Vaccinate for mareks disease? Or not?

[equine chick]

I have chicks coming on April 25. I’ve had chicks before and never vaccinated but it’s been a long time, about 7 years.
I ordered them through my feed store who gets them from townline and they will not be vaccinated . My question is should I vaccinate once they are home? I plan on talking with our vet who specializes in farm animals and is the only USDA avian vet in our part of the country. I also wanted to see the general opinion of EXPERIENCED chicken farmers. If not should I do medicated feed as well. I also have birds coming from Maryland in June. They will be vaccinated with mareks and new castle disease, free of charge . They do it with all their birds and was recently awarded the cleanest hatchery in the country, with no disease present. I can vaccinate if needed, my daughter is a vet tech so she can do it but I just need to know if I should order the vaccine or not before they get here.

 

[Melky]

I prefer vaccinated birds myself. For Mareks it needs to be on day one for effectiveness. I order mine from the hatchery that way. I also use 20% starter grower medicated feed up to 8 weeks per hatchery recommendations to remove risk of coccidiosis.

 

[Chickassan]

The mareks won't stop your chicks from contracting or spreading but it will make them non symptomatic.
I don't think the vaccine is easy to come by to just the average person, mostly hatcheries because as @Melky said it has to be administerd on day 1.

 

[sylviethecochin]

Medicated feed isn't really necessary. It's preferable for me (especially after last year--the year of WHY WON'T THIS RAIN JUST QUIT?!) but I'll use either, especially in dry weather.

I recommend this article: https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/the-great-big-giant-mareks-disease-faq.66077/

 

[Mosey2003]

I prefer medicated feed.

Like the others said, at this point you basically can't (or shouldn't) vaccinate them yourself, regardless. It will be too late. And unless your vet is able to do it, you have to order a huge vial of the vaccine, it would be a big waste of money.

My current lot are vaccinated because the breeder does it. I really need to look into more of the solid vaccine papers, I've seen posted that it's both leaky and that it's not, and that it's not a problem because it's the turkey strain, etc. I want some hard facts on it.

 

[EggSighted4Life]

Marek's vaccinated birds NOT welcome here ever... to hide the disease and allow it to proliferate. I might feel differently if I KNEW there was an aggressive form of it on my property and I couldn't deal with the fall out. I simply wouldn't buy from a breeder who insisted on vaccinating as it indicates to me they know they have a problem. Which btw, Marek's is NOT part of NPIP testing and nor is it required to be reported.

Medicated or non medicated feed is a personal choice. It generally has LOW dose amprolium which essentially mimics thiamine and slows the growth of coccidia which are in every single chicken poo by starving them out. I don't use it. Keeping brooders dry and water poo free works for me. Some people still find they need to treat with Corid despite using medicated feed. It all depends on your stock load and management practices. I did find once that shaving were wetter under neath than they appeared on top. Making sure to bring on some dirt from outside so they get exposed to the stuff on your soil before going out full time helps a LOT. Be sure and mind the quarantine time on the Marek's vaccinated chicks BEFORE doing this though.

The vaccine can be bought at feeds stores but comes in 1000 dose vials and (I believe) needs to have been stored properly.

Welcome back to chicken fun!

ETA: if they get vaccinated for coccidiosis... medicated feed should NOT be used as it negates the vaccine.