do chicks need to have any shots?

[slim01]

i bought some pullets from tsc two years ago and things are going great. now i want to get a rooster so i can have my own chicks. just want to make sure there isn't something that i miss. my biggest concern is the survival rate. any info appreciated.
thanks

 

[Lisa202]

I don't know much, but what I can offer is that I ordered bantam chicks...they said that they were too small to vaccinate. So I am giving them medicated starter feed for as long as I can which may be 10 weeks or so.

I hope this helps.

I have read that people can give the vaccinations themselves....everything can be purchased. I'm sure someone here can help you with that.

 

[tallyho]

Really good question I was going to ask myself. I recently had to take my chicken to an avian vet and she got me all worried! She says that since there has been an increase in backyard flocks and home incubation she's seen a huge increase in preventable and communicable illnesses. I asked her about vaccinating but she was wary of doing it at home since many of them are live vaccines and need to be administered properly in order to be effective. I also read an article about home vaccination and there's one that will cause conjunctivitis in humans if one is not extremely careful. Scary. What do we do?

 

[chocolate m'scovy]

I wouldn't worry about any vaccinations if I were you, unless you are near other bird raisers with contagious diseases in their flocks. Of course, my chooks are meat and egg birds, so a hefty shot bill isn't something that I particularly relish the idea of. In my chicken flock, I have had VERY few birds die from disease. The only drastic disease was exhibited in my ducklings. If your birds free range, they should be healthier and happier.

 

[yomama]

First of all, if you are going to get a new roo as an adult bird, quarantine him for at least 4 weeks. Even if he appears healthy, he could be harboring an illness that the stress of a new home can bring out. You don't want him getting your girls sick. I adopted a rooster from my neighbors ( they had too many roosters, and they were going to take him to auction - I didn't even want a rooster

) I quarantined him for a month, which was hard, because he was used to freeranging. I'm glad I did though. He didn't come down with any illnesses, but he had the WORST case of scaley leg mites. It gave me a chance to get rid of them, before exposing my girls. In regards to having healthy chicks, you might want to consider checking what illnesses/diseases are prevalent in your area first. I wish I had checked that out before I bought my first hens. Small story: I purchased my first hens when they were 1 years old, from a private party, not knowing about any "chicken vaccinations". They were all very healthy and laying eggs. Then, one of the hens started having problems. She ended up having Marek's disease. (we had a necropsy done to make sure) After talking to our Avian Vet, and the Department of Agriculture in our state, found out that where I live has a very high incident of Marek's disease. I agree that unless you are showing or having birds coming in and out of your property, there really may not need to be a reason to vaccinate for all the other diseases chickens can get. However, after seeing what my poor hen went through, and knowing that Marek's in high in my area, I choose to only get chicks vaccinated with the Marek's vaccine from now on. Unfortunately, that means I don't get to hatch out my own, unless I order the vaccine and do it myself. I would never hatch out enough chicks at a time to warrant buying a bottle that treats as many as the bottle treats, not to mention the vaccine has to be given when they are one day old. I will just resort to ordering vaccinated chicks from the hatchery. I guess what I am trying to say is, if you choose to hatch out chicks, you might want to research what vaccines, if any, are needed in your area first. I have a small flock with no real outside exposure (except to Marek's). The Marek's vaccine does not keep the chickens from getting the disease, it just keeps them from coming down with the debilitating symptoms. I also like the idea of medicated chick feed, but that is also a personal choice. As with any animal, good animal husbandry and an observant owner are going to help keep that survival rate up as well. I know this sounds a bit much to many, but I tend to be a little nuerotic at times with my animals. With as many pets as I have, I strongly feel that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Hope this helps a little!

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

I never bother with vaccinations. But I do buy occasionally feed store chickens who have had vaccine.
ETA: Oh I just reread your post. You are thinking about getting a grown-up chicken. I would personally not buy anything but hatching eggs or chicks from a hatchery (or feed store).

 

[Meches_1]

Since i live in a third world country

i had to vaccinate my babies, i bought a vaccine for new castle and two other deseases here it costed arround $7 a bottle to give them eye drops for 1,000 chicks and next week i´m getting the chickenpox vaccine too,

I prefered to do it instead of seen them sick

_______________
I have a german shepard, 2 goose, 2 muscovy ducks, 2 quails, 2 americaunas, 3 chicks i think 2 holland tipe and one unknown

 

[newlychicken]

best thing you can do is feed them a high protien feed it ups everything for them and helps them survive!

 

[LuvnChickens]

Just get ready, it is VERY addicting, in a good way of course. I incubated over 100 eggs in the past 6 weeks and only had 4 that wasn't fertilized and about 3 or 4 that didn't hatch. This was a very good year for me so far. Good luck !