The 6th Annual BYC Easter Hatch-a-long!

[jbenson]

DH is late getting home from work - so the incubator may have found itself totally full again after last weekend's disaster caused it to sit empty maintaining temperature for the last 5 days.

Now I really gotta sell a slew of chicks on Sunday or when our re-ship from Welp arrives next week, we'll be out of brooder room. And I gotta have a few days were DH thinks we are low on chicks to make up for the completely full incubator

 

[Mama Bay]

Question- the chicks I just got (came from Privetts Hatchery) are vaccinated against Marecks. How would I go about vaccinating the chicks I have in the incubator (if I so choose)? Do you all normally vaccinate?

 

[ronott1]

Question- the chicks I just got (came from Privetts Hatchery) are vaccinated against Marecks. How would I go about vaccinating the chicks I have in the incubator (if I so choose)? Do you all normally vaccinate?

I do not vaccinate because from what I can tell the vaccine we can get at home is not very effective.

The chicks from Privetts were inoculated with a better vaccine inside the shell before they hatched. We have to inject with the inferior vaccine with a needle before they are exposed to mareks, up to a couple of weeks old.

You can mix vaccinated with non vaccinated after a short time of them being vaccinated so either way you want to go is fine.

 

[Razadia]

Question- the chicks I just got (came from Privetts Hatchery) are vaccinated against Marecks. How would I go about vaccinating the chicks I have in the incubator (if I so choose)? Do you all normally vaccinate?

I don't vac my chicks. There's no real point since it doesn't prevent them from getting it.

 

[Mama Bay]

I do not vaccinate because from what I can tell the vaccine we can get at home is not very effective.

The chicks from Privetts were inoculated with a better vaccine inside the shell before they hatched. We have to inject with the inferior vaccine with a needle before they are exposed to mareks, up to a couple of weeks old.

You can mix vaccinated with non vaccinated after a short time of them being vaccinated so either way you want to go is fine.

Ok thanks!

 

[Mama Bay]

I do not vaccinate because from what I can tell the vaccine we can get at home is not very effective.

The chicks from Privetts were inoculated with a better vaccine inside the shell before they hatched. We have to inject with the inferior vaccine with a needle before they are exposed to mareks, up to a couple of weeks old.

You can mix vaccinated with non vaccinated after a short time of them being vaccinated so either way you want to go is fine.

Is there something one can add to their food to help prevent it?

 

[Mama Bay]

I don't vac my chicks. There's no real point since it doesn't prevent them from getting it.

Ok thanks!

 

[NikkiCole5]

HEY. IF I WIN A PRIZE. I WANT IT TO GO TO THE NEWEST MEMBER(S) WITH THE WORST HATCH RATE. sorry for yelling

That's sweet of you!

 

[ronott1]

Is there something one can add to their food to help prevent it?

mareks is a herpes type virus so the best thing to do is try to keep them as healthy as possible.

The initial infection is usually symptom free. It is not the big killer unless you have an un healthy or not mareks resistant flock. I have never had a sick chicken from thie initial infection but I have had a Hatchery hen die of Mareks cancer.

Just like in humans, the herpes virus will become a reproductive cancer later. With hens, that is usually after two years old. Mareks cancer is the big killer with mareks.

Use a pro biotic and make sure the flock is healthy. A percentage of your hens will die after two years old from mareks cancer with or without the vaccine.

 

[Razadia]

Quote: I think Happy Chooks has also said she does vac her chicks, but I don't think she ever said why. I've done a lot of reading on the subject and most of the articles I've read say that it stops the tumors cause by Merak's from forming. It seems like a bad thing to me. It's one of the things that are looked for in deceased birds when determining the cause of death in a necropsy.

In the end it's a personal choice.