UK poultry farmers could soon benefit from in ovo vaccination

Use of in ovo vaccination - now delivering Marek's disease vaccine to about 85% of US broilers - is likely to expand considerably in the UK and other European countries as new approved vaccines become available.

Much of the poultry vaccine in the UK is delivered post-hatch using a variety of methods, depending on the vaccine type. These include via drinking water, by spray, eye drop or injection. But all these involve a human element in delivering vaccine to each bird. The result is that some birds in a flock can miss out on a full dose.

One way round this is with automatic egg injection, such as with the Embrex Inovoject System, where vaccines are delivered in a precise, uniform way to every egg, every time.