Diseases Of Chickens. Parasitic

2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38

Previous articles on the topic "Diseases of chickens" raised the issue of non-infectious diseases, as well as infectious viral and bacterial etiology, in this article we will raise the problem of diseases caused by parasites. This article is purely advisory in nature and if symptoms are detected, a veterinarian's consultation, adjustment of medications and doses is required

Ectoparasites

Ticks and bugs

Blood-sucking parasites partially penetrate the skin, suck blood, and in the process inject poison that weakens the birds' immunity. The bird shows signs of anemia, and resistance to disease is significantly reduced. Young animals are significantly behind in development, and adult chickens lose weight, egg production is significantly reduced. Chickens suffer most from bedbugs at night, by morning the parasite hides in cracks, in the litter. Bedbugs are dangerous because of their resistance to frost and their ability not to eat for up to a year and a half.

To combat bloodsucking, careful treatment of the room with disinfectant solutions is required:

1.5% aqueous solution of chlorophos (150 ml per 1 m2)

1% water emulsion of karbofos (100-150 ml per 1 m2)

1% aqueous emulsion of trichlorometaphos-3 (150 ml per 1 m2)

Preparations should not fall into nests, feeders and drinkers. During processing, the bird is also taken out of the room. Processing will be repeated in 10-15 days.

Pooh-eaters

Small parasites that feed on dead skin pieces, down and feathers. They live and reproduce on the bird, outside the host they die almost immediately. They bring a lot of anxiety to the bird, from parasites the bird almost completely loses its appetite, the young dies. The parasite is detected by a simple examination. The largest accumulation is observed under the wings and in the area of the cloaca. The bird can get rid of this parasite by itself. To do this, you need to install a tray with ash in the henhouse and periodically replenish it. A mixture of sand and wood ash is poured into a container and the chickens are happy to clean themselves from parasites.

Endoparasites

Helminths

Worms living in the body of birds, in everyday speech - worms. Infection occurs through many channels: inventory, soil, earthworms, droppings from infected poultry, and even through the shoes of a poultry farmer if he has had contact with an infected bird. At risk are chickens free-range or kept in pens with an earthen floor.

Ascariasis

A parasite that lives in the small intestine. The largest of all chicken parasites: the female reaches 12 cm, while its diameter is 6-7 mm. It is also a very prolific parasite, a female can produce up to 200 thousand cysts per day. This type of parasite is widespread literally everywhere. Young animals aged 2-6 months are most susceptible to ascariasis. The main source of infection is droppings, however, the disease is also transmitted through inventory. Damaging the intestinal villi, they disrupt metabolic processes in the body of chickens, leading them to exhaustion and intoxication, in severe cases to neurological symptoms. With a high degree of helminthization, mortality reaches 15%. Often, infection with ascariasis occurs simultaneously with heterocytosis.

Treatment: chickens aged 2-3 months are prescribed piperazine salts once, in the amount of 0.1 g per bird, and from 4 months and adults 0.25 g per individual two days in a row. Other antihelminthic drugs are also used.

Heterakydosis

A parasite that lives in the large intestine, in the blind processes. The nematode has a rather small size: male 5-13 mm, female up to 15 mm. Like ascariasis, the disease is ubiquitous. It causes indigestion, diarrhea, depression, a decrease in egg production up to a complete cessation. The bird dies from this disease rarely, but the losses are caused by the lack of growth and development.

Treatment: chickens are given "Phenothiazine" at the rate of 0.5-1 g per 1 kg of live weight, adults 1, 5 g per 1 kg of live weight. If concomitant ascariasis is suspected, Nilverm is prescribed at a dose of 0.08 g per 1 kg of live weight.

Capillariasis

Parasites that live in the small intestine. They have a thin filamentous shape, 7-10 mm long in males and 10-15 mm in females, 0.05 to 07 mm wide. The larvae ripen in eggs in the external environment, the main carriers are earthworms. Infection also occurs when a bird swallows mature eggs of capillaries along with food or water. 3 weeks after the chicken enters the body, the capillaria are already sexually mature and can begin to multiply. This type of parasite is characterized by a high number in one organism. On the mucous membrane of the small intestine, numerous bleeding ulcers form, which subsequently become inflamed, leading to severe intoxication and putrefactive processes. Due to metabolic disorders, the bird dies either from exhaustion or from severe intoxication.

Treatment: the drug "Nilverm" in a dosage of 0.08 g per 1 kg of live weight. The powder is dissolved in water and mixed with half a one-time feed rate so that the chickens eat without a trace.

The best treatment for endoparasites is

prevention … Cleaning the premises and equipment before launching young animals, biothermal treatment of the premises. When starting young animals to the general livestock, prophylactic drugs for the entire livestock, and ideally, separate keeping of adults from young ones.