Diseases of chickens: description of signs, treatment and prevention

2024 Author: Howard Calhoun | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:16

In our time, raising chickens is quite a profitable business. But, like all domestic animals, the bird is prone 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 get infected. To protect the livestock and yourself, you should be able to identify the disease in time and carry out treatment. And so that pathologies do not occur on the farm, preventive measures are taken.

Types of diseases

Diseases of chickens are conventionally divided into contagious and non-contagious. 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.

Infection is characterized by a sudden onset of the disease, severe course and high mortality, as well as mass distribution. Each pathology has its own characteristic symptoms, which can be used to determine the type of disease.

Pseudoplague of birds or Newcastle disease

Dangerous viral infection is pseudo-plague. Most often, outbreaks of this chicken disease occur in poultry farms, less often the disease occurs in private farmsteads. The virus is dangerous to humans, althoughthe disease is mild: symptoms of rhinitis appear within three days, sometimes mild conjunctivitis occurs.

In those farms where chickens were not vaccinated, the bird dies in 2-3 days, and the mortality rate reaches one hundred percent.

Pseudoplague agent

The causative agent of infection belongs to the group of paramyxoviruses. In poultry houses, their viability lasts about a week in summer, and up to six months in winter. In frozen carcasses, the virus lives up to 800 days.

Pathology Clinic

An infected bird and one that has already had an infection are the source of the disease. Their liquid media contain a virus that enters the environment with vomit and saliva. The infection is also contained in the eggs, the air exhaled by the bird.

He althy chickens become infected through food, water. It is carried on clothes, shoes of poultry farmers. If suddenly an infected egg gets into the incubator, then all the birds in the farmstead will get sick.

When in contact with a chicken, the virus tends to get into the blood, where it multiplies, causing sepsis. At the same time, the walls of blood vessels begin to rapidly collapse, multiple microhemorrhages are formed. These processes cause 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, leading to the slow extinction of he althy individuals.

During the illness of chickens, there is an increase in temperature, drowsiness and indifference appear. The feather becomes ruffled, out of the mouth and nasal cavityfoul-smelling mucus flows out. Excrement of greenish-yellow color with an admixture of blood. Chickens begin to cough, breathing becomes difficult: when trying to breathe, a gurgling sound occurs.

When the nervous system is damaged, the bird becomes unsure, coordination is lost. Often there are convulsions, paralysis.

Some adults are resistant to pathology and survive, but become carriers of infection.

Diagnostic Methods

You can identify diseases of domestic chickens by reduced appetite. Pseudoplague is manifested by clouding of the cornea, sneezing, diarrhea, staggering gait, convulsions, and a constantly open beak. All this indicates the infection of the bird. Laboratory research reveals the pseudo-plague virus in the blood of a bird.

Methods of treatment and prevention

Treating chickens affected by pseudo-plague does not make any sense, since all tried and tested remedies do not work. Only prevention 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 he althy ones. The farm itself is quarantined. All sick birds and those who had contact with them are killed, the carcasses are burned. Those chickens that have been in contact with a sick bird, but there are no clinical manifestations, are allowed to be eaten, but only after a long heat treatment.

The rest of the farm's livestock is being urgently vaccinated.

All bedding, feeders and drinkers are recycled. Quarantine lasts a month, with double processingpremises.

Plague of chickens

Plague of chickens affects not only this type of bird, but also guinea fowl, turkeys, and sometimes waterfowl. Allocate Asian and classical forms.

Description and signs of the disease

The causative agent of the plague is an ultravirus. It is considered filtering and quite stable. With constant exposure to direct sunlight, it dies after two days. In diffused light, it can live up to two weeks. In dry blood concentrate, it survives up to three months, and in frozen carcasses - about a year. When treated with bleach, formalin, the virus dies immediately.

Plague refers to dangerous diseases of domestic chickens. Once in the bloodstream, the pathogen begins to actively multiply. The incubation period lasts from one to five days, less often - up to three weeks. Sometimes there is a lightning-fast form. The loss of livestock is observed a couple of days after the onset of the first symptom.

The main signs of the disease are:

1. Apathy, lethargy. The chicken sits in the corner with its head down.
2. Sometimes there is nervous excitability in the form of flapping wings.
3. No appetite.
4. Feathers ruffled.
5. The bird becomes drowsy, sometimes falls into a lethargic sleep. Because of this, poultry farmers often accept a sleeping bird as dead, and only at autopsy can one see the activity of the heart muscle.
6. Breathing is disturbed, wheezing, coughing occurs.
7. Sick birds have gray-green diarrhea without blood.
8. The classical form is diagnosed with subcutaneousinfiltrates, effusions in the area between the peritoneum and the sternum.
9. Liquid secretions appear from the beak.

Treatment and prevention

Treatment of chickens for plague is not carried out, as there are no effective drugs. All affected birds are slaughtered. To prevent the plague, they carry out prevention in the form of vaccination.

Avian 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.

Avian flu is caused by viruses. To date, scientists know more than fifteen types of pathogens, among which H5 and H7 are considered the most dangerous. They strike the body of birds with lightning speed and always lead to death. Domestic chickens are most susceptible to influenza: only a few hours pass from the onset of illness to the death of a bird.

Chickens can infect not only their relatives, but also people with the flu. Most often birds are affected by group A virus.

Among the most dangerous diseases of chickens that threaten human life is the chicken flu. It is characterized by a deterioration in egg laying, the condition of feathers. Such lesions appear with a mild form of the disease, which itself passes.

Severe H5 and H7 infection with the following symptoms:

1. The bird loses its coordination. Her gait becomes unsteady, her neck and wings are twisted.
2. Reaction to external stimuli disappears.
3. Body temperature rises.
4. Loss of appetite.
5. Intense thirst appears.
6. Lungsswelling, coughing, shortness of breath.

Also clinical symptoms may be ruffled feathers, earrings and combs turn black. The bird develops diarrhea, the mucous membranes are very 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 poultry is infected with the H5N1 virus. It is also characterized by subcutaneous hemorrhages, blood circulation disorders. Within a day from the moment the first symptom appears, cerebral edema occurs, and the bird dies.

Treatment and prevention of bird flu

Avian influenza is one of those types of ailments that are not treated. All sick 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 the market that act on some strains of the virus, inhibiting their activity.

Ocular pathologies

Among the most common pathologies, there is a whole group of eye diseases in chickens. They are affected by conjunctivitis, tumors, xerophthalmia, ammonia blindness, panophthalmitis, hemophilia. Eye diseases can be caused by trauma.

With any type of pathology in a bird, there is a decrease in vision, tearing of the affected eye. With tumors, the skin around the eyes becomes thinner.

When conjunctivitis is observed itching, swelling, gluing of the eyelid. For its treatment, tetracycline ointment is used, which is placed behind the lower eyelid. Eyes are washed with stronginfusion of black tea or chamomile. In severe cases, antibiotic therapy may be required using powders and tablets given to the bird as a drink.

Bursal disease (Gamboro)

Usually this disease is introduced into the poultry house with chickens. Young animals under the age of twenty weeks are susceptible to it. The virus attacks the immune system.

There are no characteristic pathologies in bursal disease. The bird may experience yellowish-white diarrhea, a decrease in appetite up to its complete absence. The plumage is ruffled. Chickens get depressed. There may be a tremor of the neck, body, head, pecking the 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 remains in chicken manure for a long time, so the poultry house must be disinfected. To avoid pathology, it is better to carry out prevention in the form of vaccination of chickens.

Marek

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:

1. Visceral. It causes internal tumors.
2. Neural. The virus infects the nervous system, which is manifested by paralysis and paresis.
3. Ocular. In chickens, the eyes are affected, up to complete blindness.

The incubation period is up to two weeks to six months anddepends 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:

• disturbed digestion;
• appetite is disturbed;
• bird loses weight;
• paresis and paralysis occur.

In the chronic form, mortality does not exceed thirty percent. This type of disease is characterized by damage to the nervous system, eyes. Clinically, this type of pathology manifests itself in the following:

• Turning the neck.
• Lame.
• Semi-paralysis.
• visual impairment. The pupil becomes narrow, pear-shaped. There is no reaction to 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 build strong immunity. Drugs are given intramuscularly 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.

The symptoms of chicken disease caused by bacteria are characterized by oppression, drowsiness, muscle weakness, loss of appetite. Chickens get nasal discharge, droppingsbecomes liquid. Sometimes inflammation of the joints is observed, which is determined by the method of palpation: they are hot, swollen.

Salmonellosis can infect humans and other pets. To protect themselves from illness, the eggs of sick birds are not eaten, but disposed of along with chicken carcasses.

Salmonellosis is treated. To do this, use broad-spectrum antibiotics that are active against salmonella. These are tetracyclines, gentamicins, neomycins, enrofloxacins. Anti-salmonella serum is also administered to birds. It is injected into young animals to prevent infection.

Paw diseases

There are a number of pathologies that cause paw disease in chickens. The most common pathologies are:

• knemidocoptosis;
• arthritis;
• tenosynovitis;
• curvature of fingers;
• displaced tendons.

Knemidocoptosis is often called paw scabies. Most often, pathology occurs in poultry. With the timely detection of the disease of chickens, it is easy to cure. Do not forget that this type of disease is easily transmitted through bedding, feeders, drinkers, inventory.

Causes an ailment scabies mite. It makes microscopic passages 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 disease, a soapy solution is used, in which chicken legs are placed for half an hour. After this procedure, they are treated with one percent kerosene or birch tar.

Blackcomb

Indicate the presence of a variety of diseases combs in chickens. They help to recognize a particular pathology. Most often, the scallops turn blue, blacken. In the first case, a change in color indicates cold. But black combs are a sign of pathology.

Blackening of the crest can indicate beriberi, bird flu, pasteurellosis. In order not to guess what kind of pathology caused the color change, you should immediately contact your veterinarian. It will help to correctly diagnose by determining the true cause of the pathogen.

What to do if chickens die

While wondering why chickens are dying, what kind of disease caused them, many people waste 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 take risks, 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 feed, as well as as a result of beriberi. Signs of the latter are a fall on the legs of a bird, a decrease in egg production. Chickens almost do not get up, they begin to fall on their side. To treat beriberi, it is necessary to include fish oil, useful vitamins for birds in the diet as soon as possible.

The 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 toclinic for an autopsy.

The easiest and surest way to protect your household from diseases is to timely vaccinate chickens and other farm animals. This will help to avoid death, and also protect people who eat eggs and meat from their farm from dangerous pathologies.