Backyard poultry Flashcards
Traditional housing of poultry
- Poultry house with run, or access to ‘free range’
- Fixed or moveable
- Overnight and laying accommodation only
Ark and eglu for poultry
- Not much space
- Need moving regularly
- Not much protection from weather or predators
Aviary housing for poultry
Outdoor area is also enclosed so good for protection
Free range poultry
- Daylight hours on grass etc.
- Need grass/insects, shelter (trees)
- Dustbath
Housing considerations for poultry
- Perching: 25-30cm per laying bird
- Nest box (per 3-4 birds)
- Droppings board?
- Adequate insulation
- Adequate ventilation
- Protection from wild birds
- Protection from the elements
Feeding poultry
A hen in lay (2kg) eats about 125g feed
Drinks 200ml water
Food for poultry
- Layers pellets
- Grit
○ Mineral
○ Oystershell - Mixed corn- a treat!
- Not kitchen scraps
- Vegetables
- Care with long grass
- High producing hens need a calorie and protein
rich diet to be optimally productive- Corn is yummy but low in protein
- Grit
‘Ex batts’
- Birds removed from cages or free range system at the end of period of lay
- Physiologically exhausted
- Poor bones
- Few feathers
- Never met enteric parasites
- But vaccinated
- NOTE: poultry tend to moult at the end of a period of lay
Parasite control for poultry
- Internal parasites
○ Worms
§ Any age
○ Coccidiosis
§ Young birds
§ Ex-batts - External parasites
○ All birds, all the time- Red mite
- Lice
- Scaly leg
Worm every 3-6 months
Vaccinations for poultry
- Marek’s
- Infectious bronchitis
- Newcastle disease
- Laryngotracheitis
- Fowl pox
- Salmonella
- Mycoplasma
- Coccidiosis
How long do poultry feathers take to regrow?
5-6 weeks
Mycoplasmosis in poultry
‘One eyed cold’
- Bubbly eyes
- Sinusitis
- Reduced appetite
- Miserable
- Sinus swelling
- Treat with: Tylosin
?Nutritional support
Infectious bronchitis in poultry
- Coronavirus
- (transient respiratory signs)
- Goes to shell gland
- Advise culling
Avian influenza
- Notifiable
- Most birds affected/die
- If in area: house birds
- Holding of 50+: register - law maybe changing
Newcastle disease in poultry
- Notifiable
- Vaccinated?
- Paramyxovirus
- Sudden death/nervous signs/diarrhoea/respiratory signs
ART (Avian rhinotracheitis)
Behaves as IBV, including the effect on the eggs
Note: all respiratory problems may be complicated by secondary bacterial infection
‘Canker’ trichomoniasis in poultry
- Cheesy deposit in oral cavity
- Usually infection from wild birds
- May be untreatable if too extensive
- NB: banned drugs
Impacted crop in poultry
- Owners have usually tried to clear it themselves
- Lubrication, massage, and flushing
- Ingluviotomy
- Long grass, etc.
Sour crop, pendulous crop
candidiasis - treat with nystatin
recurring episodes may lead to loss of muscle tone
Coccidiosis in poultry
- Often ex-batts
- Bird miserable, hunched
- D++ +/- blood
- ‘Baycox’ anticoccidial
- Environmental clean up
- Need long term control
Coccidiostat?
Worms in poultry (4)
- Ascarids
- Capillaria
- Heterakis
- (Syngamus)
Worm regularly with ‘Flubenvet’
Salmonellosis in poultry
All commercial layers vaccinated
backyard layers may still be a risk
Egg peritonitis in poultry
Ovarian disease
coelomic fluid to full peritonitis
guarded to poor prognosis
Egg binding/malformed/soft shelled eggs in poultry
Ca deficiency
usually at start of laying season
infectious bronchitis
Cloacal prolapse in poultry
- True emergency
- Think trauma, haemorrhage, infection, myasis
- Identify cause
○ Parasites, ovarian disease, etc.- Surgery? Suprelorin implant?
Moulting in poultry
- Ex-batts poorly feathered to start with
- Normal birds moult at the end of a period of lay
- Prolonged moult suggests poor health
Feather picking in poultry
- External parasites
- Pruritis (may pick self or neighbour)
- Bleeding provokes pecking from other birds
- Overcrowding
- Bullying
- Lack of protein or grit
Corns and bumblefoot in poultry
- Bad perching, injuries
- Remove corns
- Clean, poultice, bandage
- Antibiotics of little use
Scaly leg in poultry
Ectoparasite
Typically raised scales
Many folk remedies, and some of them work
‘Favus’ - microsporum in poultry
On face
Not common
Depluming mite in poultry
Find mite in feather shafts
VERY pruritic
Ivermectin (7 day egg withdrawal)
Red mite in poultry
Live in woodwork
Infestation inevitable if no control
Feather lice in poultry
very very common
Northern mite in poultry
Occasional problem in poultry
Fowl pox prevention
- Currently no vaccine
- Some use in pigeon pox vaccine
- Try to buy only from good sources
(Can spread by insects/wild birds, but less likely with good control)
Meningitis in poultry
Anorexia
Heat tilt
Individual birds
Need antibiotic that crosses BBB
Marek’s disease in poultry
- Herpes virus
- Settles in lymphoid tissue: demyelination
- Younger birds
- Lameness to spastic paralysis, often unilateral
- Virus shed
- Vaccinate day old chicks
Wounds and fractures in poultry
- All birds are very resistant to skin infection
- Wounds heal well and fast
- Fractures: fixation for 14-28 days is usually sufficient
- Wounds heal well and fast
Lameness in poultry
- Fractures
- Marek’s
- Mating injuries
- Jumping down from too high perch
- Foot injuries
- Severe scaly leg
Analgesics for poultry
- Nothing licensed
○ Butorphanol/methadone
○ Meloxicam
○ Gabapentin/tramadol
Antibiotics in poultry
Not licensed for birds producing eggs for human consumption
