Adult birds that aren't vaccinated and weren't fed medicated feed- what are my options?

[Anna_MN]

I am hoping to add three Black Copper Marans to my flock. The only catch is that they weren't vaccinated as chicks and were never fed medicated feed. I really want to add these three ladies, but I am not willing to take the chance of them getting any sort of disease. They are all a year old, so what can I do to vaccinate these girls or do I not have any options? My current flock is all vaccinated and is a mixture of 3 year olds, 4 month olds, and 3 month olds. Any and all advice is appreciated!

 

[animallover505]

I think they will be fine, but I'm not very experienced.

 

[speckledhen]

Quote: For what? Mareks? Coccidiosis? Newcastle/infection Bronchitis? There are MANY vaccinations, and the only thing chick starter has in it is something to help build immunity to the oocysts in the soil that cause a coccidiosis infection.


Medication in feed is to build immunity to coccidiosis, not all sort of other diseases. Most folks do not have their chicks vaccinated for cocci and many never feed medicated feed, either.

There is a misconception that "vaccination" means they are vaccinated for stuff they are not and misconception that medicated feed has anything to do with preventing disease. It really doesn't.

Medicated feed does not prevent disease. It doesn't even prevent cocci if your soil is rampant with it.


If you want to add birds, you do have to quarantine the new ones for at least 4-6 weeks away from the others, so any disease symptoms can come to the surface, especially symptoms of contagious respiratory illness. That is so, if it happens, you do not add them to your flock (yes, you would euthanize them)

 

[Anna_MN]

That's A LOT of information, thank you! I'm still not sure if I feel comfortable or confident enough to add these to my flock quite yet. I don't know if I have enough experience.

 

[speckledhen]

It's a wise person who will wait and gain more knowledge and experience before embarking on something like this. That caution will serve you well with your flock in the future. Good for you! If you read and hang around BYC, you'll have that in no time.