Is it easy to vaccinate chicks?

[bobsmith2002]

If I hatch bantam chicks on my own is it easy to vaccinate them myself? Are there easy to follow instructions on the web I can follow? Where?

 

[ChickenChick46]

I bought a book a while back from Amazon called Mini Farming. It's got some information about vaccinating chickens. But adding it to their water. It seemed easy and straightforward. I'm not sure about actual shots though.

 

[kattabelly]

What are you hoping to vaccinate against?

Different vaccines will have different storage requirements, be more or less strict about the timeframe they're given, and some might be harder to acquire or very expensive if you're only looking to vaccinate a few chicks.

 

[bobsmith2002]

What are you hoping to vaccinate against?

Different vaccines will have different storage requirements, be more or less strict about the timeframe they're given, and some might be harder to acquire or very expensive if you're only looking to vaccinate a few chicks.

Do I really need to vaccinate less than 12 bantam silkie chicks for mareks, avian bird flu, salmonella, and fowl pox?

 

[kattabelly]

Do I really need to vaccinate less than 12 bantam silkie chicks for mareks, avian bird flu, salmonella, and fowl pox?

Well, that depends.

Are you living in an area where one or more of those are common problems? Where vaccination is recommended, or even required in certain circumstances (if, say, you were planning to sell hatching eggs or live birds in future)? Are those vaccines easily available to someone with a small backyard flock in your area? Does the cost and hassle of acquiring and administering them outweigh the emotional and/or financial loss if you did end up losing some or all of your flock to a disease you'd chosen not to vaccinate against?

 

[BDutch]

Do I really need to vaccinate less than 12 bantam silkie chicks for mareks, avian bird flu, salmonella, and fowl pox?

Do you have (had) any of these diseases in your flock?
Does the person or company where you bought/want to buy chicks has/had any infectious diseases?

I never vaccinated. After my first buy (6 week old chicks) I always buy hatching eggs for a broody to avoid risks.

 

[Susan Skylark]

First, are these vaccines commercially available for birds? Next, consider the effectiveness of the vaccine, the severity of the disease it prevents, and how reactive the vaccine itself might be. Influenza vaccines (in all species) are not very effective. Salmonella can be reactive (going from experience with the dairy cow vaccine) and is hard on young animals. Fowl pox is a fairly mild disease in general but I’d assume the vaccine is fairly effective but is it necessary . Mareks you can only get in 100+ dosage bottles but can be a good idea. Administration should be via manufacturers directions. In general we don’t vaccinate backyard chickens, many are vaccinated at the hatchery for mericks but the other diseases either don’t have a vaccine available or aren’t worth vaccinating for (rare, ineffective vaccine, mild disease). Good husbandry and nutrition is way more important than a bunch of random vaccines.

 

[BDutch]

Influenza vaccines (in all species) are not very effective.

They are effective and saves lives of humans (especially vulnerable and older). Thats why our government gives them for free to people with a health condition or above 60.