[andyw]

I've been preparing an area in the garden and will soon be ready to get my first chickens.  My brother in law has hatched 7 chickens and asked if I want some, but do they need to vaccinated?

[joyfull]

no, good animal husbandry is what you need - keep their run and coop clean, check the birds regularly, worm every 3-6 months and feed a good quality of food.
Vaccines are given from day old onwards and come in batches of 500 - 1000 and there are so many that it would be too expensive.

[andyw]

no, good animal husbandry is what you need - keep their run and coop clean, check the birds regularly, worm every 3-6 months and feed a good quality of food.
Vaccines are given from day old onwards and come in batches of 500 - 1000 and there are so many that it would be too expensive.

Great thanks for the information.

[cheekychick22]

all my hens have been vaccinated and i have the certificates to prove it. the advice is very good but you cannot be too careful defra does recommend that they are vaccinated.

[Sassy]

I agree with Joyful. Also vaccinating them does not mean that they will not get the illness

[Casey76]

cheekychick, hens you get from commercial breeders are nearly always vaccinated, becasue they are bred in their 100s and 1000s.  For the backyard breeder it is not financially viable to vaccinate.

E.g.  The vaccine for mycoplasma comes in vials of 1000 doses and costs almost £600. If you are vaccinating 1000 hens, you can recoup the cost at sale, but if you are only going to vaccinate your 10 chicks, it is no way financially sound.  Especially as the vaccine needs to be used within 1 hour of opening, so you can't save any excess for the next batch of chicks.