What's the general concensus on Mareks vaccination on 'older' birds?

[Agnella]

My BO's are 18 weeks old. I ordered them from Purely Poultry un-vaccinated. They are the only chickens I've ever had and I don't plan on adding any more into the flock.

I've read a bunch of posts on Mareks and it seems like the older the chickens are, the less effective the vaccine is.

So what is the general opinion on vaccinating 'older' birds?

I'm leaning towards vaccinating them since they're not out of the danger zone for the usual age that they can catch the virus.

Thanks!

 

[Crack N' Egg]

Hi Agnella!

I read about up on this yesterday. I came across this article:

http://www.shagbarkbantams.com/page9.htm

check it out. It seems that Mareks only hits at a certain age range. As they get older they build a natural resistence to it.

Hope this helps out a little!

Good luck

 

[NWChicks]

In my newbie foolishness I took in a couple of chickens that turned out to have Mareks. Fortunately for me, I kept them separate but they were still on my property and I didn't practice good biosecurity (meaning I walked from their area to my flock's area without changing shoes or clothes). Those new birds died and eventually a roo that I had gotten from the same place and foolishly put in with my flock died as well (though I'm not sure he had Marek's or something else.) At any rate, after realizing what they had (state vet diagnosed) I vaccinated the remaining birds at about 16-18 weeks and hoped for the best. They are now around 24-26 weeks and I've had no more losses. All future birds will be vaccinated for this since it's so prevalent. So I guess my opinion is, shoot 'em up!

 

[mypicklebird]

Vaccinating older birds usually is not helpful, but it shouldn't do any harm.

 

[Agnella]

Thanks so much!

I decided to go ahead and vaccinate the ladies

 

[RedRoosterFarm]

I have vaccinated older birds up to four months and I usually do it twice in a month or two. I have no idea if it works or not. I was told from A vet friends to do it so I do. Igive them the vaccination and in another month or so hit them again.