vaccination advice

[steve&kris]

Hi,
I'm a new member and just bought my first 10 buff orpingtons. Being over anxious and not that smart, I didn't ask ahead of time about vaccinations or any other relevant questions. I just emailed the seller and she told me they don't do any vaccinations, have never heard of a case of Mareks around here, and that most people "don't bother" vaccinating. Is this valid (in my "keeping chickens" book, it says to always check for vaccinations ahead of time, but doesn't say what to do if not vaccinated. The breeder seemed very nice and they had plenty of healthy looking chickens around. Can anyone tell me what I should do at this point?

Thanks!

 

[Arielle]

HI, hopefully you will have some others chime in with more info; for now I'll tell you what I know.

I'm always suspisious that the reason "no one has heard of a case around here" is that many people DO vaccinate for merecks. From what I have read on BYC, is that when a flock is infected with MErecks, most of the chickens die. Which is why the vac is so important. If the birds have not ben vac you can do it yourself; these is a GREAT post listing the details. try the search feature--there are many posts.

I do have mine vac and ask at the feed store; hate to loose all the months of feeding because they are not vac. GL

 

[steve&kris]

Thanks Arielle,

I will go to the feed store tomorrow and see what they can tell me. Do you know if there is a standard set of illnesses that are generally vaccinated? I assume it should be more than just Mareks, but don't know what. At the feed store earlier I asked for organic chic feed, and was told "they just came out with it a couple weeks ago. we don't stock it because the regular chic starter has medicine in it that they need". I went with reg chic starter. Am I right in assuming that the "medicine" is different that vaccines?

Thanks!