Poultry: Backyard Poultry Flashcards
What are different type of common poultry breeds?
Pure breeds
Outdoor hybrids
Commercial hybrids- rescued battery hens
Match the breed name to the picture:
* Cochin
* Malay
* Old English Game Bantam
* Ancona
* Hampshire Red
* Brahma
* Plymouth Rock
* Scots Grey
What are examples of outdoor hybrids?
- What is housing important for?
- What is important inside housing?
- Protection, adverse weather conditions, predators- rodents, wild animals, birds of prey
- Temperature, ventilation, dustiness, ammonia
What is the definition of free-range poultry?
During daylight poultry has access to:
ground with vegetation, mud and nettles, bark, woodchips, gravel or mesh
What are the 5 freedoms?
- Freedom from hunger and thirst
- Freedom from discomfort
- Freedom from pain, injury or disease
- Freedom to express normal behaviour
- Freedom from fear and distress
What does improper handling result in?
Respiratory distress
Skeletal injuries
Stress
Death
What is a normal TPR for a bird?
Temperature- 40-42 C
Heart rate- 120-160bpm
Respiratory rate- 20-130pm
Ascultate HR through wishbone
What is assesed during a clinical examination?
- Temperature
- Mouth
- Oropharynx
- External Parasites*
- Skin, feather, scales
- Vent
- Abdomen
*-lice, red mite, northern fowl mite, scaly leg mite, de-pluming mite
What are the two sites used for taking blood samples?
Wing vein- extend out wing, pluck feathers parallel towards chicken
Jugular- right it bigger
Birds RBCs nucleated
What are the two sites used for taking blood samples?
Wing vein- extend out wing, pluck feathers parallel towards chicken
Jugular- right it bigger
Birds RBCs nucleated
How can a faecal sample be taken?
What can faecal samples show?
Clocacal swab or dropping
* Parasitic eggs or oocyst- gizzard worm, trichostrongyle, heterakis, gapeworm, capilaria
* Protozoal oocyst- eimeria
How should a healthy chickens head appear?
Nostril- dry
Comb- red
Eyes- bright
Beak- normal shape/occlusion
Feathers- present and shiny
Bird BAR
How is a chicken BCS found?
Pin bones- fat coverage
Breast muscle- fitness
Scale of 1-5
What are the bones from proximal to distal in wings and legs of birds?
Wings- humerus, radius/ulna, fused metacarpal, alula, digits
Legs- femur, tibiotarsus, tarsometatarsus (shank), spur, digits
What skeletal conditions can affect poultry?
Fractures
Kyphosis
Scoliosis
Spondylosis
Bent breastbone
Rickets
Bent toes
Roach back
What skin glands do poultry have?
No skin glands, sebaceous or swear
Specialised glands-Uropygieal gland
Within outer auditory canal
Ventral glands of cloaca
Where is a brood patch on poultry?
What controls it?
What happens prior to laying?
- Different species have different proportion/location
- Mostly caudal half of the ventral apterium
- Hormone controlled
- Prior to laying- brood patch looses all/part feathers and highly vascularised
- Many thermo-receptors
- Subsequent cycle of moulting, feathers regrown
What are the functions of feathers?
- Flight
- Insulation- temp and incubation
- Behaviour
- Moulting
How are poultry species wing clipped?
With a sharp scissors clip the first 10 long feathers on one wing only
What problems can be related to feathers?
- Feather pecking
- Moulting
- Wing clipping
- Nutrition related
- De-pluming mite
What is the indication of skin problems?
How can it present differently?
Discoloured comb
* Pale
* Purple
* Black
* Yellow
* White flakes
* White spots
What condition is affecting this chicken?
Pox virus infection
What skin conditions can affect poultry?
- Pox virus
- Fungal infection
- Breast blister
- Ear infection
- Ringworm
- Bumble foot
- Spurs
- Vent pecking
- Erysipelas- bacterial
What are the parasites that can infect the skin?
Lice
Red mite
Northern fowl mite
Scaly leg mite
De-plimbing mite
What conditions do the following images show?
What are the different broad ways to control external poultry parasites?
Biosecurity
Managment
Medication- treat birds and hideaways
How can different external parasites be treated in poultry?
Lice: louse powder
Mites: live powder if contains permethrin
Diatomaceous earth (detoxifying)
Scaly leg mite: surgical spirit
De-pluming- do not use fipronil
Name the organs of the digestive tract from cranial to caudal?
- Beak
- Mouth
- Crop
- Proventriculus and Gizard
- Intestines
- Pancreas
- Liver
- Caeca
How does the proventriculus and gizzard function?
- Food moves fowards and back several times
- Works like stomach and teeth
- ‘teeth’ gizzard must have insoluble grit
What are the internal parasites that can affect poultry, where are they found?
Capillaria: intestine- ill thrift, fatal
Heterakis: caeca- ill thrift, vector: histomonas spp
Ascarids: intestine- ill thrift, fatal if impaction
Trichostrongyles: intestine- ill thrift, severe weight loss (red grouse)
Tape worm: intestine- ill thrift, weight loss
Gizzard worm: gizzard, fatal in young stock
Gapeworm
What does this image show?
Ascarid impaction
What does this image show?
Gapeworm
How are internal nematodes in poultry treated?
Flubendazole- licensed wormer
in food for 7 days