Author Topic: can anyone give me some tips?  (Read 16476 times)

John

  • Guest
can anyone give me some tips?
« Reply #15 on: April 25, 2011, 10:00:28 AM »
Another good place to get the vaccine from is Twin City Poultry Supply.
http://www.twincitypoultrysupplies.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=46&products_id=574
Twin City is owned by Vic Hakes in Ohio.  He sets up at our Fowl Fest show here in Michigan each fall and when I order the vaccine from him he brings it to the show so I can save on shipping costs.  
I bought my first GQF incubator from Victor about 25 or so  years ago.  It had a red cabinet and my brother now has it.
There will probably be several poultry supply companies setup at the Indy show.  These events are great opportunities to order supplies and put them up at the show to save on on shipping.  

faith valley

  • Guest
can anyone give me some tips?
« Reply #16 on: April 25, 2011, 12:57:54 PM »
Walmart here carries a 1 cc 30 gague needle in packs of 10 for diabetic uses.  Guess I was not specific - sorry.  I pay 4.95 for a package.  

Vic from Twin City Poultry supply also has a 10 pack of 1 cc needles that are 29 guage, didn\'t aksk his price the last time I bought them- just told him to add it to the order.


John

  • Guest
can anyone give me some tips?
« Reply #17 on: April 25, 2011, 01:15:35 PM »
Quote
30 gauge needle

Keep in mind the 29 and 30 gauge needles are going to be much smaller than the 25 gauge size that Jean said was recommended as the smallest size to use.
The larger 20 gauge size works great for me.  I tried the smaller ones a few years ago and it felt like I really had to push hard on the syringe to vaccinate each bird.  Plus the 1/2\" long needles are much easier to work with compared to the longer ones.
It\'s nice to get everything from one source, but to get what I want I order needles from Karen at Cutler\'s and vaccine from Peter and Victor.
 

Jean

  • Administrator
  • Ameraucana Guru
  • *****
  • Posts: 977
    • View Profile
    • http://www.pipsandpeeps.com
can anyone give me some tips?
« Reply #18 on: April 25, 2011, 01:49:26 PM »
Quote from: John
Plus the 1/2\" long needles are much easier to work with compared to the longer ones.


I had to use the 1\" long needles about a month ago, because it was all I could get, I don\'t know how many times I stabbed myself or put the needle in and out the other side and vaccinated the chick\'s down......  :rolleyes:
Jean

greeneggsandham

  • ABC Members
  • Colleague
  • *
  • Posts: 277
    • View Profile
can anyone give me some tips?
« Reply #19 on: May 01, 2011, 07:18:07 PM »
Well, I got the chicks done.  Ordered the smaller needles and waited on them.  Thank goodness, because even the 25ga was letting the vaccine leak out.  I\'m pretty sure I had a few without the proper dosage from leakage, I had one bleed on me and I had a few that went without a hitch.
I must say though, quartering that wafer is, well, for the birds.  First, I couldn\'t get the wafer out of the bottle.  It was larger than the hole!  And very fragile.  Some of it was already loose in the vial.  So I had to stick and knife down in the bottle and half it before I could get it out.  And that crumbled one half of the wafer.  Then, since I was drawing vaccine out of a glass bottle instead of a vial, I had to deal with large air pockets in the syringe.  I tried to compensate for the air bubble, but it sure was hard to tell how much I had missing.  Is there a trick to that also?  I\'m wondering if I ought to revaccinate in a few weeks?
Sharon
Hubby rues the day he brought the chicks home...

Mike Gilbert

  • Guest
can anyone give me some tips?
« Reply #20 on: May 01, 2011, 08:12:21 PM »
With a little practice and the proper equipment you should be able to quarter the wafer without taking it out of the glass container.  But why draw the mixed vaccine out of a bottle?
I mix mine in an empty bottle so I can cap it and shake it to get it mixed well, then dump it in a shot glass for the syringe.

greeneggsandham

  • ABC Members
  • Colleague
  • *
  • Posts: 277
    • View Profile
can anyone give me some tips?
« Reply #21 on: May 01, 2011, 08:44:08 PM »
Well, I used a glass baby food jar as recommended on another site.  You can\'t turn an open jar upside down to draw out liquid in the syringe and as a result, I got air bubbles that were impossible to get out unless I wanted to shoot live vaccine all over me and the floor.
Sharon
Hubby rues the day he brought the chicks home...

John

  • Guest
can anyone give me some tips?
« Reply #22 on: May 01, 2011, 09:00:12 PM »
Quote
re-vaccinate in a few weeks?

I have not heard that it is recommended or will do any good, by anyone really knowledgeable on the subject or in any instructions I\'ve read.
I went to the Spring Fowl Fest, here in mid Michigan, on Saturday.  Vic Hakes, with Twin City Poultry Supply, was setup there and we talked about this very subject.  He had the vaccine there to sell and I had recently bought 6...not knowing I already had 6 hiding in the refrigerator out in the hatchery office.  Anyway, I mentioned how nice it would be if we could get units with fewer doses (like 250 rather than 1,000) and he said the manufacturers won\'t consider doing that.  Remember they say to mix and use it all at one time.  Don\'t split the wafer and all that stuff (even thought many do).  Victor\'s comment was that even if you only vaccinate 50 chicks with a unit (1,000 dose bottle) it only runs about 40 some cents per chick.  If you feel it is needed and you look at it that way rather than $20 for a bottle, it is worth it.

Jean

  • Administrator
  • Ameraucana Guru
  • *****
  • Posts: 977
    • View Profile
    • http://www.pipsandpeeps.com
can anyone give me some tips?
« Reply #23 on: May 01, 2011, 10:03:50 PM »
Quote from: greeneggs&ham
Well, I used a glass baby food jar as recommended on another site.  You can\'t turn an open jar upside down to draw out liquid in the syringe and as a result, I got air bubbles that were impossible to get out unless I wanted to shoot live vaccine all over me and the floor.


Just take the needles off and withdraw the vaccine and put the needle back on.
Jean

faith valley

  • Guest
can anyone give me some tips?
« Reply #24 on: May 01, 2011, 10:21:32 PM »
It is easy to half or quarter a waffer that is still in the little bottle by using a tooth pick.  You can slice the waffer in half with teh tooth pick, then stab the waffer quarter or half with the tooth pick and pull it out of the bottle.

Beth C

  • Guest
can anyone give me some tips?
« Reply #25 on: May 02, 2011, 06:41:00 AM »
Quote from: faith valley
It is easy to half or quarter a waffer that is still in the little bottle by using a tooth pick.  You can slice the waffer in half with teh tooth pick, then stab the waffer quarter or half with the tooth pick and pull it out of the bottle.


Ditto, except I use a needle.

Quote
Victor\'s comment was that even if you only vaccinate 50 chicks with a unit (1,000 dose bottle) it only runs about 40 some cents per chick.


But when you\'re doing a dozen, it ends up being 1/3 the value of the chick.  :stare:

Mike Gilbert

  • Guest
can anyone give me some tips?
« Reply #26 on: May 02, 2011, 08:50:10 AM »
All I can say is that what I have been doing for the last 15 years is working for me.   Marek\'s was introduced here by a purchased bird in the early 1990\'s.  I didn\'t know what was going on until I lost the buff Ameraucana bantam pullet that won best AOCCL at the 1996 APA national meet held in Minnesota the following December, along with her best pullet sibling.  With that heartbreaking loss I realized what the problem had to be since they were very healthy in every other respect.  Since starting the vaccination program losses have been very minimal.  I quarter the wafer, drop 1/4 in an empty diluent bottle, pour in 1/4 of a bottle of chilled diluent, cap it, shake it up, pour it into a clean shot glass, draw a couple of syringes, shoot them down the drain, and commence vaccinating.  Air bubbles are not a problem.  If I get one, I simply discharge the dose back into the shot glass and draw a different one.  I also give a little more than the recommended dose since I always end up with extra to throw away anyway.  It works.  Most of the time I am only vaccinating from 20 to 50 chicks, so there is no way I\'m spending the extra money to use up a whole wafer each time.

Beth C

  • Guest
can anyone give me some tips?
« Reply #27 on: May 02, 2011, 10:09:09 AM »
Quote
Most of the time I am only vaccinating from 20 to 50 chicks, so there is no way I\'m spending the extra money to use up a whole wafer each time.


Exactly. Plus, I grew up in a house full of people who lived through the depression - even if I could afford it, it\'s just not in my nature to waste 90% of something. (Although I admit with a $5 vaccine I\'m less inclined to try to stretch it.)

It would benefit everyone if the manufacturers would package 250 or even 500 dose vials. They aren\'t making any more money selling the big vials, since most people break them down anyway, and I think more people would vaccinate if they sold it in smaller & more economical doses.

Along the lines of vaccines, I have a question. I have been told by my NPIP testers (who even called while they were here and verified it with their supervisor) that it is illegal to use the MG vaccine in NC, and that no state has approved it\'s use, although Jeffers will sell it and ship it to me. They also told me that there are other vaccines that are only approved for large commercial operations and can be authorized for hobbyists only when they are in high risk areas. These rules are due to NC\'s massive poultry industry & fears of a live vaccine mutating and causing an outbreak. It is a bit unsettling, since I could have bought & used this vaccine w/o ever knowing I was breaking the law if I hadn\'t mentioned it while the tester was here (would seem that they would publicize this law a bit better). He also told me that vaccinated birds would show a false positive if tested for MG, resulting in quarantine of the premises. Just wondering if anyone else has encountered this in their state and what they have been told.

Jean

  • Administrator
  • Ameraucana Guru
  • *****
  • Posts: 977
    • View Profile
    • http://www.pipsandpeeps.com
can anyone give me some tips?
« Reply #28 on: May 02, 2011, 10:49:03 AM »
Beth,

That is probably the law for your State on live MG vaccine.  The Fort Dodge brand MG BAC, is not a live, it is a bacterin.

That is why the sell it and ship to your state.  
Jean

Beth C

  • Guest
can anyone give me some tips?
« Reply #29 on: May 02, 2011, 01:03:57 PM »
Fort Dodge MG Bac is the one I ask him about, even showed him the page in the catalog to clarify. It doesn\'t make any sense to me, but he was adamant that NO MG vaccine was allowed in NC, no way, no how.