- ✓Know exactly which chicks are vaccinated at the hatchery, and against what
- ✓Understand a typical vaccination schedule and the role of the local veterinarian
- ✓Carry out a successful drinking-water vaccination and respect the cold chain
At the NEXTEKCI hatchery: a single vaccination
The rule is simple and applies to all communication: brown layers are vaccinated against Marek's disease at the hatchery (certificate on request). The other chicks — white broilers, red broilers, barred grey, hybrid, cockerel — receive no vaccine at the hatchery. Their vaccination is done on the farm, according to the protocol of your local veterinarian.
Why Marek's only, and only the layers? The Marek's vaccine must be given in the first hours of life, before any contact with the virus, and the disease mainly strikes birds that live a long time (layers). Broilers, sold at six weeks, do not live long enough to develop it.
On the farm: a schedule adapted to your area
Diseases are not the same everywhere, nor from one year to the next. That is why the schedule is drawn up by your local veterinarian, who knows the current outbreaks. As an example, a typical programme for broilers often includes:
| Age (example) | Disease | Usual route |
|---|---|---|
| Around 5 to 7 days | Newcastle (1st) ± infectious bronchitis | Eye drop or drinking water |
| Around 10 to 14 days | Gumboro (1st) | Drinking water |
| Around 18 to 24 days | Gumboro (booster) then Newcastle (booster) | Drinking water |
For layers, the programme is longer (fowl pox, Newcastle several times, bronchitis, sometimes others depending on the area) and is spread over the whole growing period. This table is not a prescription: it is there to help you understand what the veterinarian proposes to you. The School does not replace the veterinarian; it teaches you to work with them.
The cold chain: the vaccine is alive
Most poultry vaccines are live: a fragile organism that dies in heat, in sunlight, on contact with chlorine. Between the pharmacy and the bird's beak, it must stay between 2 and 8 °C: cool box with ice packs (never in direct contact with the ice, never frozen), quick transport, opened vial used immediately and never kept. A vaccine left for two hours on a motorbike seat in the sun is water.
Carrying out a successful drinking-water vaccination
- The day before: drinkers washed without disinfectant; no chlorine or bleach in the water that day or the next.
- Cut off the water 1 to 2 hours beforehand (less in very hot weather), so that all the birds drink at the same time.
- Prepare the quantity of water the flock will drink in 1 to 2 hours (guide: about 1 litre for 50 to 100 ten-day-old chicks, to be adjusted with the veterinarian), add 2 g of skimmed milk powder per litre (it protects the vaccine against traces of chlorine), then the vaccine, mix gently, out of direct sunlight.
- Distribute in enough drinkers for all the birds to drink within the hour; in very hot weather, vaccinate early in the morning.
- Record on the record sheet: vaccine, batch number, date, time, number of birds, who did it.
Other routes: the eye drop or nasal drop (very effective, one bird at a time, labour-intensive), the injection (fowl pox in the wing, injectable vaccines for layers). These are done with a trained person.
When a vaccine does not protect
The usual causes of failure: broken cold chain, chlorine in the water, birds already sick or stressed (heat stress, transport) on the day of the vaccine, too few drinkers (some birds did not drink), a date badly chosen in relation to the antibodies received from the mother (the veterinarian sets it), expired vaccine or vaccine of doubtful origin. Never vaccinate a sick flock: treat first. The NEXTEKCI video “You paid for your vaccine…” in the Academy sums all this up in one minute.
For the entrepreneur
- ›Have a local veterinarian identified before the chicks arrive, and their schedule written on the record sheet from day 1.
- ›Buy a cool box and ice packs dedicated to vaccines; it is the cheapest and most decisive piece of equipment.
- ›Communicate accurately: “layers vaccinated against Marek's at the hatchery; the others on the farm according to the veterinarian”. Never anything else.
For the technician
- ›Vaccine between 2 and 8 °C until the last moment, opened vial used straight away.
- ›Drinking water: no chlorine the day before or on the day, water cut off for 1 to 2 h, skimmed milk 2 g/L, volume for 1 to 2 h, enough drinkers.
- ›Never vaccinate a flock that is sick or suffering heat stress; everything is written on the record sheet.
The 3 questions to ask your technician this week
- What vaccination schedule has the local veterinarian set, and which dates have already passed?
- How was the vaccine transported and stored, and how long after opening was it given?
- Was there any chlorine in the water the day before or on the day of the vaccine?
Key points
- •At the NEXTEKCI hatchery: brown layers vaccinated against Marek’s; no other vaccine; the other chicks are vaccinated on the farm according to the local veterinarian.
- •The schedule is set by the veterinarian; the typical example (Newcastle, Gumboro, bronchitis) is there to help understand, not to prescribe.
- •Cold chain 2 to 8 °C, never frozen, opened vial used immediately.
- •Drinking water: no chlorine, water cut off for 1 to 2 h, skimmed milk 2 g/L, drunk within 1 to 2 h, enough drinkers, everything recorded.
- •Never vaccinate a sick or stressed flock.