Vaccinate for Marek's Disease?

[jbpoole]

From the Ideal Poultry website:

"MAREK’S DISEASE VACCINATION: .20 per chick. IDEAL recommends that you vaccinate your flock only if you are mixing young and mature poultry, have ever been diagnosed with Marek’s Disease, or have ever had any chickens vaccinated for Marek's Disease live on your property. If you do not meet any of the criteria listed previously we do not recommend introducing Marek’s Disease to your property. The vaccine used is a live virus vaccine."

I've seen conflicting information regarding Marek's. For a first-time owner of a small (5-6 chicks) flock, what would you recommend in terms of vaccination?

 

[JacinLarkwell]

A lot of people I've seen on here tend to only vaccinate if they already have the virus in the flock

 

[CreveChris]

Just vaccinated my chicks--thanks to incubated egg hatches, not exactly at day-old, but close. It was not so bad.

My flock was day-old vaxed from the breeder and these are their hatchlings, so I chose to vaccinate. We live in a wilderness (on a salt mash river, with forest acreage) and I'm taking every precaution. Also working toward NPIP.

 

[kat_and_hens]

Where can I buy vaccine to dose new chicks? My current hens are vaccinated against Marek’s and we plan to get new chicks this spring from local farmers, who don’t vaccinate (I believe).

 

[TheAlrightyGina]

Where can I buy vaccine to dose new chicks? My current hens are vaccinated against Marek’s and we plan to get new chicks this spring from local farmers, who don’t vaccinate (I believe).

I would recommend talking to your vet to see if they can order the vaccine for you. It unfortunately only comes in a 1000 dose bottle, and has to be shipped cold, so it's kind of pricey.

 

[Folly's place]

The Marek's vaccine does not introduce this disease to your flock!!!
Vaccinated chicks are very unlikely to develop the tumors that cause suffering and death in chickens who are unvaccinated and infected with the disease, and having chicks vaccinated coming into a new environment is a good thing.
Waiting to have your flock infected, and only then vaccinating, isn't good for those original birds.
Ideal needs to give better advice...
Mary

 

[Ryguy3684]

I just hatched a batch of chicks last weekend in the incubator. I can't believe I didn't think about this. The new chicks are from our current flocks eggs. The current flock were mail order, and vaccinated for Mareks at the hatchery. Is it a problem that the chicks we just hatched aren't vaccinated? If so, is it too late to vaccinate them?

 

[Folly's place]

It's a problem if you actually have Marek's disease in your flock, and not a problem if not. The chicks need to be vaccinated as day-olds, and totally isolated from exposure to infection for two weeks afterwards, while they build immunity.
My home bred chicks aren't vaccinated either, and my hatchery chicks are, at the hatchery, and then isolated away from the birds and coop for those two weeks.
If you are unlucky and have Marek's disease appear in your flock, your unvaccinated birds will let you know.
Mary

 

[Ryguy3684]

It's a problem if you actually have Marek's disease in your flock, and not a problem if not. The chicks need to be vaccinated as day-olds, and totally isolated from exposure to infection for two weeks afterwards, while they build immunity.
My home bred chicks aren't vaccinated either, and my hatchery chicks are, at the hatchery, and then isolated away from the birds and coop for those two weeks.
If you are unlucky and have Marek's disease appear in your flock, your unvaccinated birds will let you know.
Mary

Mary, Thanks for the info.

Sorry to the OP for hijacking your thread. I was reading through and slapped myself on the forehead for not thinking about that. I usually overthink things and couldn't believe that never crossed my mind.

 

[CreveChris]

It's a problem if you actually have Marek's disease in your flock, and not a problem if not. The chicks need to be vaccinated as day-olds, and totally isolated from exposure to infection for two weeks afterwards, while they build immunity.
My home bred chicks aren't vaccinated either, and my hatchery chicks are, at the hatchery, and then isolated away from the birds and coop for those two weeks.
If you are unlucky and have Marek's disease appear in your flock, your unvaccinated birds will let you know.
Mary

On the one-day old chicks, that's a hatchery practice I'm not sure we can ever aspire to. Our Incubator chicks hatched over a three day period and then two eggs didn't hatch. The vaccination is good for an hour once mixed, so the new chicks got theirs at about a week old (averaged) and the chicks just completed their 14 day isolation.

Their parents were all vaccinated at day one. We'll introduce them in a completely separate area of the new coop next month. We are going for NPIP inspection after that. I also ordered my own salmonella tests. When I pass on my chicks to other keepers, I want them as disease-free as possible. JMHO