To Incubate or Order. . .that is the Question

[NatJ]

3. I suggest you only buy vaccinated chicks until the infected chickens (exposed, unvaccinated) that you have now have all passed - even if this is 10 years. After a good amount of time (I've heard 1-2 years) have passed without them in the flock, then you can think about hatching and consider yourself Mareks free (maybe).

Probably not quite.
The vaccinated ones can still get the disease, carry it, and spread it.
The vaccine just makes them less likely to show symptoms, and less likely to die.

As long as chickens are continually present, Mareks will also be present--regardless of whether those chickens are vaccinated

 

[Folly's place]

Another option would be to fall in love with ducks...
Mary

 

[0wen]

I lost my first flock of birds to Marek's. Years ago before I had any real experience keeping birds. My wife decided to rescue a silkie and nurse it back to health. Obviously a big mistake and a costly lesson learned. After watching several birds succumb to Marek's, we de-populated the rest of the flock. We've vaccinated ever since (exception discussed later) and don't bring any live birds onto our farm.

Fast forward years later and we had a bird we bought from MPC develop Leukosis and again, we de-populated. That has been several years and since then, we only hatch our own eggs. We got our initial stock from Dick Horstman (mostly) mixed with a few local eggs to make the kids a small fun egg flock (EE's Svart Hona, etc).

I'm in the opposite camp in that I think for the long run, it's better to start hatching your own birds and getting comfortable with the vaccination process. It's simple and one the first time squeamishness and nerves are out of the way, it goes pretty quick.

I cant find the link presently, but at the time had been told Marek's can stay on the property for a year or 2. My current mutt flock, I chose not to vaccinate to test for the presence of Marek's as a precaution (mind you, this is 7 or 8 years later). They're all alive and well so confident there isn't an active strain of Marek's present. We still vaccinate our birds as a precaution and I recommend doing the same.

On 'Marek's Disease resistant birds.' Mostly myth. It's possible, with decades of generations. Fortunate enough to be close to a couple of universities with good agriculture, livestock, and poultry programs. He's the quote I tend to believe when someone tries to sell my on the idea of Marek's resistant birds. (the bold is a headline of common myths and misconceptions, not advice)

1. Don't vaccinate birds so that the survivors will become resistant. Genetic disease resistance takes decades to develop and so far, has not been successful with Marek's Disease. If it were successful, one would think the commercial chicken genetic companies would have developed resistant chickens by now.

 

[BaaKaaawk]

I've hatched a lot of chicks with no vaccinations which ended up happy healthy chickens. I've also raised a ton of chicks which came pre-vaccinated. I've even raised them all together. Really at the end of the day, you have to do what you want to do based on your risk profile. If you want to hatch eggs and are ok with the risk of doing so (AKA you may lose some in incubation, you may lose some at hatching, you may lose some after to disease) then by all means do it. Your alternative is a heck of a lot easier, that is buying pre-vaccinated chicks that have already made it past a lot of the deadly hurdles, but it is also not you hatching eggs. So really, it comes down to what you want out of it.

 

[LadiesAndJane]

I would pick chicks over eggs any day. I LOVE incubating and hatching eggs, but if you want to be sure you actually get chicks, then ordering them is best. Depending on the breeds you want, you can get chicks already vaccinated for Mareks. Most hatcheries offer Mareks. Many smaller breeders do as well. If you order hatching eggs and they have to be shipped to you, there is no guarantee they will hatch. Depends on too many variables. Good luck with your decision.

 

[2150MormonRd]

Thanks everyone for the advice. Hearing someone say ordering chicks are easier was really something I needed. I can isolate them for four weeks easily and ramp up the security measures. I think also it will give me more control over what I select.

 

[LizzzyJo]

I am so sorry that this happened to you. A few thoughts...

1. While it is prevalent, it is not in everyone's flock. There are ways to avoid it which involve high levels of biosecurity and - very often - less 'fun and instant gratification' like trading hens with unknown people and rescuing hens.
2. Mareks is in your ground now and will be for a very long time (years past the last chicken).
3. I suggest you only buy vaccinated chicks until the infected chickens (exposed, unvaccinated) that you have now have all passed - even if this is 10 years. After a good amount of time (I've heard 1-2 years) have passed without them in the flock, then you can think about hatching and consider yourself Mareks free (maybe).

**Please do not rehome any chickens from your flock or any that you hatch. Please.**

 

[LizzzyJo]

Probably not quite.
The vaccinated ones can still get the disease, carry it, and spread it.
The vaccine just makes them less likely to show symptoms, and less likely to die.

As long as chickens are continually present, Mareks will also be present--regardless of whether those chickens are vaccinated

Very interesting. It is such an unfortunate disease. Thank you for the update. I was just thinking about the ground clearing, but not considering the carrying of the disease.

 

[2150MormonRd]

Another option would be to fall in love with ducks...
Mary

I actually wanted ducks to begin with but a friend alerted me to the poop, more mud and poop than I'd ever know how to deal with. Lol. I decided not. And turkeys seemed interesting until I learned about blackhead.
Chickens are it for now.

 

[Erin80]

We ordered and we are going to hatch....which is stupid because last year we hatched out literally 90% cockerels. Guess I didn’t learn my lesson! Haha. Hatching is fun for the kids (and me!), so we will just do a couple small batches.