with COVID) and the vaccinated carriers don't usually produce/shed very much, so a chance of transmission exists, but it is a low probability?

Huh, this guy seems to say that it's not so much that the vaccine itself can make chickens carriers, but that the vaccine allows them to potentially become infected later without getting sick--and then they're carriers.
 
Yes, exactly. Unfortunately there's not (yet) a vaccine that prevents this disease, but it can prevent the suffering that infected birds experience when they develop those tumors and other issues. It's important to try very hard, and to be lucky, so that Marek's disease doesn't invade the flock. Here I've been very careful, and also lucky, and I hope it continues.
Once Marek's disease is in the flock, other choices have to be made, which is another story.
Mary
 
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if some of my chickens will be Marek's-vaccinated, then they should all be, because apparently the vaccinated chickens can be carriers, due to its being a live vaccine?

No, you have misinformation. The vaccination is Turkey Marek's, not Chicken Marek's, so chickens cannot pass it to other chickens. Turkey Marek's does not hurt the chickens. As Mary said, it does not prevent the chicken from getting Chicken Marek's, it prevents the tumors that cause the problems.

It is possible for the chicken to get Chicken Marek's and be a carrier. Since you cannot see the symptoms you do not know if it is a carrier or not. But if it gets Chicken Marek's it did not get it from the vaccine. A vaccinated chicken is not automatically a carrier, but it can be.

I do not vaccinate my chicks. If a broody hen hatches them they would be exposed long before a vaccine takes effect. If I raise them in a brooder, my brooder is in the coop so again they would be exposed before the vaccine could take effect. I've never seen Marek's in my flock. If I did some of my practices might change. Hopefully I will not be faced with that.
 

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