Should chickens be vaccinated?

[BowChick2]

Yes. I was all "I just have homegrown, backyard chickens from a local farm that is all organic - I don't need vaccines". Then I lost 12 new beautiful chicklets as they had not been vaccinated and apparently my current flock from the organic farmer was carrying Marek's as my vet confirmed they died of Marek's. Another chicken owner friend had bought another group of 12 chicks from the same person and didn't lose one, so it had to be my original flock that were hatched in my son's classroom from a local farmer. An experience you don't forget. Now I vaccinate all new chicks received for Marek's myself and I haven't lost a bird yet in the past 5 years and I get new chicks every year. Watch a youtube video on a chicken experiencing Marek's and ask yourself if you would ever want that to happen to one of yours.

 

[Folly's place]

Welcome! So sorry for your experience with Marek's disease, that's learning the hard way, nasty. I'm glad that things have been manageable since. Mary

 

[AllynTal]

Yes. I was all "I just have homegrown, backyard chickens from a local farm that is all organic - I don't need vaccines". Then I lost 12 new beautiful chicklets as they had not been vaccinated and apparently my current flock from the organic farmer was carrying Marek's as my vet confirmed they died of Marek's. Another chicken owner friend had bought another group of 12 chicks from the same person and didn't lose one, so it had to be my original flock that were hatched in my son's classroom from a local farmer. An experience you don't forget. Now I vaccinate all new chicks received for Marek's myself and I haven't lost a bird yet in the past 5 years and I get new chicks every year. Watch a youtube video on a chicken experiencing Marek's and ask yourself if you would ever want that to happen to one of yours.

Well, not necessarily. Marek's does not spread from hen to egg, so those eggs did not carry Marek's. Understand that Marek's is everywhere and is so common that if you have birds, it's safe to say that they have been exposed to Marek’s, regardless of whether they show symptoms or not. Lack of biosecurity is one way that chickens can contract Marek's since the virus can be brought into your flock, for example, on the soles of your shoes after you picked up the active virus outside your property.

The question is, have the birds built up a resistance? The Marek's vaccine does not prevent the chicken from getting Marek's disease. The vaccine keeps the tumors from forming that would eventually kill the bird and any bird that caught Marek's (it is highly contagious) from that bird. So your vaccinated birds can have Marek's and spread Marek's but won't show symptoms themselves.

Opponents of the vaccine point to that as a reason NOT to have your birds vaccinated -- if they have Marek's, you'll never know it and the virus will be spread to unvaccinated birds that will die from it, which sounds like what happened in your case. By vaccinating them, you've made a whole flock of potential Typhoid Marys. If birds never leave your flock to go to another flock, that's not a big deal as long as every chick coming into the flock is vaccinated. A hen with Marek's resistance passes that resistance on to her chicks, but it only last for a few days, so vaccination is most effective if given within the first 24 hours after hatch.

If Marek's shows up in the flock, cull the affected birds and make it a strictly closed flock with strict biosecurity measures to prevent the virus from spreading. The only way to know whether your flock has Marek's is to not vaccinate them. I'm not an opponent of the vaccine, but I do see the logic in not having them vaccinated. It's a call we each have to make for our own flock.

Your flock has Marek's, so observe strict biosecurity measures so you don't carry the virus off your property.

https://extension.unh.edu/resources/files/Resource000791_Rep813.pdf

 

[BowChick2]

Yet every show chicken must have all required vaccinations, and they are most the purebred breeders stocking the backyard chickens - my cousin is a top national chicken judge and raises several varieties of purebreds himself. In fact, he has been referenced on BYC numerous times for his birds. All vaccinated. I would never bring my chickens elsewhere and my chickens live the good life in their very clean and secure hotel - still can't protect them from someone else walking in with something on their boots for a visit.

 

[AllynTal]

.... still can't protect them from someone else walking in with something on their boots for a visit.

Well, that's a big part of biosecurity...protecting them from things tracked in on boots -- yours and other peoples. Do you wear the same shoes in your yard around your birds that you wear to the feed store? The number one rule of biosecurity is not allowing outside people to come into contact with your birds or the area of the property that the chickens occupy. So it sounds like you have no biosecurity measures in place. Just sayn'......

https://www.aphis.usda.gov/publications/animal_health/2014/pub_bioguide_poultry_bird.pdf

 

[BowChick2]

I get it, you are against vaccinating. As a science teacher, I am well aware of biological issues, but thanks.

 

[keesmom]

Yet every show chicken must have all required vaccinations, and they are most the purebred breeders stocking the backyard chickens

First let me state I don't vaccinate, however I am not against it. I breed for myself, my birds do not have any discernable illnesses so there is no point in vaccinating. My original flock came from 2 different show breeders, neither of which vaccinated for anything either.

Therefore I am interested in what "all required vaccinations" for show birds entails. Last I knew birds just had to be state tested for specific diseases and banded to show proof they were tested. In this state that means pullorum typhoid and AI.

 

[AllynTal]

I get it, you are against vaccinating. As a science teacher, I am well aware of biological issues, but thanks.

Then you didn't read my post. I said I am NOT an opponent of vaccinating. I was responding to your emotional plea that implied anyone who doesn't vaccinate is somehow doing their flock a disservice. I merely pointed out that there are reasons why people don't vaccinate,and having had Marek's in your flock, biosecurity should be a bigger front-burner issue than it seems to be.

Show birds must be NPIP tested, which means they are tested for pullorum and AI here in my state. No where does it say they must have "all vaccinations."

 

[City_chickens]

Question ? , New here , and was wondering to purchase the mareks vaccine . Tried surfing the Web . There is a tractor supply close , but they have everyother vaccine ,but the one I'm looking for . The chicks are hatching at different rates . Is it worth it . But like I said new to this so learning as I go ..

 

[AllynTal]

Question ? , New here , and was wondering to purchase the mareks vaccine . Tried surfing the Web . There is a tractor supply close , but they have everyother vaccine ,but the one I'm looking for . The chicks are hatching at different rates . Is it worth it . But like I said new to this so learning as I go ..

Welcome to BYC.

I'll give you my experience with the Marek's vaccine:
Tractor Supply won't have the vaccine. The Marek's vaccine has very specific handling requirements and a short shelf life so it would be a special-order item from one of the few places backyard-chicken owners can get it. Shipping -- because it has to be kept refrigerated and priority-overnight shipped -- is VERY expensive. Shipping will be more than twice the cost of the vaccine itself. The vaccine comes in small bottles that contain 1000 doses and once you open the bottle, the vaccine is only good for 24 hours so if you have chicks hatching at different times, you'll need a different bottle for each hatch. The vaccine is most effective if given within 24 hours of hatching so you wouldn't really be able to 'save up' a bunch of hatchlings to vaccinate them all at once (but I guess you could if you wanted to). The suppliers of the vaccine are really only catering to the commercial poultry industry that will have thousands of chicks to vaccinate at once, so the backyard owner isn't really a concern for the vaccine manufacturers.

Understand that the vaccine does not prevent the chickens from getting Mareks. All it does is keep the tumors from forming that will eventually kill the bird if they contract Mareks. That means that once vaccinated, your chickens can get Mareks and be shedding the virus without you knowing they have it. That's fine as long as you keep a closed flock, but if you have showbirds or your chickens end up in someone else's flock, that could be bad since they'll be the 'Typhoid Mary' in the new flock.

Marek's is everywhere in the environment and your birds will come in contact with it. The best action, imho, is to breed for resistance rather than rely on the vaccine. If you get Marek's in your flock, at least you'll know it's there and the survivors will breed chicks with better resistance than the ones who succumbed.