Vaccine, Health, and Poultry Storage Management

Vaccine Standard Operational Procedure

Vaccine Handling and Storage

For all vaccines:

·         Vaccine should arrive with cool packs in a well-insulated box.

·         If vaccine arrives hot, call manufacturer or distributor.

·         Storage temperature = 35-45º F (2-8º C).

·         Avoid freezing, extreme heating and intense light.

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For Live Vaccines:

·         Transport to farm in cooler with ice packs to keep temperature constant.

·         Mix with diluent (reconstitute) just before application.

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For Inactivated Vaccines:

·         Remove 24 hours prior to vaccinating so that the product can warm to room temperature.

·         Also, can use warm water bath–do not exceed 100º F for more than 5 hours .

·         Do not leave bottles in direct sunlight during transport to farm.

·         Gently agitate bottles thoroughly prior to use.

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Inactivated vaccines are especially susceptible to temperature extremes or poor handling.  These products are typically in an oil emulsion and mishandling these products can result in disruption of the emulsion known as a broken emulsion.  To test the product to see if the emulsion is broken: shake the bottle vigorously for 2 minutes. Let bottle rest for 5 minutes. If separation persists, do not use that bottle.

Vaccination Method :

On-Feed Spray

Drinking water

Eye-drop                

Wing-web puncture

Subcutaneous injection (sc)

Intramuscular injection (im)

Spray Vaccination (On Feed Spray)

In many areas, chicks are vaccinated with live vaccines using a spray cabinet that administers a defined amount of water-borne vaccine to  chicks feed. The droplet size is carefully controlled and vaccination can be visualized on the chicks as either moisture or dye. This method is typically used for live coccidiosis vaccines.

Important points for coccidiosis vaccination by Backpack Sprayer :

Coccidiosis vaccines must be stirred or agitated gently continuously to insure that the oocysts stay in suspension. If oocysts are allowed to settle to the bottom, significant variation will occur in the actual oocyst dose delivered.

Coccidiosis vaccines are generally delivered with a fan pattern.

Coccidiosis vaccines utilize a larger droplet size .

After vaccination,ensure feed surface is eat by chicks.

Personnel

Always use at least three people to vaccinate. Broilers may require up to four people for proper vaccination. A designated vaccination crew is preferred. The flock service vet should be present if possible when a flock is vaccinated.

Equipment

Two to three backpack sprayers.

Vaccine storage - Insulated cooler with ice or cold packs.

Distilled water for mixing.

Before Vaccination

Try first with Distilled water

Observe spray particle size and pattern. The particle size for young chicks should be 80 to 120 microns and for other birds, between 30-60 microns.

The sprayer must be used for vaccination only (never for pesticides, herbicides, or disinfectants).

Wear gloves, mask and safety glasses during preparation and vaccine administration.

Vaccine Mixing

Mix the vaccine on the farm, just prior to vaccinating each house.

Use clean, non-chlorinated water or water that has had vaccine stabilizer added. Distilled water is ideal. Water should be no warmer than 80° F (27º C) and probably no cooler than 60° F (16º C) although the cool side is less critical, as long as it is not freezing.

Dissolve the vaccine in the vaccine bottle using distilled water, and then add the vaccine to the water in the sprayer tank. Rinse the vaccine bottle(s) thoroughly; otherwise up to 15% of the vaccine may be lost. Follow Vaccine usage instruction for water and vaccine ratio.

Shake the tanks on the sprayer to allow the vaccine to be mixed thoroughly.

Vaccinators do spraying walk slowly to all of feed boxes until vaccine running out

IMPORTANT: mix only enough vaccine to vaccinate one house.  Record the serial number and expiration date for the vaccines used.

House Preparation

Ensure chicks are comfortable, has a proper brooding.

Vaccinating will do early in the morning.

Sprayer Maintenance

Thoroughly rinse the tank with one gallon of distilled water at the end of each day or if changing vaccines.

Clean the outside of the sprayer using a damp cloth and a mild detergent.

Rinse the tank and pump thoroughly by spraying distilled water through the sprayer after

using the bleach solution.

Replace sprayer if needed.

                               

Drinking Water/Water vaccination

Utilizing the drinking water systems in poultry housing is a common method to administer live vaccines. Birds must be water restricted for approximately one hour to insure all birds are ready to drink once the vaccine is administered.

Water consumption is an important variable to calculate so that the correct amount of water can be used to mix with the vaccine.  To obtain this see water consumption through a water meter. Calculate the average water consumption from the last 4days, in order to obtain the amount of water used.

Before Vaccination

Always administer the Water vaccine on the day the birds are fed.

All medication, disinfectants and chlorine must be removed from the drinking water 48 hours before vaccination.

Water withdrawal prior to vaccine administration:

• 30 to 60 minutes in hot climates

• 60 to 90 minutes in cool climates

Always administer the vaccine in the water early in the morning.

Sufficient drinker space is required to allow free access to the vaccine solution.

Vaccine Preparation

The addition of dye stabilizer product or skim milk powder to the water 20-30 minutes prior to adding the vaccine. Add the skim milk powder at the rate of 1lb/50 gal (500 g/200 L).

Put several ice cubes on the water tank.

Open the vaccine vial by removing the aluminum seal and the rubber stopper. Using the water that will be used in the vaccination, fill the vial approximately 2/3 full. Close the vial with the rubber stopper and gently agitate in order to reconstitute the lyophilized vaccine. Rinse the vaccine vials several times to remove all the vaccine.

Use a graduated plastic bucket and than from that vaccine directly put in the water tank.

Mix with the vaccination and the stock solution after adding vaccine stabilizer, following manufacturer’s directions.

Stir and mix using a plastic stick or other clean utensil.

Vaccine Administration

Pour the reconstituted vaccine into the tank and open the valve of the water tank.

Walk the birds to checking if vaccine is reaching the end of the water pipe line.

Note that the birds must drink all the vaccine solution in no more than two hours, and never in less than 1 hour.

Post Vaccination

All medication, disinfectants and chlorine must be suspended from the drinking water until 24 hours after vaccination.

Recording

Eye Drop

Vaccine Mixing

Confirm that the vaccine to be administered by eye drop is approved and manufactured for eye drop application. Serious issues may occur if the wrong vaccines are eye dropped.

Open the vaccine vial and the diluents bottle, removing the aluminum seals and the rubber stopper. At the time of vaccine reconstitution, the diluents’ temperature must be between 2º and 8º C (36º to 45º F).

Open the diluent bottle and, using a syringe, remove 3 ml of diluent, inject into the lyophilized vaccine vial.

Rinse the vaccine vials several times with diluent in order to remove any residues.

Slowly shake the diluent bottle with the already reconstituted vaccine, without shaking vigorously.

Vaccine Administration

The vaccination will only be considered successful if the drop (0.03 ml) is placed into the eye or nasal cavity and absorbed. For this to occur, it is important to wait a few seconds after administering the drop, before releasing the bird. If the drop is not totally absorbed, a new drop should be administered.

To prevent the contents of the vaccine vial from getting warm against the hands of the vaccinator, divide the contents of the reconstituted vaccine into two or three empty vials, and alternate their use while keeping the others in a cooler with ice.

Post Vaccination

Check the number of doses used versus the number of birds vaccinated.

Record all information regarding the vaccination as well as any problems that may

occur with the birds or the vaccination process.

Wing-web Vaccination/Puncture

This route is commonly used for Fowl Pox, Avian Encephalomielitis, Chicken Anemia and Live Fowl Cholera.

Vaccine Preparation

The preparation of this vaccine is similar to that of the eye-drop vaccine. The vaccine is lyophilized and must be reconstituted in the same manner as other vaccines.

Only use the specific diluent which comes packaged with the vaccine.

Shake the vaccine vials carefully, turning the vial from one side to the other without tapping.

Vaccine Administration

Administer the vaccine in the center of the wing web, using a two-pronged needle applicator or other wing web applicator (Grant innoculator or others).

Remove the feathers located on the wing web before exposing it for vaccination.

Dip the two-pronged applicator into the diluted vaccine and pierce the web on the underside of the wing, avoiding feathers, blood vessels and bones.

Change the needle every 500 birds. The used needles can be disinfected and used again as long as they remain sharpened.

If during the application the wing vein is punctured, immediately change the needle and repeat vaccination.

Post Vaccination

7 to 10 days after vaccination, check for “vaccine takes”. Check at least 50 birds per house. Please refer to Vaccination Quality Control section for examples.

Record all information regarding the vaccination as well as any problems that may

occur with the birds or the vaccination process.

Injection Vaccine

Injectable vaccines must be manually injected into each bird using an 18 gauge by 1/4” needle.

There are two major injection methods in avian species to allow suitable vaccination:

Intramuscular (IM) – into the muscle

Subcutaneous (SC) – under the skin

When selecting the injection site, consideration should be given to ease of application, reaction at the injection site and human safety. Comparisons should be made to decide which injection site gives the best result in an individual operation.

Crew Safety

Accidental human injection with oil emulsion products is a serious potential danger when injecting this group of products. When this occurs, immediate medical attention should be administered to the injured personnel. When these products are injected into the hands or fingers, they can alter circulation leading to severe injury. Immediate treatment will involve removing the oil emulsified product to improve healing in the affected area. This should be done by a qualified medical professional.

Proper injection technique and bird handling will reduce the potential for human injection to occur. Bird handlers have an important responsibility to present the birds for injection at the proper angle for the chosen site of injection. If the syringe operator has to struggle to reach the site of injection, the chance for misapplication and accidental injection is much higher.

Injectable Vaccines

Before Vaccination

Remove the vaccine from the refrigerator and leave at room temperature for at least 12 hours in order to reduce the viscosity of the chilled mineral oil, thus making the administration easier and preventing intense local reactions.

Oil emulsion vaccines can also be warmed using a warm water bath prior to injection do not exceed 100° F (37° C) for more than 5 hours.

Gently agitate the vaccine container before and during the vaccination process to homogenize the contents.

Vaccine Administration

Administer the vaccine by using only the labeled dose at the chosen site of injection.

Needles should be regularly replaced, at least once every 500 birds.

Make sure that there is no air in the tube when the vaccine is administered.

Neck (SC)

The skin on the back of the neck should be lifted up to create a pocket between the skin and neck muscles. Insert the needle through the skin into this pocket with the needle pointing toward the bird’s body. The site of injection should be the middle to lower neck region on the dorsal mid line of the neck. There will be resistance as the needle passes through the skin followed by free movement into the SC space. If this difference is not noticed or is followed by resistance again, the needle may be in the skin, the neck muscle or the spinal cord. Avoid injecting vaccine into the neck muscles, intradermally or too close to the head. Once the needle is in the SC space, a full dose of vaccine is injected before retraction. Early retraction of the needle will result in birds receiving a partial dose.

Breast (IM)

Vaccine is injected into the superficial pectoral muscle about 1 to 1.5 inches (3 to 5 cm) lateral to the keel bone, depending on the age of the bird. The needle should be directed caudally at a 45º angle to the body. This will help avoid injecting the vaccine through the muscle and into the body cavity.

Post Vaccination

Record vaccine information and any problems that may occur regarding the birds or the vaccination process.

After vaccination, all needles, syringes and plastic tubes must be washed prior to sterilization.

Sterilize all equipment which will be used in the vaccination, using autoclave, alcohol or boiling water.

Medicate Poultry

Drugs treatment in chickens can be given in the form of feed mixtures, or mixed in drinking water or direct administration to chickens such as injection of antibiotic. Drugs administration through the feed may be antibiotics, antifungal, antitoxin, anti-parasitic etc.

Drugs used are usually accompanied by its use of information. always use this information to avoid errors in drug administration in chickens

Each drug administration should be recorded so that it can be detected when the drug is problematic.

Make sure the drugs are given in good condition and does not contradict or reinforce each other in their function if using more than one drugs or more

On the use of drugs via drinking water, always rinse the tank after drug administration. On the use of the drug directly to the chicken like injection, be sure to use clean needles from germs

For first 20 days chick in farm, follow 20 days Flock Heath Program, after 20 days, medication will follow the heath status of the flock.

Monitoring Health Status

Monitoring the health of chickens is very important in connection with the quick action to reduce losses due to death of chickens due to illness

Monitoring conducted on the farm everyday in the daily recording format.  The presence of abnormal amount of feed eaten or the amount of water that drink by chicken can be used as a early marker.

Every day should be made direct observation of the chicken, is there are any abnormalities in chickens or not.  A healthy chicken will look active, chicken feathers are not visibly soiled, the position of wing and tail not in down position, look no difficulty in breathing, no movement disorders in chickens.

In addition to the earlier observations, chicken manure should also be noted.  The presence of blood, excessive white or green color can be a sign of the presence of a disease

If abnormalities are found, report it immediately to the manager, and perform preventive measures to deal with the abnormalities found.

Storage of vaccines and medication

Acceptance of drug and vaccine should have a complete document and the condition of the goods must be in good condition. particular vaccine should be in a closed cold packs. Information items obtained immediately inserted into the data warehouse system.

Each item is entered should be used before the 3-month period expired goods

Store the goods in accordance with the manufacturer's instructions that issued the goods. vaccine storage at a temperature of 2-8 Celsius. For some types of medicines can be stored at room temperature.

The first incoming goods are goods that first came out.

Storage areas should be protected from direct sunlight

Storage of goods in particular vaccine should be equipped with alarms to temperature changes

Expenditures must be accompanied by documents and immediately enter data such goods out

Do regular inspections at least once a week to match the existing goods and goods data are recorded