BIOSECURITY-How important it is to Keep Disease out of Your Existing Flock and Keep Them Healthy!!
- Donna Weekes
- Oct 8, 2024
- 8 min read
Updated: Feb 25
Given the inclination of backyard chicken keepers to add chickens to their existing flocks, also known as "Chicken Math" it is extremely important that proper quarantine procedures are followed when bringing in new flock members.
Have you ever thought about the significance of biosecurity when it comes to raising backyard chickens? Many overlook this critical aspect, but the reality is that maintaining proper biosecurity measures is vital for the health and well-being of your flock.
Understanding Biosecurity
Biosecurity refers to the set of practices designed to prevent the introduction and spread of infectious diseases. When it comes to backyard chickens, biosecurity measures are crucial for protecting them from a wide range of potential health threats. By implementing biosecurity protocols, you can significantly reduce the risk of disease outbreaks within your flock.
The Role of Biosecurity Practices
Proper biosecurity measures play a huge role in safeguarding the health and well-being of your backyard chickens. By following biosecurity protocols, you can minimize the risk of disease such a Avian Influenza, Marek's Disease and Infectious Bronchitis among others. These diseases can have devastating effects on your flock, leading to illness, decreased egg production and even mortality.
Implementing Biosecurity Practices
There are several key biosecurity practices that backyard chicken owners should follow to protect their flock. These include:
Restricted Access: Limiting access to your property can prevent the introduction of diseases by outsiders, wild birds (bird feeders) or other animals.
Quarantine: Quarantining new birds before introducing them to your existing flock can help prevent the spread of diseases. A chicken can look perfectly healthy and have underlying health issues not visible.
Failure to quarantine new flock members can and often does-result in the death of an entire flock.
Why Quarantine?
Proper quarantining means to keep the new birds away from your existing flock for an significant period of time, during which they are observed for diseases and parasites.
Minimum recommendation for quarantining is two weeks but 30-60 days is preferred.
A chicken can appear perfectly healthy while harboring problems (diseases and parasites) that may not be obvious initially.
Quarantining provides an opportunity to watch for health dangers without risking the health of an existing flock.
Moving chickens from one home to another is a major stressor, which can cause underlying diseases to become active posing a health threat to other birds.
It can take up to 3 weeks for the opportunity of disease to manifest themselves and be detected.
QUALITY QUARANTINE= D.I.T.O
Distance, Isolation, Time, Observation
Sanitization:
Regularly cleaning and disinfecting your feeders and waterers can reduce the risk of disease transmission.
Use closed feeders and waterers like Grampas Feeder and Poultry Nipple Drinkers. Open feeders and waterers will attract rodents. Rodents can carry diseases.
There are a couple different types of diseases that can and will pose a threat to your flock and some are fatal.
BACTERIAL DISEASE AND VIRAL DISEASE
Bacterial Disease:
Salmonella- Often found in chicken droppings and can be spread through contaminated soil.
E Coli- Can be picked up from contaminated water or soil. (We choose to use closed heated poultry nipple drinkers for that reason, from experience after using different types of drinkers, this one by far is the best quality drinker, ever and we own four of them.
Mycoplasmosis (MG)- A respiratory disease that can spread through direct contact or contaminated surfaces.
Chickens that recover from MG remain asymptomatic carriers for life.
Symptoms include,
*watery eyes
*dirty nostrils
*coughing and sneezing
It can also cause decreased egg production, lowered fertility and decreased hatchability.
The disease can have a long course of infection and can lead to the accumulation of a "cheesy" material in the eyelids and sinuses as well as noticeable outward swelling.
This is a very common type that when purchasing birds that have lived someplace else and they appear healthy by looking at them, these symptoms will resurface after bringing them home. The stress of the move for them will cause shedding of their dander and infect the existing flock.
There are no antibiotics available in Canada to help or cure them, they will be carriers for life.
A product in our line called Chick' N Breath will address a spectrum of symptoms, our Chick' N Breath may help with, wheezing, labored breathing and signs of respiratory discomfort. Specially formulated to target these issues without the use of antibiotics, our supplements provide a natural and gentle approach to promote optimal lung health.
Supports the health of respiratory organs.
Helps to maintain moisture balance in nose, throat and lungs.
*In prevention: 1 to 2 days each week
*As soon as signs of respiratory difficulties appear: 5 to 7 days
Please Note: This product needs to be taken immediately with first signs of respiratory issues to have a chance to work. It will not cure respiratory issues that have been present for a length of time.
For more information on Chick' N Swell Products, visit their website: chicknswell.ca
Viral Disease:
Marek's Disease- It's an occurrence worldwide.
It is caused by a chicken herpes virus, once an animal becomes infected, it will be infected for life.
All chickens will be exposed to it at one point in their lives. Unless your birds are in a laboratory setting your birds will eventually be exposed to Marek's Disease.
Not all infected birds will get sick. The percentage of clinically sick birds in a flock depends on the strain of virus (some virus strains are more fatal than others) and the breed of bird. Light egg-type breeds tend to be more vulnerable than meat type birds.
Marek's is airborne from dander and dust and through direct contact.
Again, practicing good biosecurity in your coops, keeping chicken areas clean, changing clothes when going to different chicken locations, controlling the rodent and pest population, and not immediately adding new chickens to your current flock.
New Castle Disease: Highly contagious and can spread through droppings and contaminated equipment. Birds get infected by inhalation or ingestion of the virus.
Symptoms include respiratory distress with sneezing, coughing and nasal discharge. Respiratory signs may accompany neurologic signs, but usually follow tremors and convulsions, paralysis of wings and legs.
Infectious Bronchitis: Affects the respiratory system and can be spread through the air or contaminated surfaces. The disease is caused by a virus.
Symptoms include gasping, coughing, tracheal issues and nasal discharge.
There is no treatment other than for the secondary infections caused by bacteria, which can be treated by antibiotics to reduce the effects but not cure it.
Unfortunately, there are no antibiotics available in Canada to help us and our flocks, that is why good biosecurity is so important.
Parasitic Infections:
Coccidiosis- caused by protozoa in the soil with older birds or in other cases, brooders with chicks, keeping a brooder clean and dry is important. The cocci thrive in the intestinal tract of the bird and even though the bird or chick will eat and drink will eventually lead to starvation.
Treatment is Corid (Amprolium)
Mites and Lice: These parasites can live in the soil and on chickens, causing irritation and anemia.
The mites and lice can be brought to your yard by means of migrating wild birds, rodents, rabbits, chipmunks, squirrels, etc.
Most effective treatment for mites and lice is Elector Psp.
Internal Parasites: Roundworm and Tapeworm are the most common.
Chickens pick up internal parasites from eating infected hosts off the ground, like earthworms, grasshoppers, etc.
Most effective treatment is Fenbendazole Aquasol- Safeguard.
Fungal Infections (or Brooder Pneumonia): A respiratory disease caused by inhaling fungal spores from contaminated soil or litter.
Brooder Pneumonia is most common at 3 weeks of age and infection is obtained from hatchers or brooders contaminated with fungal spores.
Mortality rate can be high in clinically affected birds.
Prevention is accomplished by cleaning hatchers, incubators, waterers, feeders and by keeping litter clean and dry.
I recommend Chick Nipple Drinkers for keeping your chicks water 100% clean while they are trying to build up their immune system. If you have ever raised chicks in the past you know how dirty their open drinker can get. You can't have healthy chicks if they are drinking sewage water.
The drinkers are so easy to train the chicks to use, just tap the chicks beak to the pin, once they swallow a drop of water, they are trained. Chicks/chickens are like monkeys, once one learns he others follow. So not necessary to show every chick the drinker.
Biosecurity Education: Educating yourself and about common poultry diseases and biosecurity best practices is essential for maintaining a healthy flock.
The purpose of this article is to educate people on how quickly chicken diseases can spread between flocks. With the lack of available veterinarians to diagnose and treat your birds, it is your responsibility to implement effective biosecurity measures.
Since Canada does not provide NPIP Certification (National Poultry Improvement Plan) Flock Testing, we must take it upon ourselves to maintain the health of our flock.
I HATCH AND RAISE PULLETS FOR PURCHASE AT MY RANCH- Refer to "Our Chickens" on Home Page.
Knowing what I have learned from researching the importance of biosecurity, I implement those practices into my own business.
Those practices are:
I keep my grow out pullets separate from my breeding flock. The pullets are kept in my redesigned section of my barn. There are three spaces available for them depending on how many chicks were in the hatch that I'm growing out.
The chicks do not step foot out in my grass/yard. The reason for this is, there are different pathogens in everyone's yard. Pathogens are in the ground and in the dirt.
Examples:
Viruses -Viral Disease
Bacteria-Bacterial Disease
Fungi- Fungal Disease
As chickens graze on the ground, they naturally encounter some pathogens, which is beneficial as it strengthens their immune system against those specific pathogens.
However, if these chickens move to a different yard, they face new pathogens for which their immune system isn't prepared.
Relocating chickens to a new home can be highly stressful for them. If they carry any pathogens or underlying diseases, these can be transmitted through their dander, potentially spreading illness to the existing flock.
I keep the pullets I raise away from the yard and grass, taking every precaution to ensure you are buying healthy birds from me. I use sand as litter, which minimizes bacteria since there is no decomposition of litter, helping to maintain a clean and dry environment inside, free from outside pathogens.
When you purchase the pullets from me, you can safely introduce them to your yard, allowing them to gradually build up their immune system to those specific pathogens.
I use poultry nipple drinkers for every bird I own and raise, which keeps them optimally healthy as their water is clean 100% of the time.
This is how I maintain the health and disease-free status of my flock.
I am very particular about whom and where I acquire my birds from.
When I need to introduce new birds to my flock, I either add day-old chicks or buy hatching eggs from a reputable hatchery or breeder.
I have never bought or introduced an adult bird to my flock, no matter how attractive it was or how much I desired it. I've learned to be patient with hatching eggs or raising chicks to adulthood.
You might be fortunate, and the birds you acquire could be fine, but there is never a guarantee. The health of your flock can quickly deteriorate when introducing new birds that have lived elsewhere.
Here I've added a couple pictures of my barn where I grow out the pullets for sale.
Grow-out Area # 1
Grow-out Area # 1
Grow-out Area # 2
Grow-out Area # 2
Grow-out Area # 3
You may be interested in other items we have listed in our ROSLIN RECOMMENDATIONS | Roslin Poultry Ranch- Amazon Affiliate Shop for all your chicken care needs.
More Information on Biosecurity-
The Chicken Chick-Biosecurity Disease Prevention for Backyard Chickens
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