[chickenhouse man]

i've been given a norfolk grey cockrel to which i've added two hens with a view to breeding, but not sure about vacinations,if needed or not and where to get them can anyone help please

[joyfull]

vaccinations are given from day 1 so it is too late to vaccinate yours. They come in large quantities of either 500 or 1000 and besides buying the vaccines you need to store them correctly at the right temperature, buy the equipment to administer them, and have training to do it correctly (things like the mareks vaccine have to be given within 1 1/2 hours of opening otherwise it will not work). Vaccines do not stop a bird getting the illness but can make it less deadly. The only thing you can do is keep new birds in quarenteen for a couple of weeks, buy from a good supplier and be vigillant with your birds. Have a good bio security system in place and hopefully things should go smoothly. You will never be illness free and birds that free range will be at risk from things outside your control such as wild birds.
if you take care you can look forward to a great time with your chickens 

[chickenhouse man]

thanks for that speedy reply

[salt and pepper]

Hi Everyone,  i've been looking at all the info on this site as i'm in the process of getting some chickens, i was thinking Bluebells or Lohmanns or mix of both, they have an eglu waiting for them, just need to build the run to keep the girls safe when they arrive.  Just wondering how do you know the chickens are vacinated, when i enquired recently about some chickens the Breeder said they were, but how do you know ? Is it just taken as word of mouth ? What if there not would that effect the eggs and are they safe to eat ?
 

[GrannieAnnie]

I'm not being derogatory towards anyone, but some breeders will tell you birds are fully vaccinated when they aren't!

I did buy some water soluble vaccines 3 years ago.  The day old chicks we got at the hatchery were vaccinated against Mareks anyway, and I vaccinated them over the course of 2 weeks against Infectious Bronchitis, Newcastles disease, avian encephalomilitis and another one.  when When people came to buy the chickens, I gave them a sheet telling them all about the vaccinations, where they were bought, when they were bought, and info like the company purchased from and the number they give so the vaccine can be traced back.

Not many people do this.  I don't do it anymore as it was a bit expensive, wasteful and no one seemed bothered whether they were done or not!

So you could try asking a few questions like what I've mentioned above and see what sort of reaction you get from the breeders!

[Sassy]

Vaccines are not infallible and the chooks can still get sick. For the hobbyist good housekeeping is far more important in preventing disease