Vaccination is a must for any poultry farm that wants to succeed – whether commercial or small-scale/backyard. It must be done in a timely manner (depending on the vaccine and type of bird) to prevent and control disease transmission. Vaccines act by imitating natural infection and building up immunity of the birds to the infectious disease without any of the harmful effects. This way, disease prevention is almost certain in your poultry farm especially if all other biosecurity measures are taken. Vaccination is quite cheap and vaccines must strictly be stored appropriately because it is very easily destroyed. Improper storage may cause the vaccine to lose its efficacy quickly, thereby becoming useless and might even cause the same disease you are trying to prevent in your poultry farm. Also, it is highly advisable to use the right and effective route of vaccine administration, whether oral (water) or via injections. And as a lot of vaccines are administered to young chicks (e.g, Mareck’s disease vaccine for day old chicks), it is important to use the correct vaccination technique because young chicks are small and fragile and can easily be injured/killed by an inexperienced vaccinator.
Some common diseases that are routinely vaccinated against in poultry farms in Nigeria include Mareks Disease, Infectious Bronchitis (IB), Infectious Bursal disease, E. Coli, Newcastle etc. If you have a respiratory disease on your farm (such as Infectious Bronchitis , Laryngotracheitis, Mycoplasma infection) you should carry out a serological test to be sure of which specific disease is involved, so you can vaccinate against the correct one. (Contact your vet for more information). Salmonella vaccination is also possible, but if you maintain good hygiene you might not need the vaccination. However it is important to note that the vaccination only protects your birds against S. Enteritidis and S. Typhimurium and as such your birds have the potential to pick up other Salmonella species.
You should note again that vaccination might not be 100% effective and you must maintain good hygiene and biosecurity to aid your efforts at protecting your birds from disease through vaccination.
Important Tips for vaccinating your birds
- Do not add vaccine to chlorinated water without using skimmed milk (powdered milk) or protective dye
- Ensure the area and containers where you mix and dispense the vaccine is clean
- Do not contaminate the vaccine with disinfectants
- For vaccination that is administered orally, do not withdraw the water for too long; one and a half hours is recommended. Also, ensure the birds all have water containing vaccines at the same time
- In general, if you are buying or selling a lot of birds it is important you do serological examination of the flock. This way, you would know if the animals have been previously protected and what diseases are still present in the flock that you have to vaccinate against.
- Always buy vaccines from reliable veterinary sources.
So, just in case you are confused about what vaccines to give to your birds, when to give the vaccines and how to give the vaccines; next week we will provide a standard vaccine schedule suitable for poultry farms, (broilers, breeders and layer birds) in Nigeria.
16 thoughts on “Vaccination; Preventive Protection for your Poultry Farm”
I need the price list of all the vaccine
Hello Olusegun,
Thank you for your inquiry. Check here for the prices of different types of vaccines on our website.
Thank you for choosing Afrimash, we look forward to your orders.
Afrimash @ 4
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Warm regards
This is very helpful. Please, keep me informed of any new tips on poultry farm management. Thanks.
Hello James,
Thank you for the feedback, I am glad the post was helpful
To get updates on new blog posts similar to the one above, subscribe for our newsletter through the link below
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Warm Regards
Pls kindly provide a list of standard vaccine schedule suitable for, (broilers, breeders and layer birds) in Nigeria. Thank you
Hello Emmanuel,
Thank you for reaching out to us
Afrimash offers vaccination schedule to customers who place an order for day-old chicks via our website
To place an order, click the link below:
https://afrimash.com/vendors/chicks-hub/
Thank you for choosing Afrimash
I want to know much about poultry and animal farm generally, how should I go about it? Thanks for your response
Hello Lyam,
Thank you for reaching out to us
As regards your enquiry on poultry farming, Afrimash offers a couple of training on poultry from time to time, you can get an update on training relevant to animal farming from us by subscribing to our newsletter via the link below:
https://afrimash.us14.list-manage.com/subscribe/post?u=b225f459ead90bcbb40b93334&id=732e10ce94
We have a couple of ebooks on relevant agricultural fields, you can get then via:
https://afrimash.com/product-category/book/
Thank you for choosing Afrimash
I am so grateful to have such knowledgeable open for all who is interested. Please I would like to have the price list of drugs/vaccine possible the best time and age to apply them to birds please
Hello Benjamin,
Thank you for reaching out to us,
As regards your enquiry on vaccination, we have a variety of drugs and vaccines you can view through the link below:
https://afrimash.com/shop/livestock/poultry/quality-point-of-lay-hens-isa-brown-high-potentials/#
Also, you can read more about vaccination in our ebook by clicking the link below:
https://afrimash.com/shop/book/livestock-books/complete-vaccination-program-poultry-e-book/
Afrimash encourages farmers to have a personal veterinary doctor, who manages their farms and livestock, we also send vaccination scheduled via email to our day-old chicks customers, once you place an order, you get the vaccination schedule sent to you via email,
Visit https://afrimash.com/vendors/chicks-hub/ for more
Thank you for choosing Afrimash
Dear Afrimash,
Your publications are quite helpful.
I am a new poultry farmer who started with broilers and layers.
Unfortunately, I lost over 150 broilers bird within a week due yo my inexperienced handling.
I have subscribed to your newsletter.
Kindly assist me with materials I could rely to broaden my knowledge as a new/inexperienced poultry farmer.
Thank you
Hello Temitope,
Thank you for the feedback
As regards your enquiry, we have a variety of ebooks on different aspects of poultry farming, and you can click the link below to view them:
https://afrimash.com/product-category/book/
Also, you can get veterinary services from time to time on how to manage your birds through our virtual platform with the help of our verified veterinary doctors
Visit consult.afrimash.com to book a session
Thank you for choosing Afrimash
I love it.
hello
pls i need vaccination schedule for noilers from day 1 and the price of the recommended vaccines
Hello Benjamen,
Thank you for reaching out to us,
As regards your enquiry, we send our customers a vaccination schedule alongside their order for day-old chicks once they place an order
To place an order for your day-old chicks, kindly click the link below:
https://afrimash.com/vendors/chicks-hub/
We also recommend that our customers get a veterinary doctor who administers vaccines to the birds and followup on the vaccination schedule
Thank you for choosing Afrimash
I will need the vaccination schedule please.