Post by cowsagain on Sept 18, 2023 16:34:03 GMT -5
Why can't you vaccinate for Marek's? The vaccine will prevent virtually all future infections and death. It's in the soil and carried so easily so I don't know how you would ever avoid it otherwise. It's pretty much a given - sooner or later - if one keeps chickens.
We've had chickens for 25 years and had just a couple deaths from Marek's from birds that I bought and weren't vaccinated promptly. So I know we have it in the soil here but have had maybe 1/1000 infection rate.
And the vaccine even works for adults that have become fully infected yet.
I know some won't vaccinate for it because they feel like it's a bandaid and it doesn't stop the vaccinated birds from spreading Marek's to unvaccinated birds, but if not vaccinating means losing the entire population of an endangered breed/variety... doesn't really matter at that point 🫤
This is not to talk about politics or debate in that area…but I don’t really like how things are going …the idea of needing something that I’m dependent on - like a vx to keep an animal group going is not something I want to venture into. …
Vx I believe also has the potential to cause more mutations of Mareks. It doesn’t actually stop them from getting Mareks so it’s not something that can eradicate it …it still persists…
I’m at the point if I don’t see some improved resistance I’ll be done …they are a rare endangered breed but sometimes weakness within a line or a breed is a reason to let it go ….
I can understand why you may not want to start vaccinating for Marek’s - especially when it would require you to vaccinate every hatch cycle - but I am also saddened to see a rare and irreplaceable line go extinct. That said, I definitely respect your decision -what a tough choice to make! You do raise a valid point in questioning whether a line should continue on when it has such a notable weakness, but the answer to that question takes far more wisdom then I will ever obtain to answer. I feel for you…
If I may ask one more question… you mentioned in a different post that the avian specialist/vet stated that, even if you were to start fresh, your new flock would contract both diseases again. Does this mean you’ll no longer own chickens or do you feel other breeds may be more resistant?