11-13-2014, 05:09 PM
Hello FarmersJointers, I'm about to share with you an important info I discovered during my research. Can you imagine feeding your pullets for 5 months without getting anything? Then when they finally start laying you see different types of infections manifesting.
I have a similar experience with my birds. I had over 500 birds (I think about 535 at POL) and at a point they were laying over 15 crates of eggs per day! This is despite the fact that they suffered a disease you shud never pray for your birds to encounter (Mycoplasma Gallisepticum). Soon after they hit over 15 crates, the same disease resurfaced and others also followed. Egg production dropped to barely 9 crates per day and later rose to 14 crates. From this bad experience I learnt a lesson, and that lesson is SEROLOGICAL MONITORING.
During the pullet stage, hidden diseases that did not manifest will manifest once they start laying. This is because laying is a big stress factor for them. That is why you must give them all the necessary vaccination b4 they start laying.
After you have given your birds all the vaccination they need, how do you know if all of them will protect the birds? How sure are you that some vaccination did not fail? Serological monitoring will go a long way in helping you.
So what you do is this. At about 18 weeks or so, take 25 birds to a laboratory and tell them to do serological test for certain diseases. Right now I don't know how this is done or how much they charge, but I think the test have to be done for each disease you want to monitor.
So with serological monitoring, you'll be able to know whether to revaccinate or not. Also, when there is drop in egg production during lay, the test will help you pinpoint which disease(s) are likely to be involve. This will help you take vital actions before things go bad. I hope this help. Do you have any question or suggestion, please do ask.
I have a similar experience with my birds. I had over 500 birds (I think about 535 at POL) and at a point they were laying over 15 crates of eggs per day! This is despite the fact that they suffered a disease you shud never pray for your birds to encounter (Mycoplasma Gallisepticum). Soon after they hit over 15 crates, the same disease resurfaced and others also followed. Egg production dropped to barely 9 crates per day and later rose to 14 crates. From this bad experience I learnt a lesson, and that lesson is SEROLOGICAL MONITORING.
During the pullet stage, hidden diseases that did not manifest will manifest once they start laying. This is because laying is a big stress factor for them. That is why you must give them all the necessary vaccination b4 they start laying.
After you have given your birds all the vaccination they need, how do you know if all of them will protect the birds? How sure are you that some vaccination did not fail? Serological monitoring will go a long way in helping you.
So what you do is this. At about 18 weeks or so, take 25 birds to a laboratory and tell them to do serological test for certain diseases. Right now I don't know how this is done or how much they charge, but I think the test have to be done for each disease you want to monitor.
So with serological monitoring, you'll be able to know whether to revaccinate or not. Also, when there is drop in egg production during lay, the test will help you pinpoint which disease(s) are likely to be involve. This will help you take vital actions before things go bad. I hope this help. Do you have any question or suggestion, please do ask.