Chicken vaccines

Re: Chicken vaccines

Martin Jones — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 21:12:44 GMT

[quote user="Mark Holmes"]

How do I go about vaccinating a small number

[/quote]

Exactly the same as vaccinating a large number - buy a 1,000 dose bottle. And then throw away 985 doses. I'll go halves with you if you can get the remainder down to Cornwall in appropriate condition............

Re: Chicken vaccines

Kate Everett — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 17:47:22 GMT

You could vaccinate against Mareks with PoulVac MDVac but to be honest I think it might be safer to test for it first or maybe talk to the experts at the drug company as vaccinating infected birds has it's own risks. Same applies to mycoplasma etc. Immunity is very species specific with respect to coccidiosis so there may be some benefit to vaccination if your birds haven't been exposed to all of the common species.

Personally I would focus more on your internal layer - lots of thoughts on the 'chicken with egg peritonitis' thread and personally I find treatment very effective in terms of improving QOL.

Best wishes, Kate

Re: Chicken vaccines

Mark Holmes — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 16:24:54 GMT

Well, I have 16, The first 6 came vacccinated, I bred a handful and have just bought in a few to replace older birds. I want a few to brood next year so got some orpingtons. Problems? The odd bit of mycoplasma seems to do the rounds from time to time. I have one who I am convinced is an intermal layer. She waddles and is a little swollen. As they are chickens I expect there's a bit of cocci but it doesn't seem to cause problems. There were a few lice last year which were ivomeced out of this world.

But that leaves a few and if Mareks for example went through them it would leave a big hole that would need filling. They are not pet but they're not commercial. They are an interest. I would prefer to keep them a healthy interest. They range over about 6 acres of grass and woodland.

Age 2 years to 14 weeks

Re: Chicken vaccines

Kate Everett — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 16:08:50 GMT

Hi Mark,

Depends on how 'risk averse' you are but probably with many things you may be trying to shut the stable door a bit late I'm afraid. I'm not a commercial chicken vet, I'm an exotics vet but see lots of chickens but my approach tends to be to focus on Mareks and coccidiosis as both are very common down here (Kent) and then weigh up the others on a risk / benefit basis. Can be downsides to vaccing too - reversion to virulence of ILT / IB vaccine can happen after only 3 passages in non-vacced birds so you need to go one way or the other.

Do you show? How old are your birds? Any vaccs yet or pre-existing probs? Do you breed at all?

Hope I can help, Kate