Chickens are mainly raised for their meat or eggs. No matter what you raise your chickens for, you should keep them healthy and happy. Happy chickens will make happy owners, means more profit for your hatchery. If you’re a beginner in poultry farming, then this guide to start layer poultry farming for beginners will be perfect for you!

To keep your poultry happy and healthy, you need to learn some of the common diseases of poultry so that you will be able to cure it once it happens or prevent it.

Poultry diseases themselves are classified into 4 main types: behavioral, metabolic, infectious and parasitic diseases. Each of them has different causes and treatments.

Behavioral diseases are mostly caused by stress and the surrounding environment, such as overcrowding and overheating. Metabolic diseases are mainly caused by unhealthy environment and improper nutrition and exercise.

Infectious diseases can be viral, bacterial and fungal and lastly parasitic diseases are mostly related to parasites, such as ticks, fleas and roundworms. After knowing the four main types of poultry diseases, let’s get to know more about the 5 specific poultry diseases every owner must know.

Fowl Pox

Fowl pox can come in two different forms: dry and wet. Poultry affected by the dry fowl pox will have wart-like lesions on the unfeathered area. This may heal in two weeks. On the other hand, in the wet cases of fowl pox, the lesions appear mostly around the mouth and the eyes’ discharge.

There’s no special treatment for this disease as it will typically go away on its own after a few weeks. However, you still need to give extra attention and care to the sick chicken to make it comfortable.

To prevent it, make sure to quarantine the chicken if you suspect any symptoms of fowl pox. Moreover, control mosquitos in your chicken enclosure as they might transmit the disease from flock to another.

Fowl cholera is another disease that may attack poultry. Get to know about it more in signs of fowl cholera in your poultry.

Marek’s Disease

Marek’s disease is also referred to as fowl paralysis. The most common affected chickens are the 12 and 25 weeks old chicken. If you notice your chicks have tumors, irregularly shaped pupils and partial paralysis, then they might be suspected of having Marek’s disease.

There’s nothing much you can do to treat this disease as this is a type of avian cancer. Once you find the infected chick, make sure to quarantine it as this disease is contagious.

It can be transmitted when a chicken breathes in feather dander from the infected bird. Though the bird survives, you still need to quarantine it as it will remain a carrier of the disease for life.

To prevent this disease, you can have your chickens vaccinated, even since your birds are hatched. 4 important reasons ducks must be vaccinated will be an important message for you too.

Newcastle Disease

Belongs to the respiratory disease, Newcastle disease has some symptoms, such as breathing difficulties, nasal discharge, murky eyes and reduction of egg laying. In some cases, the infected birds may experience twisting in their neck and paralysis in the legs and wings.

The infected birds will typically recover from this disease and not be carriers. However, if your chicks have developed the disease, there’s only a small chance to survive. Newcastle disease is also listed as one of the common chicken diseases.

As this disease is carried by wild birds, make sure your flocks are vaccinated. Practicing good sanitation will also be able to prevent this disease as even a person can transmit the virus through clothing or shoes.

Coccidiosis

Coccidiosis can be noticed by the loose dropping as its early symptom. Coccidiosis is a disease that is caused by parasites damaging the gut wall of the chicken.

Besides loose droppings, you will also notice some other symptoms, such as watery and bloody diarrhea, weight loss and ruffled feathers. To treat this disease, you may need antibiotics that will be useful to get rid of the parasite.

To prevent your flocks from getting infected, make sure to keep the food area, brooders, and coops clean and dry. It will help to prevent the spread of coccidiosis.

Poultry Mites

All kinds of poultry are susceptible to mites. Some of the mites are even blood suckers, others burrow into the skin and the rests occur in the air passages and in the lungs. Mites are really harmful! Poultry mites are able to cause reduced egg production, damage plumage, retarded growth and even death.

It is very important to keep an eye on the presence of mites on your chicken’s body. You can do regular inspection and spraying program to all your flocks.

You can consider using an appropriate solution of permethrin, which will be effective in eliminating all the mites infesting the bird. You can also consult with your vet before using this solution to make sure it is safe. Make sure you also know about must known facts about poultry lice that might attack your flocks.

Knowing and understanding these 5 common diseases in poultry is very important no matter how big your flock is. When a chicken is happy and healthy, it will be productive and as an owner, you surely don’t want to spend lots of money to cure those diseases, do you? So, keep every member of the flocks healthy and happy!