Poultry Flashcards
What is the heart rate of a chicken?
120-160bpm
What is the resp rate of a chicken?
20-130brpm
Where should you take blood from a chicken?
Wing vein
Also right jugular vein (bigger)
How do you take a faecal sample from a chicken?
Cloacal swab or dropping
What is the intermediate host of Histomonas meleagridis?
Heterakis worm
The eggs of which worms can be found in chicken faecal samples?
What about protozoal oocysts?
Gizzard worm Trichostrongyles Heterakis Gapeworm Capillaria
Eimeria spp
Where would you feel when doing a chicken clinical exam?
Pin bones-fat coverage
Breast muscle-fitness
Scale of 1 to 5
What is the proper name for the preen gland?
Uropygieal gland
Produces lipid secretion for feather maintenance
Which specialised glands do chickens have?
Uropygieal (preen) gland
Glands within outer auditory canal
Ventral glands of cloaca
Where is the brood patch located?
What happens to it during laying?
Caudal half of ventral apterium
Prior to laying, brood patch loses all/some feathers and is highly vascularised
Hormone-controlled
What would you use to treat mites in poultry?
Ivermectin
Give some internal parasites of poultry
Capillaria Heterakis Ascarids Trichostrongyles Tapeworm Gizzard worm Gapeworm
What is the only licensed treatment for internal worm parasites?
Flubendazole
Give in food/water for 7 days
What causes Blackhead in turkeys?
Give a classic clinical sign
Histomonas meleagridis
Yellow diarrhoea
Give a clinical sign of Trichomonosis in chickens
Cancker (yellow, in mouth due to damage to mouth cavity)
Give a clinical sign of Hexamitosis in turkeys
Diarrhoea, unthriftiness
Protozoa
Give some digestive tract problems of poultry
Sour crop/crop mycosis
Impacted/pendulous crop
Impacted gizzard
Bacterial infections eg E.coli, Campylobacter (spotty liver)
Viral infections eg rotavirus
Nutritional diarrhoea
Nutritional disorders eg fatty liver syndrome
What causes spotty liver in poultry?
Campylobacter
Give some clinical signs of Chlamydiosis in poultry
Purulent ocular and nasal discharge, conjunctivitis, dull and depressed, no response to macrolides
Give 2 clinical signs of Aspergillus funigatus in poultry
Dyspnoea (gasping), reduced production
Where in the repro tract does an egg spend the longest amount of time?
Uterus
Eggs with a fragile shell indicates a problem in which part of the repro tract?
Uterus
What temperature should eggs be stored at?
10oC
When can candling of eggs be carried out?
Why is it carried out?
9-10 days after incubation
To determine the fertility of eggs
What is the body temperature of a chicken?
40-42oC
Which 2 ways can you use to sex chicks?
Vent appearance Feather appearance (males are more pointed)
Apex egg abnormalities are caused by what?
Mycoplasma synovale
What causes a chicken to become egg-bound?
Lack of available calcium
What infection causes misshapen/weak eggs, watery whites, rough shells and cystic/atrophic oviducts?
IBV
Which virus causes viral arthritis in poultry?
Reovirus
Where are B and T cells produced in chickens?
B: bursa of fabricius
T: thymus
Which drug do you use to anaesthetise chickens?
Ketamine 10mg/kg for up to 1kg birds, 5mg/kg for up to 2kg birds
SC or IM
Isofluorane/sevofluorane
Why should you raise a chickens head when its being anaesthetised?
To prevent regurgitation of crop contents
Which analgesic drugs can you give to chickens?
Buprenorphine
Carprofen
Ketoprofen
Meloxicam
How do you euthanise a chicken?
Pentobarbitone
IV (wing, jugular)
IM (breast muscle)
Intracardiac
Neck dislocation if under 3kg
Why shouldn’t you keep chickens and ducks together?
Ducks are pretty resistant to AIV but can give it to chickens/turkeys
AIV= avian influenza virus
Where do you take blood from a duck?
Medial metatarsal vein
Give some neonatal problems affecting ducklings
Starving Yolk sac infection/retention/rupture Chilling Leg and wing deformities Infections (E.coli, aspergillus fumigatus)
Describe angel wing in ducks
Excessive protein intake during rearing causes urates to be deposited in soft joints. Carpal area is last to ossify. Primary feather are last to be produced. The carpal joint deforms with the weight of the blood quills -> primaries point outwards.
How do you treat angel wing in ducks?
Reduce protein intake
Ricketts is caused by a deficiency in what?
Vitamin D
Which 2 kinds of neoplasia do ducks suffer with?
Osteosarcoma
Hepatic tumours
Give some reasons for penile prolapse in birds
Venereal disease
Trauma
Significant cold weather
Excessive sexual stimulation
What anaesthesia would you give to poultry and waterfowl?
Ketamine (3mg/kg) with medetomidine (150ug/kg)
Reverse with atipamezole
Which analgesia can you give to poultry and waterfowl?
Buprenorphine
Carprofen
Ketoprofen
How do you euthanise poultry and waterfowl?
IV pentobarbitone
Neck dislocation if less than 3kg
Give some clinical signs of ornithobacterium rhinotracheale (ORT) infection in chickens
Coughing, sneezing, reduced weight gain, poor FCR, reduced egg production
Airsacculitis, tracheitis, bronchopneumonia
What are the 2 strains of campylobacter that affect chickens?
C.coli
C.jejuni
Give some clinical signs of Clostridium enteritis infection in chickens
Depression, ruffled feathers, sudden death, increased mortality
Lesions: necrosis of intestinal mucosa, fibrinonecrotic enteritis forming a diphtheritic membrane
What causes avian encephalomyelitis in chickens?
Give some clinical signs in broilers and layers
Picornavirus
Tremor of head, neck, legs, paralysis, cataract formation
Layers: drop in egg production
Dyschondroplasia affects which bones of chickens?
What is it influenced by?
Proximal tibiotarsus
Influenced by: genetic selection, feed (Ca:P ratios), acid:base balance in feed, mycotoxins
What causes infectious synovitis in chickens?
Mycoplasma
Peritonitis in chickens is mostly caused by what?
E.coli
How is brachyspira diagonsed in chickens?
Appearance of faeces
Confirm with culture or PCR