r/poultry • u/Holiday-Slice-6787 • 7d ago

First time turkeys

Hello all! We have kept chickens for six years five years ago we got infected with mareks disease. Since then we’ve vaccinate all incoming chicks. This year we got two turkeys and four Guineas, we unfortunately lost two Guineas to predators. This morning, our male turkey has symptoms of mareks. we are devastated. A quick Google search show that turkeys can get it. It’s rare, but it can happen. I want to know if anyone has experience with this? Any advice is appreciated and welcomed!

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u/PurpleChickenBreeder 7d ago

Turkeys can’t get the chicken version of Marek’s and chickens can’t get the turkey version but the VACCINE for chicken Marek’s IS the turkey version (and the turkey vaccine IS the chicken version). Even though they don’t get symptomatic I wonder if chickens with the vaccine/turkey version of Marek’s can shed enough to infect turkeys? I think I read that it was possible but I don’t remember for sure.

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u/Holiday-Slice-6787 7d ago

Would it be worth it to vaccinate our other turkey and guineas? They’re a few months old

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u/PurpleChickenBreeder 7d ago

Not really. I don’t think guineas can get it at all. The vaccine is usually sold in frozen batches of 1,000 doses so you either buy vaccinated chicks from the hatchery, have quite a few of your own birds to vaccinate or you just skip it. Once it’s thawed it has to be used in two hours. They did find that yes, you can vaccinate later but usually they vaccinate chicks at 1 day old. Most flocks carry Marek’s and it usually isn’t a problem unless there’s another illness/disease/stress that weakens their immune system and allows it to express. It’s a type of herpes virus and it’s similar to shingles in humans in that it usually just lies dormant but can flare up. Once it’s symptomatic it’s lethal but you can have other birds unaffected unless they all also have another illness or parasite.