In our time, raising chickens is a pretty profitable business. But, like all domestic animals, the bird is susceptible to a variety of diseases. They can be contagious and not contagious, some diseases of chickens are dangerous only for them, and some people can become infected. In order to protect the livestock and yourself, you should be able to identify the ailment in time and conduct treatment. And so that pathologies do not occur on the farm, preventive measures are carried out.
Types of diseases
Diseases of chickens are conditionally divided into infectious and non-infectious. The first type includes pathologies caused by viruses, fungi, bacteria. Each species causes a variety of pathologies, both dangerous and not dangerous to humans. Diseases of chickens can be caused by bacteria, pests, malnutrition.
The infection is characterized by a sudden onset of the disease, a severe course and high mortality, as well as massive spread. Each pathology has its own characteristic symptoms, by which you can determine the type of disease.
Pseudo-Plague of birds or Newcastle disease
A dangerous viral infection is pseudo-plague. Most often, outbreaks of this chicken disease occur in poultry farms, less often the ailment occurs on personal farmsteads. The virus is dangerous for humans, although the disease is mild: within three days, symptoms of rhinitis appear, and sometimes lung conjunctivitis occurs.
In those farms where vaccination of chickens was not carried out , the bird dies after 2-3 days, moreover, mortality reaches one hundred percent.
The causative agent of pseudo-plague
The causative agent of infection belongs to the group of paramyxoviruses. In the houses, their viability is maintained in the summer for about a week, and in winter - for up to six months. In frozen carcasses, the virus lives up to 800 days.
Clinic of pathology
An infected bird and one that has already been infected are the source of the disease. Their liquid media contain a virus that enters the environment with vomiting and saliva. The infection is also found in the eggs, the air exhaled by the bird.
Healthy chickens become infected through food and water. It is carried on clothes, shoes of poultry farmers. If suddenly an infected egg gets into the incubator, then on the compound the whole bird will become ill.
Upon contact with the chicken, the virus tends to enter the bloodstream, where it multiplies, causing sepsis. At the same time, the walls of blood vessels begin to rapidly collapse, and multiple microbleeds are formed. These processes cause the destruction of the nervous system and internal organs.
The incubation period lasts from two days to two weeks. Usually the course of the disease is acute, but there are sluggish chronic forms that lead to the slow extinction of healthy individuals.
During the illness of chickens, an increase in temperature is observed, drowsiness, indifference appears. The feather becomes tousled, fetid mucus flows from the mouth and nasal cavity. Excrement greenish yellow with a touch of blood. Hens begin to cough, breathing is difficult: when you try to breathe, a gurgling sound occurs.
When the nervous system is damaged, the bird becomes uncertain, coordination is lost. Often there are convulsions, paralysis.
Some adults are resistant to pathology and survive, but become carriers of infection.
Diagnostic Methods
It is possible to identify diseases of domestic chickens at a reduced appetite. Pseudo-plague is manifested by clouding of the cornea, sneezing, diarrhea, shaky gait, cramps and a constantly open beak. All this indicates infection of the bird. A laboratory study reveals the pseudo-plague virus in the blood of a bird.
Methods of treatment and prevention
Treatment of chickens affected by pseudo-plague does not make any sense, since all the tested remedies do not give results. Only pathology can protect against pathology. It is carried out by the method of vaccination at different stages of development of chickens.
If suddenly a pseudo-plague occurs on the farm, then sick individuals are isolated from healthy ones. Quarantine is imposed on the farm itself. All sick birds and those hundred were contacted with them, killed, carcasses burned. Those chickens that came into contact with a sick bird, but have no clinical manifestations, are allowed to eat, but only after prolonged heat treatment.
The rest of the livestock is urgently vaccinated.
All litter, feeders and drinking bowls are disposed of. Quarantine lasts a month, with double processing of the room.
Plague of chickens
Plague of hens affects not only this species of bird, but also guinea fowl, turkeys, sometimes waterfowl. Asian and classical forms are distinguished.
Description and symptoms of the disease
The causative agent of plague is an ultravirus. It is considered filtering and fairly stable. With constant exposure to direct sunlight, dies in two days. In ambient light, it can live up to two weeks. It survives up to three months in dry blood concentrate, and about a year in frozen carcasses. When treated with bleach, formalin, the virus immediately dies.
Plague is a dangerous disease of domestic chickens. Once in the blood, the pathogen begins to multiply actively. The incubation period lasts from one to five days, less often up to three weeks. Sometimes a fulminant form is observed. The mortality of the livestock is observed a couple of days after the onset of the first symptom.
The main signs of the disease are:
- Apathy, lethargy. A chicken sits in the corner with his head bowed.
- Sometimes nervous excitability is observed in the form of flapping wings.
- No appetite.
- Ruffled feathers.
- The bird becomes sleepy, sometimes falls into a lethargic sleep. Because of this, poultry farmers often take a sleeping bird dead, and only at dissection can you see the activity of the heart muscle.
- Disturbed breathing, wheezing, coughing.
- In sick birds, diarrhea without blood is gray-green in color.
- In the classical form, subcutaneous infiltrates, effusions in the area between the peritoneum and sternum are diagnosed.
- Liquid discharge appears from the beak.
Treatment and prevention
Treatment of chickens from plague is not carried out, since there are no effective drugs. All affected birds are killed. In order to prevent plague, vaccination is carried out in the form of vaccination.
Bird flu
There was a period when the spread of chicken disease led to the infection of not only birds, but also animals and people. All outbreaks of infection ended the same way - death.
The causative agent of bird flu are viruses. To date, scientists know more than fifteen types of pathogens, among which the most dangerous are H5 and H7. They instantly affect the body of birds and always lead to death. House chickens are most susceptible to influenza: only a few hours pass from the onset of the disease to the death of the bird.
Chickens can be infected with influenza not only by their relatives, but also by people. Most often, birds are affected by group A virus.
Among the most dangerous diseases of chickens that threaten human life is chicken flu. It is characterized by a deterioration in egg laying, feathers. Such lesions appear with a mild form of the disease, which itself goes away.
A severe infection caused by the H5 and H7 viruses is manifested by the following symptoms:
- The bird loses coordination. She becomes a shaky gait, neck and wings are bent.
- The reaction to external stimuli disappears.
- Body temperature rises.
- Appetite is lost.
- A strong thirst appears.
- Lungs swell, cough appears, shortness of breath.
Tousled feathers may also be clinical symptoms, earrings and combs turn black. The bird appears diarrhea, mucous membranes are strongly hyperemic. When breathing, hoarseness appears. After the defeat of the virus of the nervous system, convulsions are noted. Most often, this clinical sign manifests itself when a bird is infected with the H5N1 virus. It is also characterized by subcutaneous hemorrhage, impaired blood circulation. Within a day after the onset of the first symptom, cerebral edema occurs, and the bird dies.
Avian Influenza Treatment and Prevention
Avian influenza refers to those types of ailments that are not treated. All diseased individuals and those who had contact with them are killed, carcasses are burned. Eating such meat is strictly prohibited.
The virus has virulence, which makes vaccination impossible. However, there are drugs on sale that work on some strains of the virus, inhibiting their activity.
Eye pathologies
Among the common pathologies, a whole group of chicken eye diseases is distinguished. They are affected by conjunctivitis, tumors, xerophthalmia, ammonia blindness, panophthalmitis, hemophilia. Eye diseases can be caused by injuries.
With any type of pathology, the bird has a decrease in vision, tearing of the affected eye. With tumors, the skin around the eyes becomes thinner.
With conjunctivitis, itching, swelling, gluing of the eyelids are observed. For its treatment, tetracycline ointment is used, which is laid for the lower eyelid. Eyes washed with strong infusion of black tea or chamomile. In severe cases, antibiotic therapy using powders and tablets, which are given to the bird in the form of a drink, may be required.
Bursal Disease (Gumboro)
Usually this ailment is recorded in the chicken house. Young animals under the age of twenty weeks are susceptible to it. The virus infects the immune system.
With bursal disease, there are no characteristic pathologies. The bird may experience yellowish-white diarrhea, loss of appetite until its complete absence. The plumage is ruffled. Hens become depressed. There may be a tremor of the neck, body, head, biting cloaca.
In some cases, the disease proceeds without clinical manifestations.
All sick birds are killed, carcasses are used for food only after prolonged heat treatment.
The virus is stored in chicken droppings for a long time, so the house must be disinfected. To prevent pathology, it is better to carry out prophylaxis in the form of vaccination of chickens.
Mareka
Marek’s disease in chickens is a viral infection that affects the nervous system, as well as internal organs. It can occur in two forms: acute and chronic. The pathology itself has three varieties:
- Visceral. With it, internal tumors arise.
- Neural. The virus affects the nervous system, which is manifested by paralysis and paresis.
- Ocular. Chickens are affected eyes, up to complete blindness.
The incubation period is up to two weeks to six months and depends on the general condition of the bird. Marek's clinic depends on the form.
In acute, within two weeks, the entire population of chickens is affected. There is a decrease in productivity, tumors appear on the internal organs. Mortality can reach one hundred percent.
In the acute form of Marek, the symptoms of manifestation are similar to leukemia:
- digestion is disturbed;
- disturbed appetite;
- the bird is losing weight;
- paresis and paralysis occur.
In the chronic form, mortality does not exceed thirty percent. For this type of ailment, damage to the nervous system and eyes is characteristic. Clinically, this type of pathology is manifested in the following:
- Eversion of the neck.
- Lameness.
- Half-paralysis.
- visual impairment. The pupil becomes narrow, pear-shaped. There is no reaction to the light. The iris becomes gray or bluish.
The main method of combating the disease is the prevention of chicken disease by vaccinating young animals. Vaccination helps form a strong immunity. Drugs are administered IM at an early age.
Methods for treating the disease have not been developed, although scientists are constantly developing drugs that are active against viruses that cause Marek’s disease.
Salmonellosis
This pathology is caused by the Salmonella bacterium, which is dangerous not only for birds, but also for humans.
Symptoms of chicken disease caused by a bacterium are characterized by depression, drowsiness, muscle weakness, and loss of appetite. Chickens have nasal discharge, droppings become liquid. Sometimes there is inflammation of the joints, which is determined by palpation: they are hot, swollen.
Salmonella can be infected by humans and other pets. To protect themselves from the disease, the eggs of sick birds are not eaten, but disposed of together with carcasses of chickens.
Salmonellosis is treated. For this, broad-spectrum antibiotics that are active against salmonella are used. These are tetracyclines, gentamicins, neomycin, enrofloxacins. Anti-salmonella serum is also administered to birds. She is injected into young animals to prevent infection.
Paw diseases
There are a number of pathologies that cause paw diseases in chickens. Most often, pathologies such as:
- knemidocoptosis;
- arthritis;
- tenosynovitis;
- curvature of the fingers;
- tendon displacement.
Knemidocoptosis is often called scabies paws. Most often, pathology is found in poultry. With the timely detection of ailment of chickens, it is easy to cure. Do not forget that this type of ailment is easily transmitted through bedding, feeders, drinking bowls, equipment.
Causes a scabies tick. He makes microscopic strokes in the skin of the paws, causing itching, discomfort, growths, wounds. On the scales there is a white coating, similar to lime, and after that they generally disappear.
To treat the ailment, a soap solution is used, in which chicken’s legs are placed for half an hour. After this procedure, treatment with one percent kerosene or birch tar is carried out.
Black comb
They testify to the presence of a variety of diseases in the crests of chickens. They help to recognize this or that pathology. Most often, scallops turn blue, blacken. In the first case, a change in color indicates cold. But the black ridges are a sign of pathology.
Blackening of the crest may indicate vitamin deficiency, bird flu, pasteurellosis. In order not to guess which pathology caused the color change, you should immediately contact your veterinarian. It will help to correctly diagnose, determining the true cause, the pathogen.
What to do if chickens die
Asked why the chickens die, what kind of illness has become the cause, many lose time trying to treat birds on their own. If it is not possible to seek help from a specialist, and the bird is sick, it is better not to risk it, kill the chicken, do an autopsy yourself, assessing the condition of the internal organs. They should not have any formations, tumors, hemorrhages, changes in the color of the liver.
Sometimes chickens can die due to poor-quality food, as well as as a result of vitamin deficiency. Signs of the latter are a fall on the legs of the bird, a decrease in egg production. Chickens almost do not stand up, begin to fall on their side. For the treatment of vitamin deficiency, it is necessary as soon as possible to include fish oil, useful vitamins for birds in the diet.
Death of a bird can be caused by pathology. In this case, the chicken is carefully examined: eyes, comb, beak, paws, stomach. In case of mass death of a bird, it is necessary to urgently consult a doctor or take the carcass of a dead bird to the clinic for an autopsy.
The easiest and surest way to protect your economy from disease is to timely vaccinate chickens and other farm animals. This will help to avoid death, as well as protect people from eggs and meat from their households from dangerous pathologies.