When deaths increase

Monday, two deaths. Tuesday, two. Wednesday, nine. Will you wait until Thursday to see?

This nine, on its own, doesn't say much. The pattern over several days tells you whether you need to act quickly.

I am going to teach you to read this pattern. There are three patterns, and each calls for a different response.

First pattern, the sudden one. Almost nothing yesterday. A large number of deaths this morning.

This is an emergency. Call the veterinarian immediately. Even after a very hot day. It is not for you to decide.

Meanwhile, isolate the poultry house. No more visitors. No bird, no sack, no tool must go anywhere else.

Some serious diseases spread from one farm to another through people, equipment and litter. Newcastle disease is one of them.

Second pattern, the bell curve. Deaths rise for a few days, then fall again.

Gumboro disease, for example, often forms this bell curve. Birds that are listless and motionless, with watery diarrhoea.

Deaths rise for two days, then fall again over two or three days. Often five to ten per cent of the flock.

Call while deaths are rising, don't wait for them to fall. The veterinarian needs to see birds showing the signs.

And when the bell curve falls, the flock remains fragile for a while. Keep a close eye on the rest of the flock.

Third pattern, the low-level one. One or two deaths almost every day, with no peak.

This pattern often points to the environment. Water, litter, air, space. Germs take advantage of a weakened flock.

Here, you are in control. Water, litter, air, space. And you discuss it with the veterinarian at their next visit.

To read a pattern, you need data points. So write one line in the farm record book every day.

The date, the flock's age, the number of deaths, water drunk, feed served, and what you saw in the morning.

On the day you call, you read these lines instead of recounting them from memory.

If the veterinarian asks for birds, one alone does not represent the flock. Up to three weeks, ten to twelve. After that, five or six.

Take them from among those showing the flock's signs. Not the thinnest ones; they have long-standing problems.

A recent dead bird must be transported chilled, never frozen, and arrive in less than twenty-four hours.

And include the farm record book, along with the vaccination programme, the flock's health and its production from the beginning.

And at your farm, are the day's deaths written down, or kept in your head until the end of the flock?

Your veterinarian first. Then, on WhatsApp, send your daily death numbers to 05 44 83 27 79 for guidance. Flock record book offered.

To reserve your chicks, 07 07 72 78 67. Subscribe. Next, heat stress, in the right order.

Our chicks come from our own breeding stock, and they hatch in our hatchery in Agnibilékrou. With Nextekci, every client is a satisfied poultry farmer.