Who all vaccinates for Mareks?

[mohillbilly]

just wondering who does and doesn't vaccinate for it and why?

 

[AlienChick]

I have never vaccinated, but I have a closed flock (I do not introduce new birds from the outside).

I buy shipped eggs and hatch my own.

That being said, there are folks on both sides of the fence.

Since Mareks is HIGHLY contagious, some take the extra precautions to vaccinate day-old chicks.

Most adult chickens carry the virus anyway but do not come down with the disease or symptoms.

When my chicks hatch, I add some dirt and hay to their brooder from my barn and outside coops so the new chicks can develop a healthy immune system.

After all, that's what they are exposed to when mama hen raises them.

 

[wholewheatchicken]

I am very interested in this thread and hope more people post. I just started with baby chicks, two broody mommas with four chicks apiece, and my first incubator babies are trying to hatch out now. Last night I was reading about Marek's and vaccinating for it and looked up the price and it's about $30 to buy/ship and lasts an hour after dilution. I was a little sad because at that price I could only afford to do like one big hatch with everything I ever wanted for the year. I felt very unsure today about hatching and wondered what other people were doing myself. Glad you posted.

 

[JosieChick]

I vaccinate all day old chicks when they hatch. I order a vial of vaccine for every hatch. My close friend lost 3 birds to mareks last year and it was devastating for her. Some of the birds she lost were birds I hatched and started for her and I was heartbroken when they became ill. It is awful to watch birds waste away with Mareks when there is an effective vaccine on the market. From my understanding Mareks disease is everywhere, can be spread from a neighbors chickens down the street if you go visit their flock or wild birds. I never vaccinated for Mareks until my friend had this outbreak on her farm and after seeing how sick these birds became I will always vaccinate in the future. It is well worth the $30 for me.

 

[leadwolf1]

I vaccinate everything!! I am still battling Marek's and have no idea where it came from. It's such a devastating disease I have purchased 3 vials of vaccine and have used 2 of them...one of them on only two chicks. To me, it is worth the money. I am going to use the last to revaccinate everyone again like they do in Germany. Then, unless I decide to do another hatch, I will only buy vaccinated chicks from hatcheries. It's the only safe thing for me to do....

 

[wholewheatchicken]

I find the whole momma hen thing confusing also when it comes to Marek's. I thought, from what I read, that you are not supposed to have the babies around the adult chickens until they are past the five-month mark. So I guess having the broody hen and raising the chicks in the barn with the flock is out of the question. We started our flock with 25 RIRs that we bought from the hatchery and had vaccinated. Then I bought an adult silkie hen and seven chicks and I feel pretty certain they were not vaccinated and I didn't know enough at the time to inquire, but I would bet one of my last dollars they are not. I bought three more adult silkies last November and, again, didn't know anything about vaccinating for Marek's so didn't ask, but don't think they are vaccinated. Now I have my two hatches and others that are coming as we speak. From what I read, it didn't seem like it would do much good for me, except to vaccinate the ones in the incubator. Four of the eight chicks have been out and about in the yard on pretty days with momma. I let both mommas keep their babies so the second set of babies are cuddled up with an adult. I didn't see, from the research I started on late last night, that it would do much good to vaccinate adults or older chicks. I told my husband this morning what I had found it (it was him who originally asked about the Marek's vaccine) and said I just don't think I want to hatch any more babies. We (him) had to put down a chicken at the end of last year and it was very difficult to know we had to kill something, even though it was for the best. So I do agree on vaccinating. Even if you keep a closed flock, it seems like there is so much that can be contracted from down the road in the wind or wild birds flying over the yard.

 

[rosegal]

Did you buy baby chicks from an auction from fancychick?

 

[wholewheatchicken]

No, I haven't bought any babies from an auction. The ones I bought were from someone about an hour away from my house and she had only recently gotten them from someone else and didn't appear to know much about them. The adult birds I bought were from someone on BYC. She has a good reputation and I wonder if she would have said they were vaccinated, if they were. She is NPIP certified, if that makes any difference, so I felt like they would have a very good chance to be healthy birds and they have been a wonderful addition to our little flock. So your question begs the response, why did you ask about that specific auction?

 

[rosegal]

Because everything I have bought from them has died. Well, I am waiting for the last 3 to die from Marek.

 

[wholewheatchicken]

OH MY GOSH. Wow. That blows my mind. I guess it shouldn't , but that is horrible, awful, sad. I'm sorry that happened to you.
We have not had Marek. I didn't realize until last night that it was as serious as it was and I was interested in this thread because my husband and I are in discussion about what to do in the future. I think it would be important to vaccinate, but it will change the way I want to hatch. I think our initial plan is to decide what we want, which is just a few things, and hatch and vaccinate and be done for that period so it would be more cost effective in the long run, rather than having staggered hatches and buying new vaccine each time. This new method will be good for me because I will be very selective in what I want to buy as hatching eggs. And then also I decided I don't want to sell baby chicks because I am not going to vaccinate all of them and so that wouldn't be right to sell something like that.....ummmmm, it really changed my way of thinking about a lot of things.
Where did you find fancychick at, although I guess there are probably a lot of "fancychicks" in the world.