Common Chicken Illness & Health Issues

It is important to know about common chicken illnesses if you are keeping chickens. If you are aware of the common illnesses and their symptoms you can head of any illnesses as soon as possible.

If you don't stop any illnesses as soon as you can then it may spread to your entire flock and you may need to get a new flock and completely clean the area in which you keep chickens, which can be pricey.

Most common chicken illnesses affect the respiratory tract; the air sacs, lungs and air passages. Because chickens tend to be kept in small spaces with many other chickens these diseases tend to spread quickly. These diseases affect all forms of poultry not only chickens and can spread between types of poultry.

Fowl pox, also called sore head, avian diphtheria and bird pox, can affect all chickens no matter their age. Fowl pox comes in two different forms, a dry form and wet form.

The dry form has wart-like lesions that take about two weeks to heal. These lesion form on unfeathered areas.

The wet form has lesions that are like cankers and are found in the trachea, larynx, pharynx and mouth. These lesions can obstruct the air passage causing breathing problems. Chickens can have both forms of fowl pox at the same time.

Fowl pox is spread by direct contact or by mosquitoes. It is a virus and can enter the blood stream through the skin, wound, eye or respiratory tract.

Research has shown that once a mosquito is infected it carries the virus for its life. Some symptoms are retarded growth, unthriftiness and a decline in egg production. There is no treatment for the fowl pox but you can vaccinate for it if you notice symptoms quickly.

Newcastle disease is highly contagious and lethal. It is not currently found in the US poultry industry. Humans and mammals can also catch the Newcastle disease from chickens, though it only causes conjunctivitis.

The symptoms of Newcastle disease are hoarse chirps, nostril watery discharge, facial swelling, paralysis, labored breathing, twisting of the neck, and trembling. Depending on the severity of the disease the mortality rate ranges from 10 to 80 percent.

Newcastle disease can be transmitted by contaminated shoes, visitors, dirty equipment, wild birds, crates, feed sacks, tires, feed deliverers, and caretakers. It can be passed on through to the egg.

Newcastle disease has no treatment but antibiotics can be used to stop any secondary bacterial infections. There are vaccinations that can prevent this disease.

Infectious Bronchitis only affects chickens, though there is a similar disease found in quails. Other factors such as the age of the chicken, the environment, presence of other diseases, and the immune status of the flock all affect the severity of the infection.

Symptoms include feed and water decline, eye and nostril watery discharge, labored breathing and chirping. If the hens are laying then egg production will sharply decline. Eggshells also may become rough and the egg white watery.

Infectious Bronchitis is very contagious and spread by infected dead birds, feed bags, infected houses, air, though the egg and through rodents. There is no current treatment and to prevent any outbreaks you should have a strong biosecurity program and use the available vaccinations.

Avian influenza has a mild of sever form and can infect all types of birds. A mild case of avian influenza will result in a loss of appetite, respiratory distress, decline in egg production, low mortality, diarrhea and listlessness.

The sever form symptoms are facial swelling, wattles, blue combs, dehydration and respiratory distress. Additionally you may notice blood tinged nostril discharge, dark red and/or white spots on the legs and combs and any sudden exertion can cause death.

Avian influenza can last for a long time at room temperature and indefinitely in frozen objects. The disease is easily spread by inappropriate disposal of chicken carcasses and insects and rodents.

There is no current treatment for avian influenza, but antibiotics and proper nutrition can stop any secondary infections from occurring. Even if your flock has recovered they can still spread the disease.

There other disease that effect chickens that are not respiratory based and are bacterial diseases and not from viruses. Some of these diseases affect all fowl while others only infect specific types of fowl.

Other chicken illnesses are infectious croyza, Infectious Laryngotracheitis, chlamydiosis, swollen head syndrome, mycoplasma gallisepcticum, mycoplasma synoviae, mycoplasma meleagridis, aspergillosis, marek's disease, lymphoid leukosis, infectious bursal disease, avian encephalomyelitis, egg drop syndrome, infectious tenosynovitis, fowl cholera, omphalitis, pullorum, necrotic enteritis, ulcerative enteritis, botulism, and staphylococcus.

Seed Newsvine

Bookmark this article in your preferred program

Comments

Fri, 10 Apr 2009 at 5:08 PM, by emma
our chicken , Stripe is having trouble breathing and isnt eating and we're forcing the water down does anyone know what the problem/disese is called reply asap if any ideas x from emma and jen

Tue, 5 May 2009 at 7:04 AM, by Dawn Clarke
Hi, we have four chickens which we have only had for three days, They are egg laying and at the egg laying age. One has lots of mucous in its nostrils and seems to have its beak open all the time, It is not eating much and its head is warm. Another one seems to if you can understand sounds chesty, Or snotty but it is quite loud. I am worried. My husband says its beacause they are adjusting to a new environment, I just dont want them to die. Any suggestions.

Thu, 6 Aug 2009 at 7:15 PM, by Clare J
We have 7 wellsummer and 2 maran chickens - at 18 weeks - and they have runny nostrils and a cough like noise. All are feeding well - but have you any idea what this can be - I have disinfected the coop - and they are kept clean with fresh water and food and are on grass???

Mon, 21 Sep 2009 at 10:21 AM, by nerys
i have a seabright hen here and been with me for a while she is quite livley but yesterday when i fed her she couldnt lift her head up she was turning it round and her beak towards the sky im very upset as they are my pets please can you tell me what shes had or has anyone else seen this

Mon, 5 Oct 2009 at 3:54 PM, by Melanie Hamilton
i have a 3 year old dark cornish rooster, and he has recently developed a few very swollen spots on his wattles and comb, and both his eyelids have swollen up so much that he appears to have marbles under them. does anyone know what i can do about it short of putting him down. he eats as well as drinks, but he can't see to do either very well. his droppings are normal, not watery. he is lively and objects to examination. other than the swelling he seems fine. no resperatory sounds, no discharge, good feather condition, good leg and skin color. i am stumped here.....

Add Comment

Popular Articles in this cathegory

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.