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Successful coccidiosis vaccination depends on good brooding management as well as proper administration of the vaccine in the hatchery at 1 day of age, says Dr. Matilde Alfonso, a technical service veterinarian with Intervet/Schering-Plough Animal Health.

Here are a few tips that can help ensure good results:

1. Understand coccidial cycling.
   
   After vaccination, coccidial parasites replicate in the birds, which then shed coccidial oocysts in feces at about 7 days of age. Birds ingest oocysts from litter, parasites replicate again and a second cycle of oocysts are shed at about 14 days of age. The process initiates the development of immunity.



2. Use half-house brooding
   
   from 1 day of age until 10 to 14 days of age to help ensure all birds ingest enough oocysts to achieve uniform coccidial cycling. Proper stocking density varies with bird size.



3. Give vaccinated birds access
   
   to the full house at 10 to 14 days of age — before the second coccidial cycling. If the second cycling occurs before the full house is used, birds still in the half-house area ingest too many oocysts, while those in the rest of the house ingest too few. Flock immunity won’t be uniform.



4. Guard against wet litter.
   
   It promotes more coccidial cycling than necessary.



5. Provide enough feeders.
   
   Otherwise birds peck litter more and ingest more oocysts than needed.



6. Don’t panic at the first sight of gut lesions.
   
   Some lesions in vaccinated birds are expected and normal. In fact, they’re a sure sign that the vaccine is working to stimulate the birds’ immune systems. Consult an Intervet/ Schering-Plough Animal Health poultry sales or technical services representative to learn what level of postvaccination reaction is to be expected.

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