Vaccinated and Unvaccinated Chicks?

[natalie1989]

I am sure most of this has been covered, but I am still nervous and unclear as to what to do. This is my second year keeping chickens. We have one rooster and nine hens. We are expecting four chicks from the hatchery next week. They will be vaccinated for Marek's, and my plan was to keep them in the brooder and offer medicated starter feed. Meanwhile, Fried Chicken has been sitting on five eggs. I am unsure what to do...I would be afraid to offer medicated starter if any of them hatch, because my laying hens will help themselves. I had planned to try to buy Mareks and Coccidosis vaccines, but now I wonder if that is the right choice, or if I can even do that. What would you all do?

 

[SunHwaKwon]

I am sure most of this has been covered, but I am still nervous and unclear as to what to do. This is my second year keeping chickens. We have one rooster and nine hens. We are expecting four chicks from the hatchery next week. They will be vaccinated for Marek's, and my plan was to keep them in the brooder and offer medicated starter feed. Meanwhile, Fried Chicken has been sitting on five eggs. I am unsure what to do...I would be afraid to offer medicated starter if any of them hatch, because my laying hens will help themselves. I had planned to try to buy Mareks and Coccidosis vaccines, but now I wonder if that is the right choice, or if I can even do that. What would you all do?

It doesn't matter if the hens eat the medicated starter. The hens will likely eat any starter that you offer if you don't have a way of blocking their access to it.

Some hatcheries offer Coccidiosis vaccine and some don't. It was given to my chicks from Hoovers and almost all of them died. My pet chicken does not offer it because they say they are already going through enough stress from the shipping and it is detrimental to add to that by infecting them with coccidia, and I am inclined to believe that reasoning given my recent experience. Granted, the chicks did also happen to be shipped during a cold snap, but I don't think the vaccine helped any.

Just remember, medicated starter and the Mareks vaccine have nothing to do with each other in any way. Also, medicated starter does not have antibiotics (in the traditional sense of the word). I personally just feed regular starter, and I get my chicks out in the dirt as soon as possible to start building their immune systems.