Our current
batch of chicks is
the first set we’ve ever ordered from a hatchery, so I wasn’t prepared
for all of the options. Specifically, the hatchery asked if I
wanted to spend a couple of bucks to get my chicks vaccinated against
coccidiosis. I said yes, but now that I’ve done the research I
probably won’t vaccinate my next batch.
Coccidiosis is a disease
caused by a protozoa parasite that lives in the chicken’s gut.
The protozoa are present in most environments where chickens are
raised, but they often cause no problems. However, pack your
chickens into an enclosed space, add in damp litter, and your birds
will begin to eat enough of their own poop so that the protozoa will
multiply inside them to an unhealthy level. If your flock is
malnourished, the chickens will not only sicken but may even die.
Chickens are most likely
to contract coccidiosis between four and sixteen weeks of age.
Initially, your sick birds will just seem a little off, hunkering down
rather than feeding. After a few days, you’ll see blood in their
droppings. Eventually, the chickens will either die, recover
completely, or go through recurring cycles of illness.
The best way to prevent
coccidiosis in your flock is to maintain healthy conditions. If
your chickens are out on pasture from an early age and have an automatic chicken waterer to keep their litter dry,
chances are they won’t get sick. If you must raise your chickens
in improper conditions, the best way to keep them healthy is to give
them medicated feed. The coccidiosis vaccine has dubious efficacy
and has only been introduced recently as a way of letting organic
growers protect their chickens against the disease in crowded
conditions. (Most organic certification processes will allow
vaccinated birds to count as organic, but not those given medicated
feed.)
If you do choose to
vaccinate your birds, you shouldn’t give the chicks medicated
feed. The vaccination requires several cycles of infection, which
the medicated feed will prevent. Your chicks won’t be harmed, but
you will have wasted your money since the vaccine will be nullified.
This is great information. We don’t vaccinate our chicks but we do give them medicated feed. However, they usually have plenty of space so maybet his isn’t necessary 🙂 I am enjoying your blog.
Thanks for your kind words! I gave our first batch of chicks the medicated water treatment, but that probably wasn’t necessary either. Oh well! Next time I’ll know better.
Although the vaccine only protects against the 3 most common strains of cocci, I still believe that it is worth the couple of bucks.
It is not entirely true that ONLY overcrowded and damp conditions cause coccidiosis. Certainly it does help contribute. Also, many chickens may NEVER get the bloody diarrhea. It depends on which of the 9 strains of cocci with which they are affected.
We keep pristine pens that are not overcrowded and have lost chicks to coccidiosis…even on medicated feed. It is dangerous to oversimplify this dangerous disease.
I really appreciate you weighing in. It sounds like I need to do more reading, although after posting this I read that deep bedding helps prevent coccidiosis, probably because it acts a bit like a vaccine, exposing chickens to low levels at a time when their immune system can fight it off. So maybe that’s a more natural solution than the vaccine?
Hello-
While I am sure your product is a wonderful one that keeps bedding clean, it is absolutely not true that the vaccine has dubious efficacy. Maybe you should read about some of the scientific findings of the vaccine. I don’t think I could buy a product from a website that makes it’s sales pitch on misinformation. I wouldn’t feel comfortable supporting or working with that kind of business.
Jenna — I made this post quite a while ago, so don’t remember the exact citation, but I believe I got that information from an extension service website. While they’re far from a primary source, extension service websites do tend to be well researched and pretty veritable. Perhaps the vaccine has improved in the last two years?