Vaccination schedule for layers in Nigeria
Vaccination for poultry in Nigeria is as important as vaccination of humans. The usage of vaccines has already prevented pandemic diseases many times and is going to prevent more in future if it’s used properly. Diseases of livestock are dangerous for humans, so vaccination in accordance with a schedule is vitally important.
Poultry business in Nigeria
Agriculture is one of the most important sections of the Nigerian economy. The developed agricultural sector can provide enough food and other consumer goods for the population of the country that’s growing at an incredible speed.
READ ALSO: How to start a poultry farm in Nigeria?
Many people are called to work in the agricultural sector and the idea of starting a business in this area is being promoted as something very profitable and useful for the business person and the entire nation. Of course, many people respond to the call and start developing the agriculture of Nigeria.
Poultry farming is one of the most profitable sides of agricultural startups. The livestock gives plenty of products: meat, eggs, feather, down, and other sub-products. If you give it enough attention, you can develop a big poultry farm and earn good money.
Still, what does it mean to give attention? Poultry farming involves a range of problems that need to be solved, a range of questions that need to be answered, and a range of issues to take care of. One of them is proper timely vaccination of your poultry against dangerous diseases that can ruin your business.
Why are vaccination programs for layers so important?
Vaccines are able to prevent the spreading of dangerous diseases that affect both livestock and humans. Your safety, the safety of your poultry, and the safety of people who are going to contact the products of your farm depend on the health of your animals.
The principle of vaccination is in infecting a body with pathogenic organisms that have been properly processed in advance. These means allow the body suffer the disease in the easiest possible form and create an immune response.
Next time when the body encounters the same pathogen, it will have a set of antibodies that will be able to fight the pathogen effectively. However, the effective immune response needs time to build up properly. This is why all the living beings that are ever vaccinated should undergo this procedure in accordance with a certain schedule composed by specialists.
One of the most important poultry vaccination principles is starting from the very beginning of their life and keeping on through the official program until the last one is done. Below, you will find a detailed schedule that will guide you through the effective and resultant poultry vaccination.
Vaccination schedule for layers
Here’s a unified program for commercial layers that’s offered in veterinary manuals, as well. This program is just an example because different regions are endemic for different diseases and the program needs correction in every separate location.
- Day 1 – Marek’s Disease – the vaccine is brought subcutaneously (it’s better to turn to specialists if you have no vet practice, especially in injections)
- Day 14-21 – Newcastle Bronchitis – the vaccine is added to the drinking water
- Day 14-21 – Bursal disease (infectious) – the vaccine is added to the drinking water
- Day 28 – Bursal disease (infectious) – the vaccine is added to the drinking water
- Week 4 - Newcastle Bronchitis – the vaccine is either added to the drinking water or used as a spray
- Week 8 – Encephalomyelitis – the vaccine is administered through a wing web puncture
- Week 8 – Fowlpox – the vaccine is administered through a wing web puncture
- Week 13-14 – Newcastle Bronchitis – the vaccine is either added to the drinking water or used as a spray into the eyes
- Week 16 – Laryngotracheitis – the vaccine is administered in the form of a spray or eye drops
- Week 17 – Newcastle Disease (NDV Komarov) – the vaccine is administered as an injection into muscles
- Week 17 – Syndrome of Egg Drop – the vaccine is added to the drinking water
- Week 17 – Coryza (infectious) – the vaccine is added to the drinking water
Some facts about vaccination
Proper vaccination with high-quality vaccines is very important, as we have already made clear. However, there are people who are afraid of vaccination because it allegedly contains live pathogens and animals (and humans) can be infected seriously.
In reality, there’s hardly anything safer than vaccines for household animals or humans. The pathogens are inactivated effectively before they are injected into the body or administered in another way. Such an animal is not contagious for others or for humans.
Timely accurate vaccination can prevent the outbreak of pandemic diseases on your farm or neighboring ones. It works both ways: your poultry doesn’t infect other households because all the animals are healthy and none can infect your birds because they are vaccinated.
READ ALSO: Poultry business plan in Nigeria
Source: Legit.ng