Vaccinating adult chickens?

[Brahmachicken240]

Wondering if I can vaccinate my adult flock (4 months - 2 years) for fowl pox, Mareks and coccidiosis ?
Are they too old to vaccinate? Is there any risks?

 

[Brahmachicken240]

@casportpony @Eggcessive
@Wyorp Rock

 

[Brahmachicken240]

They have some sort of respiratory illness https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/chick-gasping-for-air.1331868/
So I’m worried about them catching something else.

 

[Eggcessive]

Vaccinating for coccidiosis and Mareks now is probably a waste of time, and unnecessary. Those diseases both affect young chickens, and they will grow up becoming more tolerant of coccidia in the soil. Mareks, if it is in your environment, will affect them as chicks. Those two vaccines should be given when chicks are newly hatched as day old chicks. Fowl pox vaccine can be given at any age if there is a danger of it in your environment. If used as a young chick, it may need a booster. Here is some info about fowl pox vaccines:
https://extension.msstate.edu/publications/publications/fowl-pox-backyard-flocks

https://www.hyline.com/aspx/redbook/redbook.aspx?s=5&p=35

 

[Fishkeeper]

Well, you won't be doing it right now. You can't vaccinate while they're sick. Vaccinations should only be given to healthy creatures, otherwise the overwhelmed immune system won't be likely to remember it.

Remember, a vaccination does not in and of itself prevent disease. It shows the immune system "here is something to remember", so that if your animals do encounter that disease in the future, the immune system spots it and can hopefully kill it off before it infects them.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Wondering if I can vaccinate my adult flock (4 months - 2 years) for fowl pox, Mareks and coccidiosis ?
Are they too old to vaccinate? Is there any risks?

Do you have Marek's in your flock?
Fowl Pox (especially Wet Form ) a big problem?
Coccidiosis a big problem for you too?

Personally, I would not vaccinate period. Imho, your birds are too old for vaccination, but do some research and find out what you think is best.
Once birds "naturally" have Fowl Pox and recover, they are generally resistant. There are different strains of Fowl Pox, so it's possible that birds will still get "sick" even if vaccinated.

Chickens build resistance to the strains of Coccidia that is found in their environment. Keeping chicks on clean dry bedding, keeping water stations clean and giving them dirt from where they will live are all helpful in introducing those strains of Coccidia early so they can slowly build resistance. I always keep Amprolium on hand, but have rarely used it. I check chick poop religiously. Like most vaccines - the Coccidiosis vaccine only "covers" 3-4(?) strains - there are 9 strains that affect poultry. Not every strain will be found in every environment.

As for Marek's - usually that is given either in ovo or at hatch. Like everything else there are numverous strains. The Marek's vaccine helps prevent the formation of tumors, but will not prevent infection from the virus. Each of us needs to do our research and determine if vaccine(s) are right for the flock(s) that we keep.

Sometimes reading the information sheets from the various manufacturers of the vaccines will give you very good information - ages, when to administer, etc.
https://www.jefferspet.com/products/fowl-pox-vaccine-1000-d
https://www.zoetisus.com/_locale-assets/mcm-portal-assets/msds_pi/pi/md-vac_cfl.pdf

https://www.merck-animal-health-usa.com/pdfs/poultry/coccivac-b52-product-label.pdf

 

[Eggcessive]

Here is a link that I left on your other thread where to contact your state poultry vet to check on how to get testing for MG and IB:
https://www.metzerfarms.com/PoultryLabs.cfm

In some states, the NPIP people may test your flock as well.

 

[Brahmachicken240]

Do you have Marek's in your flock?
Fowl Pox (especially Wet Form ) a big problem?
Coccidiosis a big problem for you too?

No, just wondering if they could do with being vaccinated to prevent them from catching something else.

 

[Brahmachicken240]

Vaccinating for coccidiosis and Mareks now is probably a waste of time, and unnecessary. Those diseases both affect young chickens, and they will grow up becoming more tolerant of coccidia in the soil. Mareks, if it is in your environment, will affect them as chicks. Those two vaccines should be given when chicks are newly hatched as day old chicks. Fowl pox vaccine can be given at any age if there is a danger of it in your environment. If used as a young chick, it may need a booster. Here is some info about fowl pox vaccines:
https://extension.msstate.edu/publications/publications/fowl-pox-backyard-flocks

https://www.hyline.com/aspx/redbook/redbook.aspx?s=5&p=35

Here is a link that I left on your other thread where to contact your state poultry vet to check on how to get testing for MG and IB:
https://www.metzerfarms.com/PoultryLabs.cfm

In some states, the NPIP people may test your flock as well.

thanks! Will look into it.

 

[ackie]

I dont know anything about Fowl Pox but second that Mareks in in-ovo or day-old chicks. As stated, it doesnt prevent the virus, just the symptoms, so a Mareks-vaccinated bird exposed to Mareks can still get Mareks, not get physically sick and therefore run around healthy and normal, potentially giving Mareks to all your other chickens. Vaccinated ones will go on being asymptomatic spreaders and unvaccinated ones will develop tumors and can die. So it's really an all-or-nothing vaccine in my opinion. Either your whole flock needs it or you're whole flock shouldnt have it. If you intend to do any backyard breeding, I would suggest against starting with any Mareks vaccinated birds as it is pretty cost prohibitive to vaccinate on a small scale. The vaccine is only viable for like 24 hours after mixing so unless you have a huge clutch, theres going to be waste.

I dont know a lot about the coccidiosis vaccine in particular but there are a few that you bird needs to be vaccinated for *before* coming in contact with the disease in the wild, and I suspect coccidiosis is one of them. But also, as stated, your birds will naturally build up a tolerance to the coccidia in your environment. The point of amprolium-medicated feed for chicks is to boost their ability to handle the coccidia until their immune systems catch up to handling it on their own.