Poultry production

17/03/2023

Poultry World discusses points that should constantly be adhered to and monitored, in order to produce the best quality day-old chicks from your hatchery. Poultry production, being a series of specialist entities, requires that each, in turn, is carried out correctly, in order to achieve the ultimate goal, which is to produce a chicken of the best quality in the least time and under the optimal environmental conditions that will allow the chick to grow stress-free, and perform to its maximum genetic potential. In order to achieve this, a series of events need to be strictly adhered to by all the relevant links in this production chain.

24/02/2023

24/02/2023

Eggs can be a source of nutritious food for poor households throughout the year.
Folic acid in eggs can help reduce the incidence of neural tube defects in pregnancy – a common ailment among vulnerable women in developing countries.
Both poultry meat and eggs can be easily enriched with important omega-3 fats and other critical nutrients – such as selenium and iodine, as well as folic acid – which are often lacking in poor people’s diets.

24/02/2023

Besides being rich in protein, poultry meat is good source of phosphorus and other minerals, and of B-complex vitamins. It contains less fat than most cuts of beef and pork. Poultry meat is low in harmful trans fats, but high in beneficial monounsaturated fats – which make up about half of the total. Eggs are a good source of high biological-value protein and easily digestible.

Because of their inadequate diets, poor people living in low-income regions such as in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia are particularly vulnerable to a number of diseases. Eating more poultry meat and eggs can substantially benefit such people, especially pregnant women, children and the elderly. There is a growing evidence that poultry meat can make a significant difference in fighting child malnutrition.

The question of cholesterol in eggs – which prompted a decline in consumption in many developed countries – was once seen as an important issue but has now been largely superseded. Attempts to reduce cholesterol in eggs have not only proved impractical but are considered unnecessary these days. Consumption of one or two hen’s eggs a day is no longer considered a risk factor to human health for most of the population.

10/08/2022

In a house of 123m*12m, if 4 tier cages are installed, 51 units of cage per line, the height of side wall should be 4m, and total birds quantity is 39,200 birds; if 5 tier cages are installed, 51 units of cage per line, the height of side wall should be 4.5m, and total birds quantity is 48,960 birds; if 6 tier cages are installed, 51 units of cage per line, the height of side wall should be 5.0m, and total birds quantity is 58,750 birds.

04/08/2022

In commercial aquaculture, vaccination is used to prevent infectious hematopoietic necrosis and infectious pancreatic necrosis in salmonids. Vaccines to these diseases include DNA and subunit protein vaccines that are administered either by injection or orally. A live-attenuated virus vaccine against cyprinid herpes virus 3 infection of koi carp (Cyprinus carpio haematopterus) was recently approved for use in Israel; this vaccine has a genetic deletion that allows differentiation between vaccinated and infected fish. The objective of vaccination in fish is the same as in mammals; indeed, the phylogenetic origins of the vertebrate immune system can be traced to the first jawed vertebrates, including bony fish (teleosts). Antiviral immunity, although less understood in fish as compared to mammals or birds, involves both innate and acquired response mechanisms. Specifically, cellular and humoral innate responses involve equivalent cell types, signaling molecules, and soluble factors as are found in mammals. These include phagocytes equipped with pattern recognition receptor such as the TLRs that lead to pro-inflammatory responses and interferon induction; induction of type 1-like interferons is essential for antiviral innate immune responses in fish, and their production is stimulated by dsRNA and signaling pathway in a manner analogous to that in mammals. Similarly, it appears that the innate immune response induces an antiviral state in addition to priming adaptive immunity in fish as it does in mammals.
Adaptive responses involving T and B lymphocytes and specific immunoglobulin production are also critical for antiviral immunity in fish. The structure of the T cell receptor complex (αβ or γδ) has remained virtually constant throughout the evolution of jawed vertebrates, including teleosts, whereas the organization and usage of the B cell receptors in fish varies from that of other vertebrates, as fish possess two distinct B cell lineages (sIgM+ or sIgτ/ξ+)—both of which are important for antiviral immunity and affinity maturation of immunoglobulins—and a less pronounced memory response is typical of the adaptive response in fish as compared with mammals or birds. As fish are poikilotherms, the magnitude of the immune response in most fish is profoundly influenced by water temperature, which may play a causal role in seasonal viral disease patterns in both captive and wild fish populations.

04/08/2022

Poultry production is based on raising fast-growing chickens (Yang and Jiang, 2005). Mass production of meat or eggs with high efficiency and low cost are important in the poultry industry. For maximum productivity, the poultry industry segregates chicken breeds into broiler and egg-laying chickens. Broiler chickens are bred for rapid growth to reach maximum meat production but egg-laying chickens are bred for high production of the egg with the highest efficiency (Arthur and Albers, 2003). Some other factors such as disease and food intake efficiency are effective on the efficiency of poultry production. Improvement in feed efficiency is one of the main factors to reduce the costs of poultry production. Feed efficiency is possible to be improved by genetic selection on growth, feed intake (feed conversion ratio), and architecture of gastro-intestinal tract (de Verdal et al., 2011). Transgenesis technology is helpful to improve those factors for instance growth hormone (GH) transgenesis, a rapid approach to accelerate performance of agriculture species such as rapid growth, food intake, and metabolic rates which has been observed in fish (Devlin et al., 2009; Dalmolin et al., 2015). Among livestock, GH transgenic technique for sheep and pigs exist (Reed and Mann, 1985). Furthermore, GH transgenesis has been utilized to increase goat milk (Zhang et al., 2014). GH transgenesis in the poultry industry may help to increase egg production performance. The poultry industry can affect human health with the excessive production of phosphorus and nitrogen which causes water contamination and spreading of pathogens (Kent, 2005). Poultry species are monogastric and they are unable to digest phytate phosphorus due to the lack of phytase enzyme in the digestive system, an addition of phytase to their diet is necessary (Yu et al., 2004). The benefit of this enzyme in poultry nutrition has been discussed before and the inclusion of this enzyme to poultry diet is one of the most adopted practices. Phytase releases phosphorus from phytate molecule and makes it available. However production of more soluble phosphorus causes phosphorous excretion to surface water (Kleinman et al., 2002). It has been suggested that transfer of bacterial phytase gene to pig helps to digest a large part of phytate in food (Golovan et al., 2001). The introduction of bacterial enzyme gene to poultry is probably possible and helps to prevent the needs for additives like phytase into the diet. Another factor that adversely influences the poultry industry is an avian disease. It has reported that the total economic costs of the disease that are mostly related to vaccines and condemnations, were about 20%of the gross value of production which is about three times the cost of losses from mortality (Trevor, 2013). Bacterial disease causes significant food safety problems for human consumption of contaminated meat or eggs (Klasing et al., 1997). Furthermore, there are concerns about antibiotic residues that may adversely affect human health (Barton and Barton, 2000). Although traditional methods such as vaccines have been effective to control disease, there is still various diseases that threaten\ the poultry industry. Recently the development of molecular techniques and genetic selection helps to produce disease-resistant poultry breeds (Jie and Liu, 2011). There are some important diseases in avian species including influenza and Marek's diseases (MD). Transgenic technology has been employed to produce resistant chickens for influenza virus (Lyall et al., 2011). There have been efforts to produce transgenic chickens resistant to MD, however it has not been successful (Crittenden and Salter, 1992). Although still there is no flock of transgenic disease-resistant chicken, it is a promising technique to prevent disease scattering in the poultry industry without using expensive vaccines or antibiotics.

04/08/2022

Poultry production is characterised by very diverse production systems; broiler production and layer production, and in this respect, both conventional and free-range systems, are important. In addition, layer production is further divided into barn and cage systems. This has consequences for the prevalence of diseases and the exposure to pathogens. In general, free-range systems are more at risk of getting infected with organisms transmitted by wild birds or organisms surviving in the environment, e.g., Pasteurella multocida (P. multocida) and Erysipelothrix rhusiopathiae (Stokholm et al., 2010).
Not many overviews concerning bacterial pathogens present in broiler breeder farms are available (Gregersen et al., 2010; Jones et al., 1978). However, in one recent study, four broiler breeder flocks without any specific disease problems were followed over the entire production period, and E. coli and Gram-positive cocci (in particular Staphylococcus aureus, Enterococcus faecalis, and Staphylococcus agnetis) were by far the most common bacteria associated with disease

04/08/2022

Poultry production involves several stages before poultry products reach consumers, including the rearing of these birds from hatch to peak performance and the subsequent harvesting and processing of broilers and eggs. Therefore, converting broilers to meat products requires a number of processing steps prior to retail. As such, food safety is an important consideration at all phases of poultry meat and egg production. The most prevalent foodborne pathogens of public health concern in commercial poultry production are Salmonella and Campylobacter. Intervention strategies to limit these foodborne pathogens in poultry are applied throughout the poultry production chain. Preharvest interventions can be used to prevent the initial colonization of foodborne pathogens in the poultry gastrointestinal tract or to decrease already established foodborne pathogens through the use of antimicrobial feed supplements. Postharvest interventions involve application of antimicrobials during processing, sanitation of the processing plant, and monitoring of critical control points to identify potential hazards. This review represents a description and overview of poultry food safety practices currently utilized

04/08/2022

Poultry production has been a feature of human society for thousands of years. To ensure that it continues to make positive and sustainable contributions to stable human society, it is essential that production and marketing are tailored to local conditions and associated value chains, maximise nutrient cycling and efficient utilisation of all products and maintain genetic diversity. Smallholder poultry production has an important role to play in feeding the world and, to maximise the benefits, it should be accompanied by improvements to local health services and holistic programs that highlight the links between poultry production, human health and nutrition and sustainable ecosystem services.

22/07/2022

Poultry production involves several stages before poultry products reach consumers, including the rearing of these birds from hatch to peak performance and the subsequent harvesting and processing of broilers and eggs. Therefore, converting broilers to meat products requires a number of processing steps prior to retail. As such, food safety is an important consideration at all phases of poultry meat and egg production. The most prevalent food borne pathogens of public health concern in commercial poultry production are Salmonella and Campylobacter. Intervention strategies to limit these foodborne pathogens in poultry are applied throughout the poultry production chain. Preharvest interventions can be used to prevent the initial colonization of foodborne pathogens in the poultry gastrointestinal tract or to decrease already established foodborne pathogens through the use of antimicrobial feed supplements. Postharvest interventions involve application of anti microbials during processing, sanitation of the processing plant, and monitoring of critical control points to identify potential hazards. This review represents a description and overview of poultry food safety practices currently utilized in the United States.

04/04/2022

Although it is home to 13 percent of the global population, Africa provides just 4 percent of the world’s poultry products. The average African eats one egg every five or six weeks, while the average Japanese person eats eggs almost daily. The same holds true for poultry meat consumption. In one year, the average African consumes only 3.3 kilograms of poultry meat, compared to 28 kilograms for the average French person, and 14 kilograms worldwide. Poultry products remain a luxury in many sub-Saharan African countries, despite substantial animal protein needs.

The Regional Center of Excellence in Avian Sciences (CERSA) of the University of Lomé in Togo is seeking to reverse that trend. Established in 2014 under the World Bank-financed African Centers of Excellence Project, CERSA aims to revolutionize the poultry industry in West and Central Africa. “Rather than viewing these shortcomings as a problem, they should instead be seen as an opportunity, because we are seeing that there is enough room to take the industry forward,” enthused Professor Kokou Tona, the Center’s director.

Professor Tona believes that a lack of adequate financing, the dearth of high-level technical expertise, and input-related problems are the three factors hobbling the development of Africa’s poultry sector, noting that poultry feed accounts for 70 percent of poultry production expenses. “Even chicks are imported because this is showing us that we haven’t yet mastered large-scale production of these chicks, as egg transportation costs are prohibitive, almost double the cost of the eggs themselves,” explained Professor Tona.

In a bid to curb this dependence on other countries and address these challenges, CERSA is offering three levels of training to produce:

Doctoral-level experts in avian sciences,
Masters-level specialists with a sound overall knowledge of the industry, and
Poultry technicians, who will be able to identify technical problems at the practical level and call on specialists and experts to resolve them.

29/11/2021

The U.S. poultry industry is the world's largest producer and second largest exporter of poultry meat and a major egg producer. U.S. consumption of poultry meat (broilers, other chicken, and turkey) is considerably higher than beef or pork, but less than total red meat consumption. With almost 18 percent of total poultry production exported, the U.S. poultry industry is heavily influenced by currency fluctuations, trade negotiations, and economic growth in importing markets. The poultry and egg industry is a major user of feed grains.

ERS provides monthly reports on the poultry and egg industry outlook and data covering supply, use, prices, and trade, as well as data products covering current trade indicators; retail, wholesale, and farm values; and historical data on production, use, and trade in the sector.

Periodic, Scheduled Outputs
Livestock, Dairy, and Poultry Outlook, a monthly report that provides supply and use projections for U.S. livestock, dairy and poultry markets based on the most current World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE).
WASDE at a Glance, a monthly interactive visualization that provides key data and highlights from USDA's World Agriculture Supply and Demand Estimates on livestock and dairy as well as field crops.
Livestock and Meat Domestic Data, a monthly data product that contains current and historical data on beef, veal, poultry, and pork including production, supply, utilization, and farm prices.
Livestock and Meat International Trade Data, which contains monthly and annual data for imports and exports of live cattle, hogs, sheep, and goats, as well as beef and veal, pork, lamb and mutton, chicken meat, turkey meat, and eggs. The tables report physical quantities, not dollar values or unit prices. Data on beef and veal, pork, and lamb and mutton are on a carcass-weight-equivalent basis. Breakdowns by country are included.
Meat Price Spreads, a monthly data set that provides average price values, and the differences among those values, at the farm, wholesale, and retail stages of the production and marketing chain for selected cuts of beef, pork, and broilers. In addition, retail prices are provided for beef and pork cuts, turkey, whole chickens, eggs, and dairy products.
Commodity Costs and Returns, a data product that provides annual estimates of production costs and returns for major field crops, milk, hogs, and cow-calf.
USDA's Agricultural Baseline Projections, an annual report published in February that offers 10-year projections from USDA's annual long-term projections analysis. The associated database covers projections for the four major feed grains (corn, sorghum, barley, and oats) in addition to the other major feed crops and livestock.
Recent ERS Publications Relating to Poultry and Eggs
ERS also produces reports covering domestic and global conditions, trends, and policies that affect poultry supply, demand, prices, and trade in the egg and poultry sector. Recent ERS reports relating to poultry and eggs include:

Impacts of the 2014-2015 Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza Outbreak on the U.S. Poultry Sector Between December 2014 and June 2015, more than 50 million chickens and turkeys in the United States died of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) or were destroyed to stop the spread of the disease. This report provides an overview of the HPAI outbreak with a focus on the impacts on U.S. poultry production, trade, and prices. (LDPM-282-02, December 2017).
Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures and Tariff-Rate Quotas for U.S. Meat Exports to the European Union The United States is the world’s second largest broiler meat exporter, and exports are a valuable source of income for the industry. ERS examines factors affecting the growth in broiler meat exports, focusing on several major markets.(LDPM-245-01, December 2014)
Assessing the Growth of U.S. Broiler and Poultry Meat Exports The United States is the world’s second-largest broiler meat exporter, and exports are a valuable source of income for the industry. ERS examines factors affecting the growth in broiler meat exports, focusing on several major markets.(LDPM-231-01, November 2013)
Local Meat and Poultry Processing: The Importance of Business Commitments for Long-Term Viability Consumer demand for local meat has risen in recent years. Farmers contend that limited processing capacity restricts supply, while processors often lack the consistent business required to make a profit.(ERR-150, June 2013)
Food Safety Audits, Plant Characteristics, and Food Safety Technology Use in Meat and Poultry Plants ERS documents the extent of food safety audits in meat and poultry processing plants and examines the association between the use of audits and the plants’ size, business structure, and application of food safety technology.(EIB-82, October 2011).

29/11/2021

29/11/2021

Big Chicken” describes the emergence of concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) and the environmental impact of this industrial-scale production. The process creates massive amounts of broiler litter, the mix of manure and bedding taken out of the CAFO. Growers typically dispose of litter by spreading it on open fields or cropland, but when it is over-applied or poorly managed, rain washes it into streams and rivers, causing significant water-quality problems.

A case in point is the Chesapeake Bay, which is infused with excess nutrients generated by broiler litter from the adjacent Delmarva Peninsula. Maryland and Delaware alone produce roughly 523 million chickens a year, along with an estimated 42 million cubic feet of litter—enough to fill the U.S. Capitol dome nearly 50 times annually, or almost once a week.

“The environmental consequences of the broiler business's explosive growth are especially profound in the Chesapeake Bay, one of the nation's most important, scenic and threatened bodies of water,” said Robert Martin, an expert on industrial animal agriculture reform at the Pew Environment Group. “Instead of working to limit the effects of all this chicken waste, the industry has fought to avoid responsibility for cleaning up one of our national treasures.”

To address the environmental toll of industrialized poultry production, the Pew Environment Group recommends:

Limits on the density of animal production based on the capacity of crops to absorb nutrients in a given area, especially in areas without alternatives to managing the animal waste.
Shared financial and legal responsibility between poultry growers and corporate integrators (the large corporations that contract with growers) for managing waste.
Monitoring and regulation of waste transported off CAFO sites.
Requirements for all medium and large CAFOs to obtain Clean Water Act permits.

10/07/2021

A new Fowl Cholera vaccine should reach the market in the first quarter of 2010.

The live Pasteurella multocida candidate vaccine, PMP1 or Vaxsafe® PM, has been shown to be a safe and efficacious in the control of Fowl Cholera.

According to Poultry CRC Project Leader and Senior Research Fellow at the University of Melbourne Veterinary School, Dr. Peter Scott, “Vaxsafe PM is the first attenuated live Fowl Cholera vaccine of its type in the world and it will provide the various poultry industry sectors with a means to control a disease that is re-emerging in prevalence and which has serious impacts on the productivity and welfare of poultry.”

The increasing restrictions on the use of antibiotics and the limited efficaciousness of killed autogenous vaccines has limited the ability to control Fowl Cholera in the increasing numbers of birds that are being maintained under barn or free range conditions.

During the development of the vaccine, the CRC has used Good Clinical Practice (GCP) and Good Laboratory Practice (GLP) to satisfy the requirements of the regulator, the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority (APVMA).

To leverage the knowledge acquired, the CRC will run workshops for researchers, moving beyond ‘proof-of-concept’ into the regulatory approval phase in developing health products, such as vaccines.

There has also been a significant development with a project aimed at creating a vaccine for Avibacterium paragallinarum, the cause of Infectious Coryza, an upper respiratory tract infection which reduces egg production in layers and may result in the death of meat chickens.

Avibacterium paragallinarum is one of the most difficult of all organisms to work with in the laboratory and after trying every method they could think of, Project Leader Mike Jennings and his team at the University of Queensland were unable to produce a marked vaccine candidate organism.

The CRC gave the team an extended period of three months to try one last time, but again, there was no success and the CRC cut its losses, cancelling the project in December 2005.

However, the project team refused to accept defeat and doggedly continued work, until a ‘green-fingered’ PhD student, John Lancaster, succeeded in creating a marked candidate vaccine.

The Poultry CRC is now setting up an animal trial to establish whether the marked vaccine effectively controls coryza in chickens.

10/07/2021

Fowl cholera is a contagious, bacterial disease of birds caused by Pasteurella multocida. Acutely, it causes elevated mortality. Chronically, it causes lameness, swollen wattles (in chickens), pneumonia (in turkeys), and torticollis, but it can also be asymptomatic. Both attenuated live vaccines and adjuvanted bacterins are available to aid in prevention, and it is sensitive to some antibiotics.
Fowl cholera is a contagious, bacterial disease that affects domestic and wild birds worldwide. It usually occurs as a septicemia of sudden onset with high morbidity and mortality, but chronic and asymptomatic infections also occur.

Etiology and Transmission
Pasteurella multocida, the causal agent of fowl cholera, is a small, gram-negative, nonmotile rod with a capsule that may exhibit pleomorphism after repeated subculture. P multocida is considered a single species although it includes three subspecies: multocida, septica, and gallicida. Subspecies multocida is the most common cause of disease, but septica and gallicida may also cause cholera-like disease.

In freshly isolated cultures or in tissues, the bacteria have a bipolar appearance when stained with Wright’s stain. Although P multocida may infect a wide variety of animals, strains isolated from nonavian hosts generally do not produce fowl cholera. Strains that cause fowl cholera represent a number of immunotypes (or serotypes). P multocida can be subgrouped by capsule serogroup antigens into five capsular types (A, B, C, D, and F) and into 16 somatic serotypes. Turkeys and waterfowl are more susceptible than chickens, older chickens are more susceptible than young ones, and some breeds of chickens are more susceptible than others.

Chronically infected birds and asymptomatic carriers are considered to be major sources of infection. Wild birds may introduce the organism into a poultry flock, but mammals (including rodents, pigs, dogs, and cats) may also carry the infection. However, the role of these as a reservoir has not been thoroughly investigated. Dissemination of P multocida within a flock and between houses is primarily by excretions from the mouth, nose, and conjunctiva of diseased birds that contaminate their environment. In addition, P multocida survives long enough to be spread by contaminated crates, feed bags, shoes, and other equipment. The infection does not seem to be egg-transmitted.

Clinical Findings
Fowl cholera, consolidated lung, turkey
Fowl cholera, consolidated lung, turkey
COURTESY OF DR. JEAN SANDER.

Fowl cholera, swollen wattles, broiler
Fowl cholera, swollen wattles, broiler
COURTESY OF DR. JEAN SANDER.

Clinical findings from fowl cholera vary greatly depending on the course of disease. In acute fowl cholera, finding a large number of dead birds without previous signs is usually the first indication of disease. Mortality often increases rapidly. In more protracted cases, depression, anorexia, mucoid discharge from the mouth, ruffled feathers, diarrhea, and increased respiratory rate are usually seen. Pneumonia is particularly common in turkeys.

In chronic fowl cholera, signs and lesions are generally related to localized infections of the sternal bursae, wattles, joints, tendon sheaths, and footpads, which often are swollen because of accumulated fibrinosuppurative exudate. There may be lameness, as well as exudative conjunctivitis and pharyngitis. Torticollis may result when the meninges, middle ear, or cranial bones are infected.

Lesions
Lesions observed in peracute and acute forms of the disease are primarily vascular disturbances. These include general passive hyperemia and congestion throughout the carcass, accompanied by enlargement of the liver and spleen. Petechial and ecchymotic hemorrhages are common, particularly in subepicardial and subserosal locations. Increased amounts of peritoneal and pericardial fluids are frequently seen. In addition, acute oophoritis with hyperemic follicles may be observed. In subacute cases, multiple, small, necrotic foci may be disseminated throughout the liver and spleen.

In chronic forms of fowl cholera, suppurative lesions may be widely distributed, often involving the respiratory tract, the conjunctiva, and adjacent tissues of the head. Caseous arthritis and productive inflammation of the peritoneal cavity and the oviduct are common in chronic infections. A fibrinonecrotic dermatitis that includes caudal parts of the dorsum, abdomen, and breast and involves the cutis, subcutis, and underlying muscle has been observed in turkeys and broilers. Sequestered necrotic lung lesions in poultry should always raise suspicion of cholera.

Diagnosis
Confirmed by bacterial culture
Although the history, signs, and lesions may aid field diagnosis, P multocida should be isolated, characterized, and identified for confirmation. Primary isolation can be accomplished using media such as blood agar, dextrose starch agar, or trypticase soy agar. Isolation may be improved by the addition of 5% heat-inactivated serum. P multocida can be readily isolated from viscera of birds dying from peracute/acute fowl cholera, whereas isolation from suppurative lesions of chronic cholera may be more difficult. At necropsy, bipolar microorganisms may be demonstrated by the use of Wright’s or Giemsa stain of impression smears obtained from the liver in the case of acute cholera. In addition, immunofluorescent microscopy and in situ hybridization have been used to identify P multocida in infected tissues and exudates.

PCR has been used for the detection of P multocida in pure and mixed cultures and clinical samples. This method may help identify carrier animals within flocks. However, the specificity and sensitivity of the PCR must be improved. Conventional serotyping suffers from problems with reproducibility and reliability, and the methods are quite laborious. A multiplex PCR has been developed that can differentiate between different somatic serotypes and may enable more efficient vaccine development.

Serologic testing can be done by rapid whole blood agglutination, serum plate agglutination, agar diffusion tests, and ELISA. Serology may be used to evaluate vaccine responses but has very limited value for diagnostic purposes.

Several bacterial infections may be confused with fowl cholera based solely on the gross lesions. Escherichia coli, Salmonella enterica, Ornithobacterium rhinotracheale, gram-positive cocci, and Erysipelothrix rhusiopathiae (erysipelas) may all produce lesions indistinguishable from those caused by P multocida.

Prevention
Good management practices, including a high level of biosecurity, are essential to prevention.
Rodents, wild birds, pets, and other animals that may be carriers of P multocida must be excluded from poultry houses. The organism is susceptible to ordinary disinfectants, sunlight, drying, and heat.

Adjuvant bacterins are widely used and generally effective. Because bacterins are only effective in preventing disease caused by the same serotypes included in the vaccine, somatic serotyping is important. Thus, it is important to know the most prevalent serotypes within an area. Autogenous bacterins are recommended when polyvalent bacterins are found to be ineffective.

Attenuated live vaccines are available for administration in drinking water to turkeys and by wing-web inoculation to chickens. These live vaccines can effectively induce immunity against different serotypes of P multocida. They are recommended for use in healthy flocks only.

Treatment
Eradication of infection requires depopulation, followed by thorough cleaning and disinfection
Antibiotics may reduce mortality but won't eliminate P multocida from a flock
A number of drugs will lower mortality from fowl cholera; however, deaths may resume when treatment is discontinued, showing that treatment does not eliminate P multocida from a flock. Eradication of infection requires depopulation and cleaning and disinfection of buildings and equipment. The premise should then be kept free of poultry for a few weeks.

When antibiotics are used, early treatment and adequate dosages are important. Sensitivity testing often aids in drug selection and is important because of the emergence of multiresistant strains. Sulfamethazine or sulfadimethoxine in feed or water usually controls mortality. Sulfas should be used with caution in breeders because of potential toxicity and cannot be used in hens laying eggs for human consumption. High levels of tetracycline antibiotics in the feed (0.04%), drinking water, or administered parenterally may be useful. Penicillin in turkeys is often effective for sulfa-resistant infections. In ducks, a combined injection of streptomycin and dihydrostreptomycin can be effective.

Key Points
Fowl cholera is a bacterial disease of chickens, turkeys, and other birds.
It causes acute mortality and chronic suppurative necrosis.
It is controlled through good biosecurity, vaccination, and antibiotics.