??vaccinations, disinfectants, and vitamins??

Hi Good people of wcps forum, I have had a bad year with my chickens. I lost alot of birds this year, And basically gave up for this year. But I would like to start all over with a fresh clean slat next year and just a few laying hens for the kids. So what I am wondering is what everyone vaccinates for? how often? What they disinfect their buildings with? how often? What vitamins do you feed? Thanks everyone for your help now and in the past and probably in the future as well.

Sorry you had a bad year. Do you know why your birds died? I have lost a few birds this year, but all of it was my own stupidity. My dog got a few and a couple ate some fertilizer when they flew the coop and I couldn't catch them. It is impossible to disinfect wood as it is porous, but if it is kept dry, bacteria shouldn't grow. Did you loose chicks or adult birds? Keeping a clean, dry coop should be good. Vitamins are great, but if you are feeding a complete feed, they shouldn't need it. I think the best way to keep them healthy is to keep their immune system strong with good (and appropriate) food, clean water and sunshine. They should be wormed a couple times a year and sick individuals should be promptly removed and treated.

Keeping chickens often comes down to your philosophy of choice ( and a few other things).

What do I disinfect with? Nothing. Never done it. I CLEAN my hen house, shovel out the poo when the smell is obnoxious (sooner is better) as that ammonia irritates the eyes and lungs of your birds. Unhappy, uncomfortable birds can become sick birds, so avoid it and keep the hen house clean and dry with ventilation but not drafts. ( I have often thought that piece of advice sounded dumb, ventilation but no drafts, right, how does that work?)

Vaccination? Never done it. Do not even feed medicated starter to my brand new chicksm either layers or meat birds. What I DO do, is make sure that all chicks I get are warm, but have a place to get out of the warmth if it is too hot. Over heating and over cooling are both problems for chicks, make sure they can come and go from the heat as they see fit. I make sure they are not subject to drafts. Provide clean water, fresh feed and dry bedding. BUt no vaccinations ever.

Supplements or vitamins? If I have some chicks whom I think have a particularly delicate constitution, I give them Poulvite in theri water for a day or two, but that is it. I find that Poulvite quickly turns funky and slimey in the waterer, so do not let it go more than 2 days without washing the waterer out. What I like better is to buy a bottle of cod liver oil capsules, jab a hole in a capsule with a pin and while performing a manouver that requires 6 hands and an assistant, give each chick a glop of cod liver oil in its mouth. THey do not enjoy this handling, but it's good for them. The cod liver oil, maybe not the handling.

When my birds develop coughs or sniffles, I let them have coughs and sniffles. I have learned that some thngs birds recover from and I give them the chance too. THe things that birds don't recover from often kill them quicker than I have time to react to. You want birds that are healthy enough to survive the odd germ.

There is lots more you can read here on WCPS in old posts about roost height, heating hen houses, water in or out during winter, bedding choices, nest box size and style..all sorts of things that might help you be more successful next time around. But overall I would suggest that you not treat chickens like they are made of fine china. Do everything within your power to provide what they need for optimum health, protection from the elements and predators. BUt after that, some of their survival is up to them and over fussing can leave you with weak birds that do not handle adversity well. Good luck...you'll get it figured out.

well my peacocks and guineas are fine they are on one side of the barn and my chickens are on the other. Most of my chickens are pretty young like not even a year old. when they were chicks I never had much of a problem, it went well only loosing a few. It has been bad for the last few months. I did get some birds from a few different places, so whos to say I didn't bring in a sick bird. (those are the risks)not blaming anyone. Im not really sure why they are dieing some of them look good one day and then die the next. some almost loose their feet like can't stand and then I have had the odd one that is skinny and hump over and you expect it.My cochins don't roost they sit by the water dish and then get wet bums and feet and then seem to develop a sore foot. I dewormed and vitamined.
So I think in the spring I will just get a dozen nice laying hens, a few eggs a day would be nice some for eating and some for incubating. My son loved the incubator last year. He is already asking "mom when are we putting eggs in the incubator and then waiting and waiting and waiting and then one day we go downstairs and there are baby chicks"
So hopefully better luck next year.

What are you feeding? If you are feeding grains, sometimes oat hulls or barley hulls can get stuck in their crop.

I am grasping at straws. If the birds are wet and in this cold, that will weaken the immune system.

I feed them a mix of oats,wheat, and chop, and turkey grower and layers diet mostly. Thanks for trying to help.

When you say they "lose their feet, can't walk" does it look like they were paralyzed. I"m wondering if it may have been Marek's disease. This is just a guess, then again because I had a bad summer with Marek's in 2010, I guess its on my mind. Paralysis and internal organs are the main symptoms of Marek's. Your symptoms just sound a lot like the ones we had. Some would go paralyzed (due to tumors) and others would be humped up and some very skinny (due to internal tumors on major organs). We opened some and found tumors on lungs and kidneys. Horrible disease! Canadian Poultry Consultants in BC does sell Marek's vaccine but they tell me they don't ship outside the province.

Anyway, the best solution we have found for keeping down diseases and keeping our flock healthy is to avoid buying in started birds from others. We've picked up too many problems this way in the past. Now we will only buy day olds or hatching eggs. Maybe that's an extreme position but after losing a flock to ILT and then getting Marek's a couple years later, both from buying in adult or adolescent birds, we have dcided to take the "extreme" route.

Sorry for your loss! Best of luck in the future!

Thanks, I am looking forward to next year, I think I will get some eggs in the spring and hope for the best.
Happy chicks what do you vaccinate for? and how did you clean and disinfect after your problems you had?
I am not sure what I have if anything other them bad luck and weak birds.There is some that die have the same symptoms as others and so I think ok this is what I might have and the another will die with no symptoms. I guess that is the risk you take when you have critters.

A good disinfectant is Virkon. Its super safe to be around birds, better then bleach. In the right dilution it kills about everything.Between chicks I clean out all bedding spray everything - walls, floors, heat lamps all waters and feed trays. I only rinse the water and food containers after it has sat for at least 10 minutes. When I put new bedding ( before chicks) I spray it down with virkon and let it dry. I dont know if it helps but it makes me feel better. I dont usually vaccinate but I am thinking about starting next year. I also s[pray down the hen house every once in a while when I get a chance if I have a batch of virkon made ( its onlt stablet once made of about 2 weeks I believe)

With all my chicks weather shipped or hatched I give them polytonin A superbooster for about 5 days in their water. I also started putting table sugar in their water and then decreasing it each day over about the course of a weeks. Seems to help get them going.

Thats my routine!

Anne

I, too, use vikron for disinfecting my pens. First I cleaned everything out as clean as I could get it then sprayed it down well. I soaked all my feed and water dishes in a vikron solution as well. I believe the package says not to leave metal containers in the solution for more than 30 minutes as it is corrosive. I don't believe I left them that long - probably more like the 5 or 10 minutes.

I was able to get one bottle of Marek's vaccine from the States back in the winter, before they changed their policy on shipping, so the first batch of chicks I hatched after our Marek's outbreak are vaccinated. After that I could no longer get vaccine so my last batch is not vaccinated. I did lose one of that batch with tumours on lungs so I strongly suspect it was Marek's. The rest of that hatch seem to be ok at this time so I'm hoping that we were able to head it off a bit. Looks like the cleanup was worthwhile. If I get chicks from a hatchery which vaccinates for Marek's, I will get them vaccinated. Apart from that I don't vaccinate for anything else. We did have an outbreak of ILT a few years ago after buying in some laying hens from a neighbor. We culled that flock and did a cleanup/disinfecting and have had no further problem with that disease. We have decided from now on not to buy in started birds but to either buy day olds or bring in hatching eggs. Just personally, we've had too many problems bringing in disease with started birds. Guess we are just paranoid about it right now.

HigginsRat has posted an interesting post on breeding for resistance in birds. Well worth the read too. Wishing you the best with your new flock. I know how stressful and heartbreaking it can be to watch your birds dying and being helpless to stop it.

Thanks guys, your information it is very helpful, and in a strange way I am glad to hear that I am not the only one with bad luck. take care everyone.