There are several symptoms of poultry diseases exhibited by a bird or poultry flock. Some common poultry disease symptoms include decline in egg production, coughing, diarrhea, loss of appetite and lethargy.
Keeping a close eye on the general behaviour and temperament of your flock is one way by which you can identify diseased chicken. Since some poultry diseases are contagious, it is important to watch out for symptoms of disease in order to carry out effective biosecurity measures.
Treatment, isolation, and culling are some biosecurity measures that may need implementing to contain a poultry disease and prevent outbreak in a flock.
As a rule of thumb, you should administer poultry vaccinations as prescribed by your flock supplier.
Types of poultry diseases
Poultry birds can contract various diseases. In general, there are at least four types of poultry diseases:
- Viral
- Bacterial
- Syndromic
- Of toxin sources
Some poultry illnesses that result from these sources include Salmonella, Mycoplasma, Infectious Coryza, Gallibacterium, Infectious bronchitis, Newcastle disease, Avian influenza, and Cage osteoporosis.
You can manage your flock vaccination schedule with Kukufarm. Doing so will let allow to easily track prescribed treatments. Furthermore, you will be able to mark administered treatments. Effectively, your flock records will have more detail, and can be easily referred.
Symptoms of poultry diseases
Diseased poultry birds exhibit various symptoms respective to the disease that afflicts them. However, some symptoms of poultry disease are not unique to one disease. Rather, they can manifest from a number of diseases.
Common symptoms of poultry diseases:
- Respiratory difficulties including coughing and gasping
- Difficulty breathing
- Lethargy; general weakness or exercise intolerance
- Loss of appetite
- Lack of general mobility
- Reduced or the cessation of egg production
- Diarrhea
- Lumps on various parts of the body
- Drooping wings
- Paralysis
Keep in mind there are many more symptoms of poultry diseases. Furthermore, new poultry illnesses may be discovered, or new symptoms may manifest from existing diseases.
Ultimately observing your birds on a daily basis is the first line of defence in identifying diseased birds and applying respective treatment and biosecurity measures.
Poultry disease remedies
In order to administer the correct treatment to diseased birds, you must be able to correctly identify their disease. Treating your chicken for the wrong disease could potentially result in poor health and decreased productivity.
If in doubt, you should consult with a certified poultry veterinary regarding your flock’s health. Additionally, you should obtain respective poultry medicines and treatments from certified agrovets and respective suppliers.
Some biosecurity measures to consider when treating diseased poultry:
- Isolation from general flock
- Treatment administration
- Culling
- Coop hygiene
In the meanwhile, if you notice symptoms of disease in your flock, you can isolate diseased birds immediately to prevent disease outbreak. Some poultry diseases are contagious. Contagious poultry diseases can result to loss of birds or entire flock if effective measures to contain and treat birds are not administered in time.
In any case, prevention is better than cure. Administering poultry vaccines as prescribed by flock supplier and or certified vet is the first step in ensuring flock health, mitigating and preventing poultry diseases.
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