[dawne]

I keep a few chickens which were bought at POL, last month I succesfully hatched out 20 chicks in the incubator.
What I would like to know is how do I go about getting them vaccinated as mine were when I bought them. Any help would be appreciated, also do you vaccinate ducks as well. (I do intend to sell some of them if possible)

[babe]

hi dawne, welcome to the chicken huggers nut house.

poultry vaccines are still only available in doses of 1000. so unless you are going into breeding on a big scale its really not needed, or financially suitable.

most back yard keepers wont have vaccininated their chicks. i dont and nor does my vet  

hope that puts your mind to rest

[Foxy]

Agree with Babe, intensively reared commercial birds are vaccinated because of the potential outcome of an infection .A lot of POL hybrids are vaccinated as  problems occur when a single chick/grower gets infected 1000's would be culled. Most hobby breeders dont rear in those conditionsor numbers so the risk of infection is very very low. Even so diseases like Mareks and coccidiosis are still able to infect a bird dispite vaccination. Good husbandry should prevent a lot of these diseases in the first place or limit the damage caused.
Hope this helps!!!  

[dawne]

Thanks for the replies, that helps a lot, look forward to pestering you all with lots more questions