Healthy Flocks - Even When Housed

With a housing order having been in place for England and Wales for a number of weeks, this is a reminder of some of the challenges that housing flocks can bring and what you can do to prevent or overcome them. This article was kindly written by the St David's Poultry Team.

A reminder: Clinical signs and post-mortem findings

One of the main challenges with avian influenza (AI) is that early signs of infection can be subtle and non-specific, both in live birds and at post-mortem. While it is recommended to contact your vet if daily mortality exceeds 0.3%, it’s important to remember that in the early stages of AI, losses may be lower and increase over several days.

Feed and water intake can drop, but again, this can be rather subtle. It’s worth noting however that where previously we might have seen a 20% egg production drop in infected birds, we are now seeing a 2% drop.

That said, the rapid onset of mortality remains the same, and it is important to be alert to any changes.

Other signs include:

1. Diarrhoea
2. Laboured breathing
3. Facial swelling
4. Nervous signs
5. Dullness
6. Snicking/nasal discharge
7. Bruising on the legs

The incubation period for AI can be as little as two days, so early detection and reporting are vital to limit the spread. The APHA only compensate for healthy birds culled on an infected premises, not birds that die from the disease itself.

If you have any concerns about the health and welfare of your birds, or if you suspect AI, please get in touch with your vet or your local APHA office. St David’s Poultry Team head office number is: 01392 872932.

Supporting housed birds

Below are 6 key areas of risk and our recommendations:

1 – Ventilation

This can be a problem in the winter months when the pop-holes are closed, especially in naturally ventilated buildings, which can adversely affect litter quality. Ventilation systems can be adjusted in automatically vented buildings to prevent deterioration in litter quality, and you should contact your ventilation company for advice if required. Badly capped litter should be removed from the house and the bedding material replenished.

2 – Injurious Feather Pecking

This can start because of the stress of being kept indoors and once this behaviour is established it can be very difficult to control.

• Reducing the lux level of lighting within legal levels can be a useful tool to calm the birds and prevent aggressive behaviour.
• Adequate enrichment should always be in place, especially of the destructible type such as alfalfa bales and pecking blocks.

Grit given at 7g/bird/week sprinkled on the scratch area keeps the birds occupied and can also help keep litter friable as the birds scratch about to find the particles.

There are options available that can help birds in stressful situations that are either added to the feed or the water. A St David’s vet can give more information on the options and what would be best suited to your situation.

3 – Common Respiratory Diseases

Housed birds increases infection pressure, especially for diseases such as Infectious Bronchitis (IB) and Mycoplasma and can exacerbate the clinical signs and the spread of disease among the birds.

Most flocks in the UK are vaccinated with live IB vaccines in lay, and this should continue. If your flock is vaccinated, then we would advise that you continue with your vaccinations during the housing order, administering it in your usual way.

4 – Smothering

Monitor your flocks around the usual times the pop-holes would open and break up any crowds of birds by walking the scratch area. Having ramps or other objects placed around the house can also stop the birds crowding.

5 – Pressure on gut health/eggshell quality

Good gut health is essential for disease resistance and egg production. Products such as ABC pH can help reduce harmful bacterial load. It is important to acknowledge that water is different from farm to farm, and we would recommend doing a titration of the water so the dose rate of the acid is farm specific. Under-acidifying may risk the formation of biofilm and bacteria, and over-acidifying may risk the birds reducing their water intake.

Longer periods housing can also negatively impact eggshell quality, especially in older flocks. Nutritional support can help, including:

1. 50 Week Plus - supports eggshell and production in the second half of the laying period
2. Herbivit Plus - recommended for younger birds and recently placed pullets to help improve early condition and weight gain

6 – Parasites

Finally, it is important that you continue to monitor any worm and parasite issues when birds are housed. Worm Egg Count testing, as well as necessary worming, should continue as birds can still succumb to worm infestations even when indoors.

As birds are inside, it is easier to dose wormer through the drinking water as this is their only water supply, and there is no risk of them consuming non-medicated water from other sources.

Red mite is also another problem to keep an eye on as increases in house temperatures may occur when the pop-holes are closed, which will subsequently encourage more mite activity and reproduction than we would usually see in the winter months.

If mites do become a problem for your birds, please do get in touch with us and we can advise which mite solutions and products would be work best for your house.

If you have any concerns about the health and welfare of your laying birds during the housing order, or you have questions more generally, please do not hesitate to contact St David’s Poultry Team, 01392 872932, or email info@stdavids-poultryteam.co.uk