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Wanting to get 2-3 kg of “chicken meat without antibiotics” from each chicken, the owners of private farmsteads buy broiler crosses in order to grow environmentally friendly meat chickens. More often than not, they are disappointed.
No manufacturer will simply increase the cost of production. Poultry farmers are no exception. Private traders very quickly find out that diarrhea in broilers is almost inevitable. And without the use of antibiotics and coccidiostatics, it is unlikely that it will be possible to get homemade meat from chickens. Either broilers are grown according to industrial methods, or they receive only half of the planned weight. And sometimes they get nothing at all if the chickens have contracted a disease with a high percentage of deaths.
The weak point of broiler chickens is the gastrointestinal tract. Chickens are born sterile and under sterile conditions. At poultry farms, chickens from the first day are being soldered with coccidiostats from a group that prevents the development of immunity to coccidia.
Private traders try to avoid the use of medicines, although it is very difficult to maintain the necessary sterility at home. Broiler chickens are very likely to become infected with coccidia oocysts, which are found in abundance in chicken coops and on paddocks.
brown diarrhea
Brown diarrhea is a sure symptom of eimeriosis (coccidiosis) of chickens. Eimeria parasitic in chickens are localized mainly in the intestines. Damage to the walls of the gastrointestinal tract in the course of their activity, eimeria cause multiple minor bleeding. Clotted blood, mixed with the “yellow” feed, gives the feces of broilers a brown color.
The development of diarrhea before the appearance of pure blood in the feces means that coccidia have caused very serious damage in the intestines of the chicken.
Other signs of chicken coccidiosis: lethargy, dirty ruffled feathers, unwillingness to move.
If chickens show signs of hen eimeriosis, broilers should be given coccidiostatics as soon as possible. But a veterinarian should prescribe treatment for chickens, since coccidiosis must be differentiated from diseases that require other medications.
Dark brown diarrhea
With the intestinal form of pasteurellosis, which occurs in an acute form, diarrhea in chickens is dark brown in color, sometimes with an admixture of blood. In addition to diarrhea, chickens suffering from pasteurellosis secrete mucus from the nasal openings. Breathing is difficult. The combs turn blue. There is apathy.
Chickens suffering from pasteurellosis are not treated, they are immediately sent for slaughter at the first signs of the disease.
White diarrhea
The appearance of white diarrhea in broilers most likely indicates pullor disease. The chicks may have come from the hatchery already infected or infected by the new owner. If the chicks were infected while still in the egg or became infected immediately after hatching, they have little chance of survival.
It is a pity for private traders to lose money and they are trying to cure sick broilers. Very small chickens will die. If the broiler has become infected from the owner’s chicken at about a month of age, his chances of survival are quite high. But such chickens by the time of slaughter will be 2 times smaller than healthy broilers.
Since obviously sick chickens are slaughtered, treatment is carried out for apparently healthy chickens. The veterinarian, after establishing an accurate diagnosis, prescribes a course of treatment with antibiotics of the tetracycline group. Depending on the type of drug, the treatment regimen may differ. Antibiotics are given with food. The dosage is given as a percentage of the given feed.
green diarrhea
In broilers, green diarrhea is more likely to occur due to poor-quality feed. Two other causes: disease with histomonosis or overfeeding with green fodder.
With histomonosis at the middle stage of the development of the disease, the feces of chickens acquire a greenish tint. But it is relatively difficult for broilers to contract this disease, as histominoses are transmitted through nematodes or earthworms. If broilers are fattening in cages, they are unlikely to come into contact with possible sources of infection.
The easiest type of diarrhea for a private trader is non-infectious indigestion. This type of diarrhea can be successfully treated at home by the broiler owner himself. When diarrhea appears, they find out why the bowel function of the chickens was upset. This usually happens if the owner has switched chicks too abruptly from grain to green. In this case, the chicken will have a dark green stool.
The second option: low-quality food. Depending on the type of feed, diarrhea can be light green (damp mash with mold) or light yellow (grain feed).
Non-infectious diarrhea in broilers, how to treat at home
This is the easiest option for a farmer. He himself can determine what to do when his chickens suddenly have an upset stomach.
Diarrhea in chickens can begin if, after a long winter break, you immediately give them a lot of grass. In this case, the chickens are again transferred to grain feed, and instead of water, rice decoction or oatmeal jelly is poured into the drinkers.
Whether to give chloramphenicol in this case depends on the circumstances. Again, green fodder is introduced into the diet of chickens gradually, starting with very small doses.
With diarrhea due to poor-quality feed, they first find out which component of the diet could cause diarrhea in chickens and remove it from the broiler menu. Chickens are fed levomycetin with feed to destroy the pathogenic microflora that has developed in the intestines. In this case, you can also drink disinfectant solutions of potassium permanganate or furacilin.
To get rid of diarrhea, you can give broilers fixative decoctions, a hard-boiled egg, or a baked potato.
Prevention of broiler diseases in the private sector
Broilers are not grown on farms. These chickens are intended for slaughter at 3 months old, otherwise the broilers die from an excess of muscle mass. For fattening for meat, broilers are bought either directly from poultry farms, or from the hands of resellers. The second option is worse, since it is more likely to buy already sick chickens.
Before buying broilers, it is necessary to disinfect the room in which the chickens, cages and equipment will live. Many of the pathogens in chickens are resistant to either disinfectants or high temperatures. Therefore, complex disinfection is often used, calcining walls, cages and inventory with a blowtorch, and then spraying them with a disinfectant solution. If an object cannot be treated with a lamp (for example, a plastic drinker), it is immersed in a strong solution with a disinfectant for at least 30 minutes.
The brought chickens are kept separately from adult chickens. Broilers are perfectly adapted to growing in cages. That’s what they were brought out for. Without movement, broilers gain weight better. Therefore, it makes no sense to provide broilers with a run with the risk that the chickens will become infected with worms and histomonosis. In addition, when kept in decontaminated cages, there are chances to really do without the use of antibiotics and coccidiostatics.
Conclusion
When diarrhea occurs in chickens, you should not self-medicate only. Be sure to invite a veterinarian to establish an accurate diagnosis. Sometimes, after buying infected chickens, the infection began to “walk” throughout the village. This happened due to the fact that the owner of chickens infected with a serious infection (pullorosis or pasteurellosis) regretted slaughtering them immediately and tried to treat them with folk remedies.
In a personal subsidiary plot, it is necessary to try to comply with the norms for keeping broilers and monitor the quality of feed.