Vaccinations?

[horsejody]

The vaccine is made to cover the most common form. The other forms are much less common.

 

[Farmgirl_dk]

I *LOVE* this forum and this thread - I am desperate for advice on Marek's and my first chick-raising venture.

Brief history: A month ago I moved to a rural property that has never (to my knowledge) had chickens before. After research (and my own personal feelings), I decided *not* to purchase chicks through any well-know mail-order hatcheries, as I wanted to limit the amount of stress "my" new babies would undergo and I wanted to buy as locally as possible.

So...I have been talking to two of my local farm and feed stores, anticipating the arrival of my chicks next Tuesday and Thursday. Since everything I had read led me to believe that all chicks are routinely vaccinated against Marek's, I had assumed these hatcheries supplying my farm and feed stores would, too. Wrong-o!!! Neither of the hatcheries (Dunlap in Idaho or Phinney in Walla, Walla, Washington) will be vaccinating prior to shipping to the stores!

I'm very nervous about Marek's and am nervous that my first venture into chick-rearing will be a deadly disaster for my chicks. Now, I don't know what to do.

I have also now missed my window of opportunity to buy from the well-known hatcheries because they are now sold-out (except for cockerals).

While I'm not anxious to vaccinate these babes myself, having never done anything like this before, I would do it if I had to, however, everything I've read says that you need to vaccinate them within a day of being hatched.

Thoughts on how I should proceed?

Thanks,
Still-chickless-in-Oregon

 

[pips&peeps]

If you are on a property that has never had chickens and you don't plan on showing, then my opinion is not to vaccinate.

And, in the future only buy day old chicks.

 

[speckledhen]

I have never vaccinated any of my birds for anything and do not plan to do so in the future. I feed chick starter with Amprolium to help combat cocci, but that's all.

 

[Farmgirl_dk]

Thank you pips&peeps and speckled hen for your quick responses! I appreciate it.

 

[theskyisfalling]

this is what horsejody told me on this

Quote:

 

[cgmccary]

You would NOT have to have had your chicks vaccinated if your prior birds had been vaccinated. The vaccinated birds are not carriers of Marek's necessairly; any chicken can carry it. The vaccination is made from the live virus {actually, it is the Turkey Herpes Virus-- NOT harmful to chickens or humans} that infects turkeys anyway.

So, Vaccinated birds will not give Marek's to unvaccinated birds. What you must be careful about is IF you have your chicks vaccinated for Marek's then you need to keep them isolated from all other birds, vaccinated or not, for 3-4 weeks to give the vaccine a chance to build immunity. Vaccinated chicks MUST be protected from unvaccinated adults for 3-4 weeks.

The reason vaccinations may fail is because the young chicks are exposed to Marek's before the vaccine has had time to work. Marek's is spread airbourne, feather dander, dust, etc. It can be brought in on your clothes too. Chicks catch it in the first 5-6 months of life (they're prone to actually catch the virus in a very small window of their lives but the virus may not manifest until years later when the bird is under stress or some other circumstance. As the good folks have said, there are diffrent strains of Marek's. The vaccine protects from the common Marek's, the one that causes paralysis, a virulent form. All flocks have been exposed. No need to vaccinate older birds because if they are going to get Marek's, then they caught it already in their young lives. As one poster said, Marek's is everywhere & survives decades.

 

[Farmgirl_dk]

Excellent. This, too, is very helpful. The hatchery has told me that all their breeding stock has been vaccinated, so I am assuming that my chicks will be fine now without the vaccine.

If I were to add youngsters to my flock in the future, have them vaccinated, and add them to my existing unvaccinated flock, would this cause a problem for the adults? Or would they have already built up tolerance to it from the wild birds, etc. slowly over time?

 

[Mrs MIA]

I just received a batch of chicks from McMurray last week, and I DID have them vaccinated for Mareks. They will be isolated from the other hens in the flock until they are nearly full grown, and they have been started on medicated feed. My first girls (spring 2006) came from the feed store as day olds, and I have no idea if they were vaccinated for Mareks (probably not?). I've also rescued/adopted several birds from people around my area, which I also have no idea what their vaccination status is. They all co-exist happily in the same pen, and I have not seen any signs of disease or infections.

My question is this - I am planning on hatching my own chickens in the near future, for my own pens and possibly to sell locally, either as chicks or incubator-ready eggs. Is there any vaccinations that are required for this? Or do I just disclose that vaccination status of the parent birds is unknown?
Thank you for your insights and knowledge!

 

[cgmccary]

If I were to add youngsters to my flock in the future, have them vaccinated, and add them to my existing unvaccinated flock, would this cause a problem for the adults?

NO PROBLEM FOR ADULTS. They would catch Marek's ONLY when young. The vaccine is a Turkey's herpes virus and not harmful to chickens at all. You can raise your young chicks around Turkeys and it acts like a vaccine! Actually, it is the other way around. You MUST protect vaccinated chicks from UNVACCINATED ADULT BIRDS or the vaccination may not prevent the chicks from catching Marek's!

Or would they have already built up tolerance to it from the wild birds, etc. slowly over time?

Chickens do not build up tolerance to Marek's. If they are vaccinated, they may be immune from the commonest Marek's, the one that causes paralysis. Either your adult chickens caught Marek's when they were young (up to 6 months of age) OR they did not. If they did, it may never manifest itself. They do develop a natural immunity past 6 months of age BUT if they caught Marek's during that small window of their young lives (up to 24 weeks of age), then Marek's could show up at ANY age.

There are some chickens that supposedly have been bred resistant to Marek's but you'd never know this. Make sense?​