Vaccinating older birds for Marek's

[nuts4chickens]

Can you vaccinate older birds for Marek's? I've decided to vaccinate my new chicks for Mareks if/when they hatch and wondered if I can vaccinate my older flock at the same time? My older birds arent vaccinated. I've decided I want to follow a vaccination program now and I dont know a whole lot about the ages/ time frames this needs to be done, and if you can mix vaccinated and non-vaccinated birds together. Still learning, here. Advice? Anything else you vaccinate for? I was thinking about vaccinating for mycoplasma g and maybe a few others. What/when do you vaccinate your birds for?

 

[cobrien]

All I can tell you is that my avian vet said it must be done at 1 day old. If that is wrong then I'd like to know!

 

[Momo]

Yes you can vaccinate older birds for Mareks. The dosage is the same as for baby chicks.

 

[cobrien]

Thank you for posting, I didn't know that, do you know how high the risk is? Is it generally recommended to vaccinate older birds? I have 7 chickens in the city.

 

[Billy7871]

I have done some reading on it and ever thing says they get it from 10 to 22 weeks of age and found nothing on giving older chickens the shot. I am sure you can give it to them with out any harm.

 

[nuts4chickens]

Do any of you vaccinate for anything else? Anyone have any thoughts on the mycoplasma g. vaccine? Jeffers has it, and it is expensive... but I'm thinking about it. My goal is to try to keep my birds healthy on good feed, sunshine, clean coops, and trying not to ever have to use antibiotics(if at all possible)... so I thought the best way to try to stay as organic as possible would be to reduce the chance of sickness and disease through prevention. I dont want to go vaccination overboard... just trying to sort out which ones are worth it.

 

[silkiechicken]

I don't vaccinate for anything and also don't use antibiotics or medicines.... on the small scale, they usually just don't need it. If it was in your area, the adults would be immune already.

 

[nuts4chickens]

Silkiechicken- Thanks for posting. That is the whole reason I'm on BYC... is to get different ideas and viewpoints and to try to learn. I'm trying to look at it from all angles.

 

[Momo]

There's no risk involved in vaccinating older birds. The vet at feathersite recommends it when needed. I vaccinate all my chicks for Mareks because I lost most of my first flock to it - I don't know if that first batch of chickies were exposed before they were shipped to me, or whether my neighbour's chickens across the street were carriers. It turns out that Mareks is now endemic in most areas. There are numerous strains and some are more virulent than others, and lots of flocks are carriers whether their owners are aware of it or not. If your chickens happen to have a strain that's not particularly virulent, as many do, it will in effect give them protection against the more virulent forms.

 

[gritsar]

Quote:
That's my take on it too. The only thing I do that I don't believe you do silkie is to worm once a year. The parasites run rampant in the enviroment here.