5 Common poultry diseases you should know about

Just like all animals or any species, chicken are prone to a number of common poultry diseases. However, indigenous breeds tend to have a high disease resistance than their hybrid and commercial counterparts.

Due to their high contact with other and the contagious nature of some poultry diseases, birds in a flock can get diseased quickly. Moreover these can result to high mortality. Unfortunately, there are many cases where even a whole flock has died.

What are poultry diseases

A poultry disease is basically any ailment or medical condition that affect a bird’s temperament, mobility general health, egg production, and increases their mortality.

Some symptoms of diseased birds include diarrhoea, gasping, coughing, loss of mobility, weight loss, loss of appetite, blindness, and drooping head.

Notably, if you do not prevent and control poultry diseases, you will incur a drop in flock productivity. Moreover, you will likely have high mortality, and incur huge financial losses.

Luckily for poultry farmer, there are vaccines for most common poultry diseases. Poultry vaccination when applied as directed by flock supplier and certified vets can help minimize a flock’s disease rate.

Common poultry diseases

Infectious bronchitis

Infectious bronchitis (IB) is caused by the infectious bronchitis virus and is highly contagious. IB can result to high mortality especially in unvaccinated birds.

IB symptoms include coughing, sneezing, gasping, respiratory distress and nasal discharge. IB results in reduced egg production, production of eggs without egg white, and with fragile, soft, and rough egg shells.

Flocks can be vaccinated to prevent birds from contracting IB. Antibiotics may be administered to prevent repeat infections. Isolation of diseased birds and disinfection can be applied to control and curtail disease spread.

Newcastle disease

Newcastle disease (ND) is also known as Virulent Newcastle disease (VND). ND is caused by an avulavirus. It is contagious and is spread through physical contact between healthy and diseased birds.

Newcastle disease virus survives for long periods in certain conditions and is easily picked by contact with fecal discharge and transferable to a healthy flock.

ND symptoms depending on the strain, birds’ age and relative health may include gasping, coughing, depression, tremors, drooping wings, facial swelling, diarrhoea, and paralysis.

ND results in reduced egg production, or the production of rough or thin shelled eggs.

Vaccination of birds in a flock may be the best prevention strategy for Newcastle disease. Quarantining of diseased or symptomatic birds is advisable to prevent disease spread.

Avian encephalomyelitis

Avian encephalomyelitis is caused by a virus known as tremorvirus.

Tremorvirus symptoms are characterized by tremors in chicken, drooping wings, weakness, blindness, exercise intolerance and paralysis.

The tremorvirus causes a drop in egg production.

Birds can be vaccinated against avian encephalomyelitis. Mortality is high among infected birds. Birds that survive infection are achieve immunity against repeat infection. However, those birds have poor productivity.

Infectious bursal disease

Infectious bursal disease (IBD) is also referred to as Gumboro disease. IBD is caused by the infectious bursal disease virus. The disease is highly contagious through physical proximity, food or water.

IBD symptoms include diarrhea, loss of appetite, loss of mobility, and high fever. The disease can cause to a high mortality rate in a flock. It is advisable to vaccinate birds rather to treat them after they’ve contracted IBD.

Fowlpox

There are two types of fowlpox: wet pox and dry pox. First is Wet pox that is contracted via the inhalation or ingestion of the virus via dust. Secondly is Dry pox that is spread by parasites such as mosquitoes, and wound contamination.

Both types of fowlpox are caused by viruses. Furthermore, symptoms for fowlpox are characterized by lesions or lumps on the beak, comb, around the eyes and other parts of the body.

Fowlpox results in egg production and weight loss in affected birds. However, it does not result to high mortality. Birds can be vaccinated against fowlpox to prevent the onset of serious disease. For your interest, read more about poultry diseases.

How chicken contract diseases

There are several way through which poultry birds contract disease. Some of the most common include:

• Viruses
• Contaminated feed, water
• Parasites
• Contact with diseased birds or contaminated matter
• Inhalation or ingestion of disease carrying matter

How to prevent and control common poultry diseases

Prevention is better than cure. Additionally, it will also be cheaper to prevent birds from becoming diseased, than treating them.

Firstly, poultry birds should be vaccinated according to local health directives and mandates, as well as according to the advice of respective flock suppliers and certified vets. Agro4africa presents a good overview of poultry diseases and vaccination programs.

Secondly, poultry birds should be kept in suitable hygiene and climate conditions. These can vary depending on the method of farming the chicken are kept. Coop heating for instance, is determined by a flock’s age. Young chicks need a warmer chicken house than grown birds. Essentially coops or chicken should be free of conditions that can stress the birds.

Thirdly, poultry should be fed high quality and nutritious feeds and have access to clean water. Feed quality is especially important for commercial farmers. Low quality feed can result in loss of bird weight, drop in egg production, general poor health, disease and death.

Fourthly, apply disease control strategies to prevent the spread of contagious disease in a flock. These include isolation or quarantining of diseased birds until they recover, or culling of diseased birds.

Last but not least, ensure your coop is free of parasites. Parasites such as fleas, mite, and lice can disease birds and accelerate the spread of disease in a flock. Additionally, it is advisable to fumigate a used coop thoroughly before housing a new flock therein to get rid of any parasites. Notably, some parasites are primarily hosted by pests such as rats. Ensuring a chicken house is free of pests helps control and prevent parasites.

Key takeaways

• Disease prevention is better than treatment
• Poultry birds can easily contract a disease, if they are not reared in a conducive environment
• Birds kept in crowded spaces are especially prone to disease due to the likelihood of contracting some ailments from each other
• Vaccinate your birds and apply other disease prevention strategies to ensure your flock is healthy
• Ensure that your flock is fed high quality and nutritious feed, and has access to clean water
• Vaccination should be applied under specific conditions, as specified by flock supplier or certified poultry vets
• A drop in egg production may be one way to tell that your birds are diseased. You can easily track your flocks egg production with Kukufarm app