Vaccine

[Audrie80]

Where do you like to buy the Mareks vaccine, the syringes and needles for an at home Mareks vaccination?

 

[MysteryChicken]

I don't vaccinate my birds, so I can't answer that.

But someone who does, may answer though.

 

[Audrie80]

Do you have a good survival rate?

 

[Eggcessive]

The options for Mareks vaccine are few, and the cost is driven up by the necessary ice pack and cooler being necessary for shipping. Most vaccines are 1000 dose, and needs to be used within an hour of addition the diluent to the powder vaccine. Chicks do best when vaccinated as day olds and hatcheries have a better vaccine usually. Valleyvet.com, jefferspet.com, and strombergchickens.com all offer them. Be sure to read the package insert or the online directions completely. It takes at least 2 weeks after the vaccine for immunity to develop. If Mareks is a big problem in your area I would get it. I have had both vaccinated and unvaccinated chicks and have never had the disease.

 

[MysteryChicken]

Do you have a good survival rate?

None of my birds have contracted Marek's, so yes.

Plus, alittle info on the Marek's Vaccine. It's leaky, it creates more carriers of the disease, & lessens symptoms/slows tumor growth, allowing effected birds to live abit longer. This means, only Marek's vaccinated birds can be added to an existing vaccinated flock.

 

[Eggcessive]

I respectfully disagree with that. I had vaccinated chicks with my first batch. Then I got more chicks that were not vaccinated. I got more vaccinated chicks the next year, and then bred my own chickens, hatched some shipped eggs later, and have never had a case of Mareks in 11 years. Giving the vaccine to chicks will not affect unvaccinated chicks.

 

[MysteryChicken]

I respectfully disagree with that. I had vaccinated chicks with my first batch. Then I got more chicks that were not vaccinated. I got more vaccinated chicks the next year, and then bred my own chickens, hatched some shipped eggs later, and have never had a case of Mareks in 11 years. Giving the vaccine to chicks will not affect unvaccinated chicks.

You must just be lucky I guess then.

https://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article?id=10.1371/journal.pbio.1002198
This is an interesting study.

 

[Audrie80]

It's a complicated subject, vaccinate verses unvaccinated. I'm sure each environment is different, the different breeds and their natural immunity is different. I have mixed feelings about it. I'm not sure the vaccines are perfectly healthy for them. But putting my feelings aside, we have had to cull a few young chickens who got sick. I don't know if it was coccodisis or Mareks or something else but we don't want to have to go through that again if we don't have to, so prevention has become appealing.

 

[Audrie80]

The options for Mareks vaccine are few, and the cost is driven up by the necessary ice pack and cooler being necessary for shipping. Most vaccines are 1000 dose, and needs to be used within an hour of addition the diluent to the powder vaccine. Chicks do best when vaccinated as day olds and hatcheries have a better vaccine usually. Valleyvet.com, jefferspet.com, and strombergchickens.com all offer them. Be sure to read the package insert or the online directions completely. It takes at least 2 weeks after the vaccine for immunity to develop. If Mareks is a big problem in your area I would get it. I have had both vaccinated and unvaccinated chicks and have never had the disease.

Thank you!