POULTRY DISEASE PREVENTION AND MANAGEMENT

Pashu Sandesh, 23rd March 2019

Preety Singh ,Somesh Kumar Joshi  ,Rohit Singh  

Introduction

Prevention and control of poultry diseases is one of the most important factors for the profitability of poultry farming business. This prime fact provides a brief overview of the importance of knowing your cost of production, and benchmarking to monitor business profitability plus how to use financial ratios to gauge future viability. Following basic factors should be kept in mind for preventing and controlling of poultry diseases.

Diseases of Poultry

The two most serious poultry diseases that must be kept out of poultry flocks are Newcastle disease and avian influenza. Poultry industry is at risk from their introduction. The compulsory vaccination program against disease has helped protect the industry against both endemic and exotic disease. Some are controlled by vaccination or medication strategies. Others are controlled by keeping them out of farms.

Routine preventative measures form the next line of defense against disease, after providing a clean and hygienic environment through good poultry farming practices. Preventative measures include:

• vaccination
• parasite control
• identifying and treating sick birds
• separating multi-age flocks
• practicing routine biosecurity procedures between flocks and staff working with them.

Vaccination

Vaccination can prevent many poultry diseases. Follow a suitable vaccination program or only buy appropriately vaccinated stock. 

Poultry vaccinations include:

• avian encephalomyelitis
• chicken anaemia
• egg drop syndrome 76 (EDS 76)
• fowl cholera
• fowl pox
• infectious bronchitis
• infectious bursal disease
• infectious coryza
• infectious laryngotracheitis
• Marek's disease
• Newcastle disease.

For breeders of poultry, when vaccinating:

• always follow the instructions on the label, including storage conditions
• use disposable syringes and needles
• discard all unused vaccines, syringes and needles in a proper manner

• be clean, but never use detergents or disinfectants near vaccination equipment. Do not disinfect skin before vaccinating with fowl pox or Marek's HVT vaccine, as this will kill the vaccine virus.

Layers Vaccination schedule:

Broilers Vaccination schedule  

I/N – Intra Nasal; I/O – Intra Occular; D/W – Drinking; I/M – Intra Muscular

Parasite control

Birds that are housed on the floor and have access to pastures and outdoor areas will have greater exposure to internal and external parasites. For birds housed in these conditions, it is important to have a prevention program in place and treat as required. This helps to minimise physical stress and keep birds in good condition so they can resist disease. Control parasites by:

• regularly inspecting birds for external parasites
• spraying or dusting birds thoroughly with an approved insecticide if you can see lice or mites - spray the shed, perches and nests thoroughly, making sure the insecticide gets into crevices
• cleaning sheds and rotating ranges to prevent worms
• regularly checking fecal material for any sign of worms
• always checking the label on worming treatments for withholding periods as some are not suitable for production birds
• consulting a veterinarian.

Remove sick birds

Regularly observe your birds for any signs of ill health or problems within the flock such as feather pecking. Remove sick chickens and other poultry from the main flock and obtain a diagnosis from a qualified person. Sick birds usually appear different to healthy birds. You can give the correct treatment once you identify the disease or problem. Keep ill birds quarantined from the flock until completely recovered. If medication is given, it is important to adhere to any withholding periods.

Multi-age flocks

When introducing younger birds into a flock of older birds, there is an increased risk of disease transfer from the older birds to the younger birds. Older birds often build resilience to diseases and disorders that younger birds have not been exposed to.There may also be an increased risk of feather pecking and social issues when introducing new birds to a flock.It is preferable from a disease perspective to run single-aged flocks. However if this is not possible and you are running multi-age flocks:

• keep age groups separate - have an all-in and all-out system for each age group to allow for a complete clean and disinfection of facilities and equipment between batches
• always start work with younger poultry and finish with the oldest.

 Conclusions

An adequate disease prevention program is essential to a profitable commercial poultry operation. Diseases can reduce efficiency and increase costs. Although proper management mainly parasitic control and vaccination in poultry farm can prevent from many disease and may not show immediate returns on the investment, it will be profitable in the long term.

Preety Singh¹ ,Somesh Kumar Joshi²  ,Rohit Singh¹  

Veterinary Pathology¹,

Indian Veterinary Research Institute¹, Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh

Assistant Professor²,

Department of Livestock Products Technology²

Apollo College of Veterinary medicine², Agra road, Jaipur-302031