Poultry Talk Ontario (pto.ca)

Hello All,

New here just intro'd myself and in short order I'm already filled with questions!

1/ Who here vaccinates? (something I want to start doing to keep my birds in tip top shape)

2/ What do you vaccinate for? (my plan was for ILT and Mereks due to the prevalence in our area & danger to my flock)

3/ I'm aware of the shedding vs non shedding and Live vs Killed vs Recombinant differences.... but what have been your experiences?

4/ What Vet do you use/how do you acquire yours? (My local farm vet seems to take no interest in me as client since I am not a large production flock)

5/ Do you find it cost effective for your chicks you sell?


Thanks All!

Taylor (Veterinary Technician but not currently working with a clinic)

only do ILT non-shedding. I have the address in Guelph of the vet to get it from. I don't do any others. Cost is not really a consideration for this as it's such a horrible disease. Long expiry so you do Initial plus booster. Vaccinated birds get a booster the following year. I do it when I've completed hatching.

Great! I'll PM you Killerbunny to try to get the Guelph Vet Contact info :) Is that the LT-IVAX?

Yup.

ILT using LT-IVAX is the only thing I vaccinate for as well.

JimW

My vet recently informed me of another location to get ILT vaccination. www.archerspoultry.ca I called them to confirm last week. Located in Brighton.

Make very sure it's the non-shedding type.

Can someone point me to an article on ILT? I dont even know what that is!

https://www1.agric.gov.ab.ca/$departmen ... /agdex2216
http://www.omafra.gov.on.ca/english/liv ... ts/ilt.htm is ontario based (the first is from alberta)
it's infectious laryngotracheitis (no clue if i spelled that right....).

I also only vaccinate for ILT. I got a crash course when one of my flocks got infected, from wild bird droppings brought in on leaf litter. I thought it was a great idea to use bagged leaves from a nearby town as coop bedding, and except for the cooties, it worked great! I had some young birds get a bit of a runny nose and I thought I was having a Coryza flare-up (had it in a different group of birds the year before) but the secretions weren't crusty brown nor did they stink, which confused me. A couple of the young lost a bit of weight and had a cough, but I wasn't panicking. But then, a seemingly healthy hen started violently head-shaking, flopping about, and died right in front of my eyes. I cut her open and saw she choked to death on a blood clot. The blood vessels in her windpipe were inflamed. I charged back into the pen and saw what I had missed before...tiny blood spatters on walls, roosts and nesting boxes. I lost three more the exact same way, and several more died or were culled when they showed signs of obvious illness and recovery didn't come fast. I still have some birds from that pen that didn't seem to "catch" it at all, or which caught it mildly and recovered quickly and completely. I've had no flare-ups since, I think it was 4 years ago...but I vaccinate now. I never want to see that again!
Interestingly, the birds that died suddenly, with seemingly no symptoms, were very recently acquired (rather be expensive) birds of breeding age, that had never free ranged, and adolescent birds that would have had limited natural exposure.
I don't vaccinate for Marek's, for a couple of reasons. The first is that vaccinated birds SHED. There currently (to the best of my knowledge) are no approved non-shedding Marek's vaccines, and
the ones available do not prevent infection and replication of virulent field strains – meaning vaccinated birds can shed the virus and infect unvaccinated birds. There is also evidence that vaccinating could be contributing to more virulent strains in the wild.
Vaccine is only available for day-old chicks, but not adult birds. If you buy vaccinated birds, you must ALWAYS buy vaccinated birds, or risk virulence. Most heitage breeds available from breeders are not vaccinate, and you risk losing them if you mix them with vaccinated birds.
Second reason I don't vaccinate for Marek's is because the vaccine uses a modified turkey virus. I have turkeys that freely mingle with my chickens, and while this can cause a whole other set of problems, there is evidence to suggest such a practice provides a sort of natural immunity.