Page 6 - National Poultry News

Quarantine advice when introducing new birds
THE introduction of disease to your poultry flock is always a risk when introducing new birds.
showing any signs of ill- ness.
acquired and again after two then six weeks.
To reduce the chance of introducing disease, it is best practice to quaran- tine the new birds before introducing them to your main flock.
The stress from han- dling, change of food, water and environment will often cause an un- well bird to deteriorate further.
This is to increase the chance of detecting coc- cidiosis and roundworms. Use antibiotics care- fully
Quarantine is recom- mended not only for the introduction of new birds, but also any time your birds have been ex- posed to outside birds, for example after your birds have returned from a show or event.
Ideally, buy birds di- rectly from the breeder and avoid birds that haven’t been bred on the property.
If a bird becomes ill while in quarantine, al- ways seek veterinary ad- vice.
Select healthy birds
A greater risk of dis- ease exists in birds bought from auctions, shows or mixed sales, as many birds from dif- ferent sources are mixed together, and conditions at the sale can be highly stressful.
If antibiotics are given routinely to new birds, there are several undesir- able possibilities, includ- ing over-growth of patho- genic organisms that are not susceptible to the selected antibiotic, espe- cially yeasts and fungi, and creation of antibiotic resistant strains of bac- teria that can be trans- ferred to the main flock. Prepare the bird for the flock
When purchasing a bird, observe the bird carefully and select only healthy-looking individ- uals.
Ask the seller about the vaccination history of the bird.
Look for the following qualities of healthy birds: • Feather cover — even, tight and well-col- oured, with no indica- tions of feather picking
Many diseases such as Marek’s disease and in- fectious laryngotracheitis (ILT) can be prevented by vaccination.
or cannibalism
• Eyes — round, wide,
Prepare a quarantine area
Consider vaccination in consultation with your veterinarian and accord- ing to the health status of the rest of the flock.
open and bright, with no swelling around them or discharge
House newly intro- duced birds in an entirely separate “quarantine” area.
Note that many vac- cines used in commer- cial flocks are not readily available for small num- bers of birds, such as for backyard flocks.
• Vent — clean and droppings well-formed
Don’t use the quaran- tine area for any other purpose, such as a breed- ing enclosure.
• Feet — clean skin with no toe deformities
• Body weight — nor- mal (feel keel bone to assess body weight)
When preparing your quarantine area, keep the following tips in mind:
Trim the bird’s nails and renovate plumage if needed.
Time in quarantine
• Nostrils and ears — free from discharge and swelling
• The area should con- tain perching material, wire and flooring that’s similar to the main run
Birds recently infected with a disease take some time to develop signs, and healthy-looking birds can stillcarrydisease.
• Beak — normal and not split, overgrown or brittle
• A distance of 10 me- tres from the main flock is enough to prevent aerosol transfer of most diseases
• Comb and wattles – firm and upstanding comb (except for large, heavy combs on certain roosters), and healthy pink or red colour
• Use separate food and water dishes and food storage containers to those used in the main run
The disease status of new birds can take six weeks to fully evaluate.
• Crop — the bird should have been eating, so check the crop for seed or pellets
• Make sure the quar- antine area is inacces- sible to foxes and other predators, and the food storage areas are rodent proof.
A minimum quarantine period of 30 days with two negative faecal sam- ples and no sign of illness is recommended.
• Demeanour — the bird should be bright, alert and interested in its surroundings.
If there is any sign of illness, reset the time back to day one.
• Avoid birds that are
When birds leave the quarantine area:
Never introduce an ‘off colour’ or unwell bird to your flock just because the quarantine period has passed.
Buy from a trusted seller
Antibiotics must only be used under veterinary supervision and should not be routinely used during the quarantine period.
• Clean the cage and feeding utensils thor- oughly
All in, all out
• Replace perches (again using similar ma- terial to the main enclo- sure)
Don’t mix birds in the quarantine area, use an ‘all in, all out’ system.
• Scrub the whole cage and wire, includ- ing floor, then apply an appropriate disinfectant
If it’s unavoidable and new birds must be intro- duced to the quarantine enclosure while other birds are there, the quar- antine period for all birds should start again. Feeding requirements
• Spell the area for at least a week, if possible. Check new birds for parasites
Always feed, clean and handle the birds in the quarantine area after the main group.
When you bring a bird home, examine the bird for external parasites such as lice, mites and ticks.
This prevents the trans- fer of disease from the quarantined birds to the birds in your main run.
These parasites can give rise to stress and can carry diseases.
For birds in quarantine, good nutrition is impor- tant.
External parasites can rapidly spread to other birds in close contact.
Food offered should be consistent during and af- ter the quarantine period.
If evidence of parasites is seen, seek veterinary advice.
Have droppings checked by a vet
This helps avoid any potential digestive dis- turbances when transfer eventually occurs.
It is a good idea to have the droppings of new birds examined for inter- nal parasites.
Make sure that clean, fresh water is always available.
Testing should be done when the birds are first
Based on an article by Dr David Madill, an avian veterinarian.
New Zealand chicken virus blocking exports to Australia
EXPECTED to be around for another year before eradication, a chicken virus in New Zealand is the cause of blocked exports to Aus- tralia until 2021.
The infected chickens on the Otago farms were not showing any symp- toms and so didn’t need to be slaughtered and could continue laying, and Mr Brooks said eggs from hens that had the virus were perfectly safe to eat.
ease, but as has been the case all the way through, show no signs other- wise of the disease,” Mr Brooks said.
be slaughtered immedi- ately, to allow exports to resume sooner.
Infectious Bursal Dis- ease Virus Type One was detected on two Otago egg farms belonging to the same company in Au- gust last year.
Strict biosecurity meas- ures have been put in place on the farms to ensure the virus didn’t spread.
“So, they’ll be slaugh- tered at the end of their laying cycle in June 2021, and at that point we can definitely say there are no birds anywhere in the country with IBDV-1.”
Due to the closure of the Australian market, the number of meat chickens grown in New Zealand was expected to drop by about 5 million this year – there were 125 million meat chickens grown in New Zealand in 2019.
While not posing any risk to human health, IBDV-1 can affect the immune system of young chickens.
It was estimated that “probably a couple hun- dred thousand” hens had been affected by the virus, but that was a relatively small number given there were 4.1 mil- lion laying hens in New Zealand.
Australia has stopped importing poultry prod- ucts from New Zealand until the virus is eradi- cated, resulting in an an- nual $60 million in lost trade.
“For the first time in probably 20 years we’ve seen less chicken pro- duced in New Zealand,” Mr Brooks said.
Michael Brooks from
The decision had been
“Previously it has al- ways grown year-on-year, so it has led to an impact on the amount of meat chickens being grown in this country.”
the Egg Producers Fed-
made to allow the infect-
eration and the Poultry
ed chickens to complete
Industry Association said
their laying cycle be-
poultry farms nationwide
cause they were not sick,
New Zealand has about 140 meat chicken farm- ers and 170 commercial egg farmers.
were recently tested and
“There are birds there that on a blood test will
after debate in the in-
revealed no presence of
dustry about whether the
the virus elsewhere.
show they have the dis-
infected chickens should
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Page 6 – National Poultry Newspaper, August 2020
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