Should chickens be vaccinated?

[realsis]

You can get the vaccine online from First State Vet Supply. Its sent properly and kept cold during transit. Ive done it both ways, ive done my own and ive had the hatchery vaccinate.Mareks in my opinion is a extremely important vaccine to give. Its the ONLY vaccine i give.i have personally seen friends flocks distroyed from Mareks disease. Its heart breaking.nothing is 100% but our very BEST line of defense is to vaccinate. So why not do it? After vaccinated keep in mind to give the birds a good month or longer to build immunity before exposure. Exposure being taken outside or exposure to adult birds. Immunity is NOT INSTANT. People tend to forget this. Their body has to have time to build antibodies, immunity. Hope this helps.

 

[Intheswamp]

You can get the vaccine online from First State Vet Supply. Its sent properly and kept cold during transit. Ive done it both ways, ive done my own and ive had the hatchery vaccinate.Mareks in my opinion is a extremely important vaccine to give. Its the ONLY vaccine i give.i have personally seen friends flocks distroyed from Mareks disease. Its heart breaking.nothing is 100% but our very BEST line of defense is to vaccinate. So why not do it? After vaccinated keep in mind to give the birds a good month or longer to build immunity before exposure. Exposure being taken outside or exposure to adult birds. Immunity is NOT INSTANT. People tend to forget this. Their body has to have time to build antibodies, immunity. Hope this helps.

I think Ja123 is in the United Kingdom...will there be an issue shipping a vaccine to a foreign country? Customs and all that....??

 

[billfunk]

I have 3 hens, a Bielefelder who was not vaccinated for Mareks and a Welsummer and DCM that were. There are other chickens in the neighborhood so I guess my Bielefelder is at risk. Can't see vaccinating one chicken but I'll post an update if I get burned.

 

[Caits Coop]

We don't but we are organic as well and my chickens are free range in 8 acres. If they were cooped up together all the time super close with limited grass I may consider it.

 

[Folly's place]

Birds raised as certified organic can (and should) get appropriate vaccinations. Bill, in your situation, with feral chickens out there, I would have any chicks ordered vaccinated at the hatchery, and then isolate them for the two weeks or so it takes for them to develop immunity to the Mareks disease that may well be present. Mary

 

[billfunk]

Thanks Mary, my 3 pullets are the basis for my future flock. If I vaccinate my Bielefelder for Mareks then my whole flock is protected. After a year or two of laying I hope to hatch my own chicks which means I will be vaccinating them myself.

 

[FreeRangers4Me]

I got to thinking about it and wonder if the issue is that the chickens that have been vaccinated do just as you said...they can get the virus but not exhibit the symptoms and the virus that they subsequently shed possibly becomes hotter and hotter.  They more or less become a living petri dish for the virus.  Just thinking outside the box, I guess, I am by no means a biologist or virologist.  Makes me kind of wonder, though.

Ed

This is exactly what it means. The most deadly strains, the ones that kill whole flocks, are new strains. The vaccine allows the birds to have the illness for a long time without symptoms. In that time, they believe it is mutating and that is where these 100% morbidity and 100% mortality strains are coming from. It's making the entire pharmacutical industry re-think the possible risk some vaccines could pose. Most vaccines work well enough that our immune systems kill it off completely in 7 days. Since the Merak's vaccine is made with a similar turkey pathogen and not the true pathogen, it's not killing it off fast enough. This is where the saying of 'once you vaccinate, you'll always need to vaccinate' comes from. Because you simply won't know if your birds have spread the disease on your property. The current vaccine needs to be scrapped and a new one made with proteins from the true pathogen. No live pathogens period.

This is a huge problem for wildlife. But it's also a problem for people who what to raise chickens for food security. What happens if you can't get the vaccine for some reason? That's not very secure.

 

[Folly's place]

I've had chickens since 1992, and have both vaccinated and unvaccinated birds in my flock. I NEVER get adult birds from anywhere, and am blessed that no neighbors have sick/ random source birds. I also necropsy every bird who dies of illness or ??? causes. So far, no Marek's disease here, for which I'm very glad. There's ongoing research into better vaccinations and management of this disease, wonderful. Meanwhile, vaccinating new chicks is their best protection against the tumors that cause so much suffering and death in infected chickens, and it's totally sad that anyone with an infected flock would send birds out to unsuspecting people, or bring the disease to another flock. Biosecurity is the best defense, and then vaccination, and then selecting for the healthiest breeding stock. Mary

 

[e72071]

I was reading something today that suggested you vaccinate your birds at different age stages with various types of vaccines. I did have my chicks get the mareks vaccine. Are any other vaccines really needed?

 

[Folly's place]

Most backyard flocks are only vaccinated for Marek's disease, not for anything else. Large commercial laying flocks, breeders, and poultry show flocks, are often (usually) vaccinated for many other diseases, and the schedules include different products at different times. Nothing to worry about for nearly all the rest of us! Mary