Vaccinations etc

[SydneyChick]

Ok. So we've had our four 2 week old chicks for 24hours now. They're my first chickens - while I believe I did a fair bit of research before taking them on, I still have so much to learn!

These chicks were hatched at my daughters daycare. So obviously they are not vaccinated at all.

What vaccinations and immunisations do baby chicks need? And what is the best way for me to get them?

Also - we live in a tick-prone area. Are chickens affected by ticks? Is there any way to protect them?

Thanks in advance!

BTW: here are my babies! My two year old daughter has christened them Dora, Dorothy, Peppa and Madagascar!

 

[uchytil]

Chickens eat ticks, as well as other bugs! Unless you are subjecting your birds to other flocks frequently I would not worry about meds. My birds live in a coop&run and have always done fine. If one looks sick you need to cull it out and watch it. If you are really worried you can ask a vet. Farmers generally destroy sick birds - probably not what you want to hear. If they are pets you can treat them like any other store bought pet bird.

 

[Chemguy]

Chickens can be affected by ticks, but the only cases I personally know of are when the chicken is alone, or at least apart from other chickens. I imagine that with even a small flock the rate at which the ticks are eaten keeps them under control.

 

[Ridgerunner]

What vaccinations and immunisations do baby chicks need? And what is the best way for me to get them?

There are several different vaccinations available. I don't use any of them. Before I got my first chicks, I called my county extension office. They connected me with a University Agriculture professor that breeds and shows chickens, teaches chicken diseases to Ag students, and serves on the team that investigates chicken disease outbreaks in this area. After discussing how I plan to manage my chickens (maintaining a closed flock, which means I do not mix them with other chickens such as taking them to shows, bringing home chickens from chicken swaps, things like that) he did not recommend any vaccinations for mine.

An important point. There had been one reported Marek's infection in this county in the previous two years. Marek's is the vaccination most chicken pet owners get. If there had been a lot of Marek's outbreaks in this area, his recommendation might have been different. If your management techniques or certain diseases are more prevalent in you area, the answer might be different for you.

Not all extension agents are good, but I like mine. I have no idea how your agent would handle the question. I don't vaccinate so I can't help you on where to get the vaccines.

Also - we live in a tick-prone area. Are chickens affected by ticks? Is there any way to protect them?

Usually when chickens see ticks or most other creepy crawly things, they are hit with this insane desire to devour, especially if there is any movement at all, even small movement of the legs. I consider them feathered velociraptors. I have no idea how to protect the ticks from your chickens except to keep them separate.

 

[SydneyChick]

Thanks everyone for your help!

I think I will rest my mind on the vaccinations question and just concentrate on making sure they're healthy and well nourished enough to hopefully fight off any bugs.

But I will be getting some wormer for them.

As for what to do with sick chickens... It's going to be tough, because I get very attached to my pets, but I'm going to have to be realistic and pragmatic.

If any of them are roosters, he's going to have to go to camp freezer

pretty quickly as my local council strictly prohibits roosters.

I guess the same will go for illness. I'm not going to shell out hundreds of dollars to care for a bird that was free in the first place - but I don't believe in letting animals suffer either...

Let's hope against hope that I have four healthy HENS that are going to live out their years happily scratching my compost in perfect health.

 

[Time-Out]

Quote:

I got in touch with the local vet. I happened to be lucky enough that one of the vets at the surgery has chickens too. He told me it's worth doing Marek's, infectious bronchitis and gumboro's disease, because those are the most likely they'll catch, and they are really cheap (and I mean REALLY cheap). He said he doesn't vaccinated his for mycoplasma, the only other one he'd worry about (other than maybe salmonella if we went to a show), because the antibiotics are dirt cheap compared to the vaccin.

 

[Hawkeye95]

Just buy the Medicated chick starter to get them going. I wouldn't worry about the vaccinations either. If you have something come up, there are antibiotics you can buy and put in their water or feed later on if that happens. But likely, they will be fine. They are gorgeous!!!! So darned cute, aren't they!?

Also- if one of them did come down really sick, your vet can give you Baytril and a syringe (to use as a dropper) to give them 2X a day. My baby turkey was sick a couple of weeks ago and the Baytril is really cheap, and it wasn't that hard to open his beak and drop down the medicine. She came around pretty fast after that, and is good to go. But it's nothing you need to worry about for now, just an FYI that the medicine is out there and it's not expensive at all!

 

[Time-Out]

You can't cure something like Marek's with antibiotics, though. And if one gets it, you need to cull the whole flock... But as Ridgerunner says, you can do research to find out if it is in your area. Vaccinating is one of those things, I gather on here, that is like the Little Enders and the Big Enders. I'm just glad people can agree to disagree and we're not all at war!

 

[humpbacks1962]

I just give them medicated feed until the bag runs out. Then switch to grow feed. No vaccinations.