Poultry Science: Agro/Bio-security

Section IV. Disease Basics

Brian Fairchild
Department of Poultry Science
University of Georgia

• Preventing and Controlling Diseases
• Disease Causes
• Disease Transmission
• Common Poultry Diseases
• Farm Biosecurity / Operational Biosecurity
• Biosecurity is Your Responsibility
• Integrated Pest Management / Primary Pests for Poultry
• Flies
  • Life Cycle
  • Fly Control
  • Biological Control
  • Mechanical Control
  • Chemical Control
• Darkling Beetles
  • Darkling Beetle Control
• Rodents
• Summary
• Poultry Disease Prevention Checklist
• Cleaning and Disinfection
  • Choosing a Disinfectant
• Poultry Mortality Disposal / Methods for Catastrophic Loss
  • Disposal Options
  • Conclusions

Preventing and Controlling Diseases

Disease should be a concern to all poultry producers as introduction of a disease can result in reduced weight gains, poor feed conversion, and high mortality. If a highly contagious disease such as Avian Influenza, Exotic Newcastle Disease or Laryngotracheitis is found on a farm lost revenue due to production losses will occur, in addition to the expenses of disease containment, bird euthanasia and disposal. When mortality and pathogenicity of the disease are high, disposing of dead birds safely so that the disease is not spread further can be an issue, especially with large number of birds. While Avian Influenza (AI) has received a lot of press over the last year or two, all avian diseases should be of concern to poultry growers. While AI will be mentioned frequently it is important to remember that the transmission and prevention of poultry diseases can be accomplished in similar ways. The focus of this section is to acquaint the reader with the factors that can contribute to disease outbreaks and the principles of biosecurity to prevent these outbreaks from occurring.

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