In readiness for the coming season, vet ALAN BEYNON outlines how to identify and tackle infection problems in the rearing pens.

Keeping your birds as healthy as possible will pay dividends in providing good sport
 

Thermal stress

Shoots are busy now planning for the next season. Birds are generally rearing well, although with very cold mornings and hot daytime spells, temperatures have been difficult to control, especially in the small brooder houses with little insulation.

Brooder house thermal stress is seen as a dark mustard scour and the birds show characteristic wing tip drooping, a sign of toxaemia and dehydration. Getting fluids into the birds at this early stage can be a great help and they may also require some antibiotic to get a good recovery. Damage to the intestinal flora at this stage can also lead to coccidiosis or hexamita infections at a later stage, so effective treatment early will help to achieve a good quality poult.

Prevention of hexamita and coccidiosis can be best addressed through good brooder hygiene, availability of plenty of clean water, not stocking too heavily, controlling stress and careful observation of birds’ behaviour.

Frothy droppings are a tell-tale sign of hexamita

Coccidiosis

Early signs of coccidiosis in the release pen is seen as “rumped up” birds with feed wastage around the feeders. It might be thought initially that there is a feed issue as the birds appear to reject feed as unpalatable. They will scour a semi-solid dropping and will slowly waste condition. Treatment with anticoccidial drugs can help but checking the birds a few days after delivery into the release pen is a better bet, as preventive treatments can be used.

Spironucleus

Hexamita or spironucleus is much more dramatic. Birds will be very sick with a frothy bubbly bright yellow characteristic scour and rapid-onset wasting. Death rates can be very high and birds after challenge are weak and lethargic. Hexamita infections often occur around periods of hot, heavy, thundery weather and will appear suddenly.

Many gamekeepers now use preventive medication in feed to try to hexamita especially on pens that can be problematic. The use of CTC was generally advocated although we often now use Denagard with much success.

In-feed medication will only work once the basics have been addressed such as adequate numbers of feeders and drinkers, stocking densities and worming programmes in place.

Check birds for coccidiosis a few days after delivery

Worming

The issue of worms has been paramount over the last two years and despite the cold winter we still see many cases of both gape worm and gut worm. Birds that came off shoots were showing very high numbers of worms and this led into the laying flocks.

We also treated a large number of shoots with clinical signs of worms during the shooting season.

Regular worming with licensed products is greatly beneficial in both the treatment and prevention of worm infestation but also helps with the “cleaning up” of shoots that have been under-wormed for many years. There is much evidence now that worming several times within a short interval can help greatly the number of subsequent treatments as well as the reduction in challenge to the birds.

Bulgy eye/swollen head disease

Early investigation is imperative as much can be done to try to prevent issues affecting the quality of shooting.

Hopefully you will have a trouble-free year with top-performing birds!      

Alan Beynon is a partner at St David’s Poultry Team based near Exmouth in Devon, and has specialised in gamebird work for more than a decade. Although his work is mainly focussed in the south of England; Alan heads a team of vets that cover the whole country, offering all aspects of veterinary investigation and advice to help produce the best possible birds for flying. Telephone 01392 872890 or email www.stdavids-vets.co.uk