Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
While I use this method for the Newcastle vaccine, it will also
work for other vaccines that are dosed for larger flocks.
Antibiotics
Sometimes vaccinating chickens makes them sick, and they
need medicine. Other times, they will get sick from germs
you have brought home on your shoes from visiting someone
else who has chickens or even from buying a couple of adult
birds and introducing them to the flock—even if you keep
them in a separated space for 10 days beforehand, which you
should always do.
This is a tough situation. If you are raising birds organically
and they need antibiotics and you use them, the chickens are
no longer organic—so you may be stuck destroying the birds.
The most likely reason you would resort to antibiotics with
chickens is respiratory illness. These sorts of illnesses aren't
all bacterial—some are viral and unaffected by antibiotics.
Nevertheless, I have found that most often the respiratory
illnesses characterized by wheezing and nasal discharge or
sneezing have all responded.
Antibiotics will find their way into the eggs of laying birds, so
the eggs should be broken and added to the compost pile
during treatment and for a week afterward. The two most
common antibiotics used for chickens are variants of
tetracycline and erythromycin, both of which are available
mail order or right in the feed store without a prescription. A
study of tetracycline residues in eggs found that on the second
day after finishing treatment, any residues in the eggs were
undetectably low.
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So disposing of the eggs for seven days
