Questions about vaccines and communicable diseases chicken to chicken

[gritsar]

I think I'm obsessed with thinking about my future chickens and wanting to do everything just right.

Our area of Arkanas is heavily populated with commercial chicken houses. The closest commercial house to our house/garden area is about 3/4 mile, as the crow flies. I've read on Ideal's site where they don't recommend the Marek vaccination for small, backyard flocks. Do you think it would be a good idea to do it anyways due to having the commercial houses in the area? What about other vaccines?
Also, the neighbor with the closest commercial houses is also the one we borrow the tractor disk from for my garden space. When the SO brings the disk up here in the spring should I fill a sprayer with a bleach solution and spray the disk down before the SO uses it to plow up my garden space? The SO will look at me funny if I do this, but he already thinks "us chicken people" are a little unbalanced

so I'm not worried about that. The garden space is going to be split this year to make room for my chickens. It's important to note that most, if not all, the commercial growers around here use the used house bedding as fertilizer for the hay fields....including the man that rents our pasture for his cows. On the other hand, they vaccinate the poo outta the commercial chickens which is the whole reason I want to raise mine as naturally as possible.

 

[dlhunicorn]

You need to contact your state extension officer and ask what the vaccine reccomdations in your area/situation is as this will vary. Good BIOSECURITY > footbaths before you go and leave the chicken yard as well as keeping all clean and dry will help ensure you are doing all you can to keep your flock healthy and from harm.