[Prod]

Vaccination.... yes or no???   When I look for poultry to buy some sellers (who I think just breed small amounts i.e.  not a major business)  offer them as vaccinated.  Can you buy vaccinations from the vet to do it yourself as I cant think it viable to take each bird to the vet ..... or am I talking out of my vent as usual???

[oborne27]

personally I buy birds that have been vaccinated. But I don't see any problems in taking them to the  vet to have them done - but I guess that will be an expensive thing to do.

[ANHBUC]

I believe that the chicks have to be vaccinated at day old or they will have had the chance to be exposed to disease so inoculation later would not work.

I think joyfull and others have said that you can get the vaccine but that it is in such large quantities it works out very expensive.

[Kate and her Ducks]

As ANHBUC says, generally only available in large amounts so not really practical for the home breeder. I never bother and have never had any problems but just have ducks and geese which are pretty sturdy.

[Sassy]

Vaccinations are not 100%. They were developed with commercial ie factory farming in mind. As most back-garden keepers offer a superior standard of both accommodation and care vaccinations are not essential. However, it's a personal thing

[GrannieAnnie]

The last 2 posts are correct.

When we were rearing on a larger scale, I decided to get some vaccines, but owing to the fact that I didn't know how to inject and the equipment was expensive, I just bought what could be dissolved in the water.  I made a note to give to customers telling them the name of the vaccine, the batch numbers and everything and the date I administered them.

Hardly anyone was interested, they were just pleased with the chickens they bought. 

However, each chick was already vaccinated for mareks as we bought them at day old, and the vaccines I bought only covered another 4 of the worst diseases.  But a full vaccination programme takes the first 18 weeks of life and costs a lot of money!

There are also a lot of small scale breeders and rearers who say their birds are vaccinated when they are not, and the birds still get ill and die.  So I didn't do it any more, and 2 years after I stopped selling, people still call round or phone up asking for more POL's, so I must have done something right eh? 

I think the most important thing is to keep your birds nice and clean, enough good quality feed, water and bedding, and read up as much as you can about caring for them.  Good housekeeping is paramount!