Poultry production: Handling and administering live vaccines

Question: What are the guidelines for handling live vaccines and administering them orally (by mouth)?

NEVER expose vaccines to sunlight. Store them in the fridge, not in the freezer.
Always transport vaccines in a cooler box, with an ice pack to keep them cool.
Starve birds of water for half an hour to an hour before vaccinating to ensure they all drink. Wash drinkers.
If automatic drinkers can be switched off, use a plastic watering can to pour vaccine into the “bell”. If you can’t do this, use chick fonts and raise the automatic drinkers.
To calculate how much water is needed to dilute the vaccine: Divide the amount of birds that needs to be vaccinated by 1 000 and multiply this with the age of the birds in days and 1.5 (a constant). So, to vaccinate 3 000 ten-day old birds: 3 000 divided by 1 000 multiplied by 10 (for ten-day old birds) and 1.5 gives you 30 litres.
The water’s maximum quantity should not exceed 40 litres.
For fewer than 1 000 birds, use more water and discard what’s not consumed.
Mix in 2 g skimmed milk powder per litre of water half an hour before adding vaccine, or use boiled water which has been left to cool to room temperature.
Open the vaccine vial under water and slowly dissolve the tablet.
Reconstituted vaccine should be consumed within an hour (for Newcastle disease) or two hours (for Gumboro) vaccines. The quantity of water used must be adjusted accordingly.
Don’t use disinfectants to clean vaccinating equipment. Wash it in water and allow to dry in the sun.
Don’t use the equipment for any other purpose than vaccination.

This article was written by dr. Mick Versfeld and first appeared in Farming SA.