DISEASE PREVENTION
Preventing Disease = Good Biosecurity Measures
Biosecurity refers to any measures designed and regularly practiced to prevent the spread of disease onto your property and into your flock. In simpler words, biosecurity includes any action that helps protect the health of your flock, such as maintaining coops and pens or using a footbath when visiting your flock. Biosecurity typically follows three steps:
- Isolation: keeping your birds in a controlled environment and away from other animals
- Traffic control: limiting people and equipment that enter and exit your birds’ area
- Sanitation: disinfecting people, materials, and equipment that come into contact with your birds’ area
LATEST BIOSECURITY BLOG POSTS:
Keeping Your Flock Cool: Assessing and Reducing Heat Stress in Backyard Chickens
Just like us humans, heat stress can be a major concern for backyard chickens. Poultry, particularly chickens, are susceptible to heat-related issues, which can lead to reduced egg production, poor growth, and even fatalities if not properly managed. Understanding how to assess and reduce heat stress is essential to ensure the health and well-being of your flock. In this article, we'll delve into the basics of identifying heat stress in chickens and implementing effective measures
Chicken Coop Spring Cleaning
Cleaning a chicken coop after winter is essential to maintaining a healthy and safe environment for your chickens. Here are some tips on how best to clean a chicken coop after winter: Clean out bedding material: Start by removing all bedding material from the coop, as well as any feces and feathers. Sweep and scrub the coop: Sweep the coop thoroughly, and scrub the floors and walls with warm, soapy water to remove any dirt
Good Riddance to Rickets
Causes of Rickets Rickets in humans’ chickens and every other animal that gets rickets is caused by a deficiency of Vitamin D3, phosphorus, or imbalance between Calcium and Phosphorus. Of all these, a deficiency of Vitamin D3 is the most common, and that is often secondary to bad feed that has been depleted of fat-soluble vitamins including Vitamin D. Ultimately, rickets usually occurs due to improper nutrition which results in poor skeletal calcification. Signs and
Understanding and Preventing Bumblefoot in your Chickens
When dealing with any disease we have a tendency to focus all of our energy on treating the disease and then moving on to other issues. However, like most diseases and conditions in poultry, bumblefoot is largely a consequence of less-than-ideal husbandry practices. This means that you can prevent bumblefoot by optimizing a few simple husbandry practices. What is Bumblefoot? Bumblefoot is a bacterial infection or abscess of the foot. It’s caused by a cut/scrape
Preparing for Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza in SoCal: Tips and Resources for Backyard Owners
Our temperate winter climate is not only appealing to the estimated 39 million people that reside in California; it is also the perfect habitat for the approximately 6 million ducks and geese that migrate south in the fall and winter. This migration of waterfowl follows the “Pacific Flyway” which traverses Alaska to the southern tip of Chile. In addition to the birds, any diseases they may be infected with, including viruses, migrate south in the
Collecting Eggs: Dos and Don’ts
Eggs are in many ways the ultimate food. They come in their own protective shell, they can be eaten alone for breakfast, lunch or dinner and they are one of the key and healthy ingredients to many dishes including desserts. In addition, eggs have historically served as an inexpensive source of high-quality protein, containing all the essential amino acids required by humans as part of a balanced diet. Compared to other food animals, chickens are