Short answer: Halaal Farms vaccinates day-old chicks at the hatchery against Marek's, Newcastle (NCD), Gumboro (IBD), infectious bronchitis and coccidiosis, and sends a batch record with each order. Hatchery vaccines are the start of the programme, not the whole of it. Boosters and their timing on your farm are set by your vet, who should also read the batch record and look at the house before anything else.
Key takeaways
- The hatchery vaccines are the first layer. Boosters and timing on your farm come from your vet.
- Read the batch record first. It tells your vet what has already gone into the chicks, and when.
- Live vaccines die in heat, sunlight, chlorinated water and old stock. Most failures are handling failures.
- Vaccination does not replace biosecurity, clean water or a warm brooder.
- Write every dose, date and route in your record book, not in your head.
What goes into our chicks at the hatchery
Every chick that leaves our hatchery in Opeikuma has been vaccinated against five things: Marek's disease, Newcastle disease (NCD), Gumboro (infectious bursal disease, IBD), infectious bronchitis (IB) and coccidiosis. The batch record we send with each order shows that the work was done, and when.
Marek's is a viral disease that can cause paralysis and tumours, and the hatchery vaccine is the first and most important line of protection against it. Newcastle is the one that can sweep through an unprotected flock within days, and it spreads through birds, droppings and people's footwear. Gumboro attacks the bursa, the organ that builds a young bird's immune system, so a chick hit by it is left open to everything else. IB affects the airways and, in laying birds, the eggs. Coccidiosis is a parasite that damages the gut, and it is one of the most common reasons for poor growth. Our notes on Gumboro and coccidiosis go into the signs in more detail.
What the hatchery programme does not do is finish the job. No single shot covers a bird for its whole life, and the timing of each later step has to fit the risk on your farm. Our hatchery sets the first layer, and the rest is built on your farm with your vet.
Reading the batch record before you touch a bird
Put the batch record on the table before you plan anything. It is a short document, but it answers the first question any vet will ask: what has this flock already had?
Check that the chick count matches your delivery note, that the date of hatch is on it, and that each vaccine is named with the date it was given. If anything is missing, phone us before you rely on the record. Keep the original with your flock records, because a photocopy is harder to trust when a claim is at stake.
The record also lets your vet decide which boosters are needed and when, rather than guessing from the age of the birds. That is a much better conversation to have with a clean record in front of you.
Why one shot is not the whole programme
A vaccine works by teaching the bird's immune system to respond, and that takes time. Some vaccines are live and multiply in the bird. Others are inactivated and need a booster to build up a strong response. Either way, the timing, the route and the pressure on your farm decide whether one dose is enough.
This is why a chick that was fully vaccinated at the hatchery can still fall sick on a farm where the water is dirty, the brooder is cold or the neighbour's birds roam freely. The vaccine lowers the risk. It does not stop a bird meeting a challenge that is bigger than its immunity.
We see farmers make two opposite mistakes. Some skip the booster because the chicks left the hatchery vaccinated, then lose birds to a disease a booster would have stopped. Others give every product on the shelf at once, and the flock gets stressed, and some products interfere with each other. Neither one is safe.
A short look at Newcastle disease prevention in Ghana shows why the timing of that one booster matters so much.
A typical timeline, and who sets the real dates
Every programme is different. The table below shows the kind of steps many Ghanaian broiler and layer flocks go through, so you know what to ask about. These are examples of timing only. Your vet sets the actual days, products, routes, and whether a step applies to your birds at all.
| Typical age | Step you may see | What to ask your vet |
|---|---|---|
| Hatch (day 0) | Hatchery vaccines as listed on the batch record | Is anything else needed, given what is already on the record? |
| First week | A Newcastle booster is common in many programmes | Which product, by what route, and on what day? |
| Second to third week | A Gumboro booster is often given in many programmes | Does my area or my flock's history change the timing? |
| Around three to four weeks | An infectious bronchitis booster may be considered for layers | Is this needed for my breed and for how I plan to use the birds? |
| Ongoing (layers) | Pre-lay and further boosters on a vet's calendar | What should be given before point of lay, and what after? |
The table is a list of questions, not a schedule. Take it to your vet, and write the answers down as dates in your record book.
Giving a booster without wasting the dose
Most failed vaccinations are not caused by bad vaccines. They are good vaccines that went into the wrong water, the wrong bird or the wrong cooler. Get these basics right every time:
- When your vet has said water is the route, use clean water free of chlorine or disinfectant. Chlorine can destroy live vaccine virus before the bird drinks it.
- Ask your vet whether to withhold water beforehand, and for how long. The birds need to be thirsty enough to drink the vaccine within the time allowed.
- Mix only what the birds can drink in the time your vet gives you. Mixed vaccine loses strength quickly.
- Keep the vaccine cool and out of the sun until it is used. Do not let an ice pack touch the vials directly.
- Drain the drinkers and rinse them before the vaccine goes in, so detergent or disinfectant residue does not reach the birds.
- Write the date, product, batch number and route in your record book at the time, not from memory later.
Your vet will give you the actual amounts for your product. Do not work them out from a photo of a label, and do not double a dose because the birds seemed to drink less than you expected.
Keeping vaccines alive in Ghana's heat
Many vaccines are living products, and warmth, light and age can kill them faster than most farmers expect. In Accra and Kasoa, a vial left on a bench at midday can sit at a damaging temperature for far longer than you would think. A cool box with cloth-wrapped ice packs, kept out of the sun, is the minimum for transport and for use on the farm.
Power cuts are the other problem. If your vaccine lives in a fridge, know what your fridge does when the power goes, and keep a thermometer inside it. If you do not have a reliable fridge, ask your vet whether the product comes in quantities you can use in one session, so you are not holding opened vials through the afternoon.
Check the expiry date on the vial before you use it. Old stock may look fine in the bottle and fail in the bird.
A vaccine is not a substitute for a clean house
We have seen flocks with perfect vaccination records go down with disease because the water was green, the litter was caked, and visitors walked straight from the market into the house. The vaccine was working. The house was overwhelming it.
Vaccination lowers the chance that a bird gets a disease. Biosecurity lowers the number of times it meets one. Both matter, and neither can do the other's job. Clean water, dry litter, a boot dip and clean crates for the chicks are the parts of the plan that cost almost nothing and protect every vaccine you have paid for. Our guide to biosecurity on a poultry farm goes through the set-up step by step.
For the first weeks, the brooder is part of the same picture. A warm, dry ring with fresh water keeps chicks strong enough to respond to what they were given. Our brooder ring guide shows how to build one.
Need chicks for your next batch?
Send breed, number and town. We reply with price, hatch date and delivery cost in writing.
When a vaccinated flock still gets sick
A flock that has been vaccinated and still shows disease is a question for your vet, not a reason to double the dose. Vaccine failure has several common causes, and most of them sit on the farm rather than in the bottle: a stressed or cold flock, a dose that went into the wrong water, an old vial, a missed booster, or a field strain of the disease that differs from the vaccine.
When you phone, tell the vet the age of the flock, what was given and when, the route used, how the birds are behaving, and how many have died. A dead bird brought in quickly and handled properly is worth more to your vet than any description.
While you wait, keep the house and the water clean, and keep sick birds apart if you can. Do not move birds between houses without asking, and do not share drinkers or equipment between flocks.
Records to keep for every flock
Good records turn a vaccination into something you can prove. Keep a single page for each flock with these lines filled in.
- Hatch date, supplier, number of chicks received, and the batch record reference.
- Each vaccine: name, date, route, batch number from the vial, and who gave it.
- The water or spray conditions at the time, including any withholding of water.
- Vaccine storage: where it was kept, and for how long before use.
- Any unusual reactions, sudden drops in water intake, or deaths, with dates.
- Your vet's next steps, written as dates rather than as a memory of what was said.
Our guide to poultry record keeping sets out a simple layout you can copy into a notebook in an afternoon.
What we do and what we ask of you
On our side, every order leaves the hatchery with the vaccines listed, the batch record and the count. On your side, we ask for the record to be kept, the vaccines to go in on your vet's schedule, and any problem to be reported early. If you have questions about the record when your chicks arrive, WhatsApp us on +233 24 915 1503 with a photo of the record and the box label. If you want to know more about who we are, our about page is the place to start.
Whether you want local hatch or imported parent stock, the vaccination question is the same. Our piece on imported versus local day-old chicks covers the choice, and you can place your order through the order form when you are ready. The delivery cost is confirmed before you pay.
Questions farmers ask
Are the vaccines in my chicks enough for the whole life of the bird?
No. The hatchery vaccines start the protection, but several diseases need boosters on the farm, and the timing depends on your area, your flock and your vet's advice. Treat the batch record as the first chapter of the vaccination story. Your vet writes the rest, and it should be written down as dates in your record book.
Can I give the vaccines myself, or do I need a vet?
Many farmers give drinking-water and spray vaccines themselves once they have been shown how. What matters is that the product, the route, the dose and the timing come from your vet. Ask them to walk you through the method on the day, including mixing, water and cleaning. If a dose is unclear, do not guess. Call before you mix.
What if I miss a booster date?
Call your vet the same day and tell them what happened. Do not simply give the next dose or double up without advice. Your vet can decide whether to give the missed step late, combine it with another, or move the calendar. Write down the missed date and what you were told, so the next batch does not repeat the gap.
Does chlorine in the water really matter?
For live vaccines it does. Chlorine and other disinfectants in drinking water can destroy the vaccine virus before the bird drinks it. If your water is treated, or your drinkers were just cleaned with a disinfectant, drain and rinse them, and ask your vet how to prepare the water. A few minutes of preparation is cheaper than repeating the vaccination.
Why do some vaccines need a booster but others do not?
It depends on how the vaccine works. Live vaccines multiply in the bird and can give a useful response after one dose, although timing still matters. Inactivated vaccines need a second dose to build a strong response. Your vet knows which applies to each product on your calendar, so ask for that explanation in plain words.
Does a chick from a good hatchery still need a clean brooder?
Yes. A vaccinated chick in a cold, wet brooder with dirty water still gets sick. Vaccines reduce the risk from specific diseases. They do not make a chick immune to chilling, dehydration or poor feed. Keep the brooder warm and dry, the water fresh and the feed clean, and the vaccines will do their work.
What should I do if I think my vaccine was bad?
Stop, keep the vial, and tell your vet and us. Check the expiry date, the storage history and the batch number. Note what you did with it: the water source, the mixing time, the temperature. We will want the same details from our side, and the batch record is where that check starts. Do not use the vial on more birds while you wait.
