How to manage persistent chicken disease outbreaks If your chicken farm is experiencing an inordinate number of disease outbreaks that require constant but desperate intervention then the adage desperate situations require desperate measures may apply to you. It also may be likely you have made certain mistakes…
Poultry Mites parasites All classes of poultry are susceptible to mites, some of which are blood-suckers, while others burrow into the skin or live on or in the feathers. Others occur in the air passages and in the lungs, liver and other internal…
Blackhead disease (histomoniasis) Blackhead disease (histomoniasis) is an important poultry disease that affects turkeys, chickens, and game birds such as partridges, pheasants, and quail. The disease is caused by the protozoa Histomonas meleagridis, tiny, single-celled organisms that are spread to the bird by the roundworm Heterakis gallinarum. Lifecycle…
Avian Influenza DiseaseAvian Influenza is most commonly known as bird flu. It was one of my initial fears of owning chickens because all you hear about on the news is how people get sick with bird flu from their chickens. However, after…
Botulism Disease Botulism is a disease caused by the ingestion of a toxin produced by the Clostridium botulinum bacterium. All domestic fowl and most wild birds are susceptible to the toxin's effects. Many human deaths have also been attributed to the consumption…
Salmonellosis Disease in poultrySalmonella infections in poultry can be divided into host specific infections and non-host specific infections. Host specific infections Pullorum disease Infections with Salmonella pullorum usually cause very high mortality in young chickens and turkeys within the first 2 - 3…