Poultry Improvement Project
Disease Prevention
Diseases
• Causes are from:
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•
•
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Hereditary
Physiological
Nutritional
Animate
– Examples include bacteria and protozoan
• Managerial
• Others
– Poisons, dusts, etc.
How Diseases Spread?
• By introducing diseased birds to healthy
flocks.
• By introducing healthy birds who may be
carriers to healthy flocks.
• Contact with objects that have the disease
on them such as water dishes, crates, and
feeders.
• Carcasses of dead birds that have not been
disposed of properly.
• Impure water, such as surface drainage water.
• Rodents and free-flying birds.
• Insects; for example fowl pox is commonly
transmitted by the mosquito.
• Shoes and clothing of people.
• Contaminated feed and feed bags.
• Contaminated soil or litter.
• Airborne (especially in large #’s of chickens)
Vaccinations
• A vaccination is like an insurance policy.
• For viruses it is one of the best ways to
control disease.
• When to Vaccinate:
» Purchase day-old chicks vaccinated at the hatchery
against Marek’s Disease.
» Vaccinate for Newcastle at 7 days and at 4 weeks of
age.