Poultry disease agents are everywhere and often evolve, making them complicated to control. Properly applying targeted poultry vaccines as part of a vaccination program is the foundation of helping birds develop immunity against pathogens that they, or their progeny, may be exposed to. Vaccines aim to reduce the impacts of pathogen exposure on future health, welfare and performance and reduce variation within the flock when applied uniformly.

Protecting poultry operations against diseases involves more than proper biosecurity measures and other management tools. It also takes adherence to good vaccination practices to ensure there aren’t any issues with vaccine failures due to poor handling and administration.

Building a Successful Poultry Vaccination Program

Monitoring bird health and properly administering vaccines are two main things that can be done to help reduce disease risk and build a solid vaccination program. Here are a couple of tips for setting up your poultry vaccination program for success:

1. Monitor Bird Health

It’s crucial to monitor bird health in layer and broiler operations and diagnose diseases quickly. If diseases do enter your poultry barn, one of the first key signs that your flock is infected is a drop in water and feed intake. In egg-laying birds, this can then be followed by a drop in production, interior or exterior egg quality, or clinical signs of illness if the bird has low immunity to the pathogen.

These signs can also be due to non-pathogen-related issues as well, so good diagnosis is key when facing disease challenges.

There are a few tools used in the commercial poultry industry for diagnosing diseases and monitoring flock health before and after vaccination. Working closely with vendor partners or your consulting veterinarian, you can discuss baseline and disease response diagnostics, such as serology testing. When your flock has a positive health status at the time of vaccination, they have a better chance of experiencing a normal vaccine response.

The two main types of poultry vaccines are live and killed. There are minimal to no reactions seen when most live vaccines are applied. When killed vaccines are injected, the primary response seen is less bird activity the day following vaccination and a slight decrease in feed intake and weight gain the following week. However, by the second week birds should be back on their regular feed consumption and weight gain profile. If this is delayed it could be an indicator that a more severe vaccine reaction has occurred. Following proper administration guidelines and bird handling procedures can help reduce the impact of killed vaccines on target weight achievement.

2. Handle and Administer Poultry Vaccines Properly

One of the most common causes of vaccine failure in poultry is improper vaccine administration. Therefore, it’s critical to have a well-designed vaccine program with administration protocols in place and follow proper bird-handling techniques to enhance bird welfare during and after vaccination.

It’s essential to train your vaccination crew and conduct audits before handling and administering vaccines. Training offers crews the opportunity to assess their progress and more effectively meet the demands of their role, which will ultimately lead to increased vaccine efficacy.

When preparing to administer vaccines, it’s a good idea to create a checklist to ensure that vaccines are appropriately stored from the time they are delivered until they are administered. This checklist should include the following best practices:

There are some common mistakes that can occur when administering and handling vaccines. Some of the incorrect practices to pay attention to include:

Always follow the manufacturer’s recommendations when storing and handling vaccines.

Good vaccination practices are essential to your poultry operation. By following proper administration and handling techniques, you can reduce the stress placed on birds in your layer and broiler operations and enable an effective immune response.

An Elanco representative can help tailor an effective vaccination program and make sure appropriate vaccination protocols are in place. Contact your Elanco representative today.