After seeing the sun for the first time in what has seemed like weeks of cold rainy weather, I finally got the motivation to vaccinate my birds. While catching them and performing this task, I thought of several things that we may all need to be reminded of.

The reason we vaccinate before pairing is so that the breeders will have the highest level of antibodies during their reproduction. This is important in producing quality offspring as these squabs recieve some of their parents immune globulins via the egg yolk and crop milk. This passive (temporary) immunity helps keep the youngsters healthy until their immune systems can mature.

The birds, during the idle season, tend to become very fat. Until one catches a few one doesn't realize how fat these birds have gotten. Regular exercise during the off season is helpful in keeping the birds trim, but in areas where this is impractical or if loft setup doesn't allow it, we have to intervene with less feed to prevent the obesity from becoming a problem.

Birds, during cold weather, tend to overeat as a survival instinct. They act starving to death sometimes just because their bodies are telling them to stock up for hard and/or lean times. Monitor the condition of the birds and feed less as indicated.

Barley is advantagous here, after the moult, as it is less appetizing to the birds and is also less calorie•dense than some other grains. Why keep them from becoming too fat? When they are obese they have less desire to fly, have more difficulty flying, have more difficulty performing a good mating act (resulting in infertile eggs), and often an obese hen has trouble ovulating or laying.

It is easy to get complacent during the winter when it comes to giving the birds a bath. I was reminded of this when I saw how dirty the bands had become.It is harder during cold weather go do this and we have less ambition to do things like this during the short days of winter. The birds really love the bath, winter or summer, and while it is not a critical health matter is is an important hygiene measure and the birds surely do appreciate it.

It is a good idea, before mating, to treat the birds for the routine things such as trichomonas, coccidia and worms. Using broad spectrum antibiotics to clean out the birds is a counterproductive measure. The antibiotics have no preventive effect, only a therapeutic effect. They may also eliminate the friendly bacteria which have a blocking effect against the bad bacteria; therefore the birds may actually be more susceptible after antibiotic usage than before.

When vaccinating (I vaccinate for PMV and Paratyphoid) remember to increase safety, keep the vaccine just under the skin...don't go too deep into muscle or other vital structures, or too shallow and inject into the skin.

If we go too deep we can cause serious muscle damage or worse, hit a vein. If the vaccine is injected into a vein, the bird will usually die within seconds to minutes. Feel the needle go through the skin and then go no deeper. Keep the bevel of the needle up to facilitate correct placement of the vaccine. Vaccinate, midline, on the back, near where the neck hits the back, or in the groin. The groin site is safer but more trouble. Further up the neck increases the risk of hitting a blood vessel.

Dr. David E. Marx D.V.M.