VACCINE AND HOW TO VACCINATE YOUR BIRDS

A vaccine is a biological preparation that improves immunity to a particular disease. A vaccine typically contains an agent that resembles a disease-causing microorganism and is often made from weakened or killed forms of the microbe, its toxins or one of its surface proteins. The agent stimulates the body's immune system to recognize the agent as foreign, destroy it, and keep a record of it, so that the immune system can more easily recognize and destroy any of these microorganisms that it later encounters.

RICKET AND CAGE LAYERS FATIGUE

Rickets and cage layer fatigue are nutritional diseases of chickens, turkeys and ducks that results in soft bones. Often the leg bones become bowed and hamper the bird’s ability to stand and walk. The term ‘rickets’ is generally used to describe the condition in young poultry, while ‘osteomalacia’ is often the term used for the disease in adult birds. Caged layer fatigue is a related condition observed in caged laying hens, usually around peak egg production, that may also be associated with osteoporosis, a condition causing brittle bones as a result of reduced bone density.

NEWCASTLE DISEASE (NDV)

Newcastle disease is a highly contagious viral infection that affects many species of domestic and wild birds to varying degrees. Domestic fowl, turkeys, pigeons and parrots are most susceptible while a mild form of the disease affects ducks, geese, pheasants, quail and guinea fowl. The disease can result in digestive, respiratory and/or nervous clinical signs, which range from a mild, almost inapparent respiratory disease to very severe depression, drop in egg production, increased respiration, profuse diarrhoea followed by collapse, or long-term nervous signs (such as twisted necks), if the birds survive. Severe forms of the disease are highly fatal.

HEALTH MANAGEMENT IN POULTRY

The best fed and housed stock with the best genetic potential will not grow and produce efficiently if they become diseased or infested with parasites. Therefore good Poultry health management is an important component of poultry production. Infectious disease causing agents will spread through a flock very quickly because of the high stocking densities of commercially housed poultry.

INFECTIOUS BURSAL DISEASE (IBD) OR GUMBORO

 Infectious bursal disease (IBD), also known as Gumboro, is a highly contagious viral infection that is found in chicken flocks in most countries.
The severity of the disease will depend on the age and breed of chicken and the virulence of the virus. Signs of the disease can include a rapid drop in feed and water consumption, mucoid (slimy) diarrhoea with soiled vent feathers, ruffled feathers, listless chicks with unsteady gait or sitting in hunched position, picking at own vent and sleeping with beak touching the floor.

EGG DROP SYNDROME (EDS)

Egg drop syndrome (EDS) is caused by a viral infection in laying hens. It is characterised by production of soft-shelled and shell-less eggs

in apparently healthy birds, and leads to a sudden drop (10-40%) in recorded egg production or a failure to achieve a normal peak in

WET LITTER IN POULTRY

To obtain maximum broiler production potential, management of the poultry house environment is essential. An important measure of a suitable environment is proper maintenance of poultry litter. Litter is defined

COCCIDIOSIS IN POULTRY

Coccidiosis is one of the most common and economically important diseases of chickens worldwide.

It is caused by a parasitic organism that damages the host’s intestinal system, causing loss of production, morbidity and death. This disease has a major economic impact on the global poultry industry.

Coccidia life-cycle:

Coccidial parasites are protozoa belonging to the phylum Apicomplexa.
Chicken coccidiosis is caused by seven species, all from the genus Eimeria: E. acervulina, E. brunetti, E, maxima, E. mitis, E. necatrix, E. praecox and/or E. tenella.

BROODING CHICKENS

Brooding, in zoology, pattern of behaviour of certain egg-laying animals, especially birds, marked by cessation of egg laying and readiness to sit on and incubate eggs. Incubation itself is the process of maintaining uniform heat and humidity of the developing eggs, usually accomplished by one or both parents sitting on the eggs at all times.

Many birds develop a brood patch—an area of bare, featherless skin on the underbody—in preparation for incubation and brooding.

AVIAN POX

Avian pox is a relatively slow-spreading viral disease in birds, characterized by wart-like nodules on the skin and diphtheritic necrotic membranes lining the mouth and upper respiratory system.

Turkey with Avian Pox

It has been present in birds since the earliest history. Mortality is not usually significant unless the respiratory involvement is marked.