Mareks' Vaccination Tip

Hi all,

I have been vaccinating all my chicks for Mareks Disease weekly this year, and discovered something really helpful in doing so online.

Before you give the injection, pinch the chick's head on the outside of your fingers to sheild their eyes, and using a pump-spray, put one pump of cleaning alcohol onto the back of the neck. This works incredibly well for allowing you to see what you are doing when you place the needle. It parts the down really fast and well, cleans the area, and dries off very fast once the chicks are out in the brooder.

The important thing is to make sure you DO NOT get it in their eyes. It can lead to blindness and is very painful, but it sure makes life easier to vaccinate.

Clayton

I know the alcohol is for sanitary purposes but what if a person just used water?
When I did my chicks I watched a video, they pinched the back of the neck and lifted the chick off the ground, inject in to the skin tent and done. Worked well for me.
I did a few chicks that were 2-3 weeks old, only because I had the vaccine and they hadn't been done, and never been outside of the brooder away from my older birds so figured it would do them some good. Those ones were very hard to do, too old to pinch their necks effectively.
Definately day olds are the best way to go.

Have you had any issues with doing bantams? The day old bantams I did all died but one. I had vaccinated them, moved them out to a different brooder all in the same day, by day 3 all the bantams had died. I am thinking it was not the vaccine but that they couldnt reach the water in the new brooder, all is fixed now, but just wondering if anyone else has had any issues? One hatchery we ordered from would not do the bantams, so just got me thinking?

Hi Hidden,

My concern with water would be the drying time and the chilling effect on the birds. The alcohol dissipates very quickly and they are dry and fluffy in a couple minutes, it may be just a personal preference. I also had a hard time with my silkie chicks as their down is so incredibly thick it was impossible to see where the needle was going. The alcohol really helped with that.

To be honest with you, I have only been doing my bantams. I don't have any breeding large fowl at this point, but I did get some eggs that are in my machine now. I have never lost a chick due to vaccinating or complications of vaccinations, and I am doing old english games, and bantam white leghorns, some pretty small chicks. I think the key is getting the proper size of needle. We just had a club member get us 26 guage by 3/4 inch needle and they work really well. Before I was using 20 or 22 guage and they were far to big. I did have one chick bleed a little bit one time from it.

Clayton

Last Saturday I vaccinated my chicks for Marek's and a friend's chicks yesterday. I lightly dabbed the back of their neck with a drop of water on my finger to part the feathers and had great success. My friend who taught me has been doing it with water from the beginning. A light dab and straight under the heat lamp seems to work fine as well.

Hidden do you have a clip to that video on pinching the back of the neck? I haven't seen that and like the idea of it. Seems like a guaranteed way of piercing just the skin.

In your 'spare time' if you can post it, that would be great.

So just realized one could dab the back of the neck with a drop only of rubbing alcohol just like I did with the drop of water on the finger instead of spraying and risking getting it in their eyes.

I just read on here about some of you vaccinating your flocks for Marek's. Wow, I got all excited. I have been looking and looking for a source of marek's vaccine so I can vaccinate our chicks as they hatch. We lost upwards of 20% of our flock summer 2010 to that disease and we got one shipment of vaccine shipped in from a place in the States back in the winter and vaccinated our first hatching this spring but can no longer get it from that source. I have called vets, searched online and looked through every source I can think of and have had no luck. If someone could point out a source for this vaccine, I would be soooooooo grateful! Is it freeze dried or does it come frozen in liquid nitrogen? At this point, I don't care - I just want some available for hatching in the spring. Thanks

HappyChicks - it depends on where you are. I got my vaccine from http://www.canadianpoultry.ca/disease_profiles.htm

I've ordered from them too. They'll put it on the bus as it is on icepacks. Also, apparently a lot of vets will bring it in for their clients if you want to compare prices, although the actual vaccine is not expensive. Shipping it costs more.

Thanks Briarwood Poultry and Chicory Farm. I called some local vets last spring but didn't get any success so I think I'll try this site. If I bring in several bottles in the same shipment, I can have it on hand for several hatches. I have a friend who, I think, would be willing to share the shipment if she could get some too. You don't know how much this means to me ---- I have spend many an hour trying to track down this vaccine in the past and kept coming up empty.
Thanks again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

OH and happychicks it comes in a freeze dried-like tablet in a vial. What I do is insert a narrow blade into vial, quarter the tablet and use a quarter at a time with 50ml of diluent they send with it or distilled water as an alternative suggested by the vets at the Canadian Poultry Consultants. Good luck.

Well, well, well .... I'm still up a crik without a paddle Canadian Poultry Consultants cannot ship this far and the one vet whom I have been able to track down in NS who deals with poultry says he cannot get the freeze dried vaccine.He says the only kind available is the kind that comes frozen in liquid nitrogen. So he tells me that the only thing he can do is get some from a hatchery on the day mine hatch, mix it and I will have to drive the 2 hrs there and 2hrs back to get it. I may do that for one hatch if I have something extra special hatching, but that will not work for me for each hatch I do. So, I'm rethinking. I may have to go the route of "survival of the fittest" and hope for the best. A year ago I lost nearly 20% but this summer only had 2 out of approx 80 chicks that showed symptoms. So I'm hoping for the best .... It's just kind of frustrating knowing that the vaccine is available but not available at this side of the country. Go figure!

So I'll just do the best I can to cull anything that shows possible symptoms and hope for the best. Anything I buy in from a hatchery, I'll get vaccinated but it's the ones I'll hatch myself that concerns me.

I don't know if this would be of help?
Just take a Q-tip and dip it into the alcohol and dab the spot where you are going to inject?

There's an even smaller needle readily available: 28G x 1/2 inch or U-40 Syringe is used to administer insulin to dogs or cats. Brand is Caninsulin. Cost is about 50 cents each. Ask your vet.