Was unaware Meyer Hatchery doesn't routinely vaccinate their chicks

[whitehart]

I'm a newbie with 6 Production Reds now 17 weeks and they look fantastic ,my first chickens from Tractor Supply. I was told when I purchased TS chicks they come vaccinated .
I was looking to add to our little flock and checked BYC on Saturday looking for advice on where might be the best place to order more chicks other than the limited selection found at TS. Meyers was one of the recomended hatcheries and I looked at their website which was very nice and went ahead and ordered White Rock,Blue Andalusian and Barred rock's total of 6 from their website . While looking again at their site today I realized they had nothing indicating they vaccinate. I immidiately called them for clarification and was told I had to request that when I ordered. There is nothing on that website referencing that option, just a vague comment that they recomended customer vaccinate.They told me it was too late to have that done because they should have been vaccinated at hatching and were packed for shipment and I should receive tomorrow or Wednesday. She also said I shoudn't worry all I had to do was feed medicated chick starter and they would be OK . Marek's is not coccidia so why would medicated feed be an alternative to vaccination ?Should I be concerned I know ignorance is bliss but I assumed all chicks were vaccinated.
I plan on isolating these babies at least 8 weeks anyway but what are the risks of not vaccinating?

 

[dawg53]

There are many diseases that chickens can get besides marek's and there are vaccinations for alot of them. I have ordered from Meyer hatchery quite a few times as well as Ideal and MPC and never had any of mine vaccinated. The only thing they got was fowl pox, a virus carried by mosquitos. It went away after about 4 weeks. They are now immune to it.

 

[BrattishTaz]

I believe you have the option to have them vaccinated against Marek's and/or coccida. I choose not to vaccinate and have never had either in my flock.

 

[whitehart]

Ok so it's not a big deal? I just got freaked when reading the posts on Mereks. With dogs there are two camps on vaccination. Beliefs range from no vaccination at all using Nosodes to vaccinating every year for the life of the animal. I provide core vaccines and stop all but rabies after they are 5 years old then go to titers because we are causing immune system challenges if we continue to vaccinate our senior dogs. Sounds like the chicken community has similar ranges in their views.

 

[dawg53]

As long as you practice biosecurity, coop cleanliness, provide fresh water, proper feed, certain preventative measures and good common sense...you'll have your chickens living a long and productive life.

 

[BrattishTaz]

There is some concern about Marek's creating carriers. I honestly don't know if that is true or not so I will reconsider vaccination if I ever have a problem with it. Medicated feed will reduce your chicks' chances of getting cocci. You just want to make sure they are still on it when you first put them on the ground. I feed medicated starter and put a dish of dirt from my yard in the brooder to help them develop immunity. The sand/dirt also acts as grit(which they don't need unless you give treats) and is good at preventing pasty butt. I've never had any with that either. Watching them happily dustbathe is a nice bonus too.

Hopefully Dawg will revisit this thread and give you the "facts" on the subject. I have found him to be very helpful. There are many other seasoned members that could help also.

Edited to say: Dawg must have read my mind while I was typing.

 

[Arielle]

When I was looking at hatcheries for more chickens, I notices most offered merck's vaccine; only Mcmurray offered coccidosis vaccine.

We are in a new age of disease prevention; biosecurity takes strict adherence to guidelines; yet I see how many people go to shows and swaps. While npip testing is required, that still doesn't test for all diseases, only the most likely.

Also the antibiotics are not working as well as they used to. More "bugs" are not being controlled by antibiotics.

In comes the vaccines. While not perfect, vaccines offer a very good immunological fight against a serious infection. I did both mereck's and coccidia. We have a natural population of wild birds, and friends with birds of various types, including chickens. There are levels of biosecurity: universities that never show birds and when a bird is removed from the population for any reason it is NEVER returned to the flock. THis is one extreme and the opposite is no steps to prevent contamination from a sick/infected bird. And the area between is vast!

Vaccines work. While your current birds are not vaccinated, use your knowledge for the next birds that you acquire. Hopefully your birds will stay healthy and you wil enjoy them for a long, long time. GL

 

[speckledhen]

No hatchery routinely vaccinates against anything unless you pay for it extra per chick. There is a Mareks and there is a coccidiosis vaccine; medicated feed has a thiamine blocker to help build immunity to cocci and has no bearing on Mareks whatsoever.

None of my birds have ever been vaccinated against anything. Never had any Mareks show up here and cocci is no big deal, common but simple to treat (it's a protozoan, not a bacteria or virus).

 

[whitehart]

Ok I feel much better having ran my concerns by you guys!
I didn't put my first chicks on medicated feed but did wonder dispite keeping them spottless then seeing loose stools with odor at about 6 weeks that odor told me they might be developing coccidia so I immidiately put them on Cocci Rid for 14 days which seemed to do the trick. Even with Medicated feed there is controversy some say if they get coccidia they will have lifelong immunity so better to not medicate their feed.
Oh we are farmilliar with dust baths LOL!! My first chicks were raised in my kennel family room. That room was totally covered with dust by the time we moved the babies to their coop at 10 weeks. Dust was everwhere, on walls ,lamps, TV, blinds ,books .The mix was 1 part road grit,1 part DE and 1 pt sand. It was like cement dust and was everywhere .Thank God we had a door to close off from the kennel kitchen and slipcovers on the furniture LOL!