NEXTEKCI School
Poultry diseases
One sheet per disease: the signs to look for, how it spreads, how to prevent it and what to do if you suspect it. These sheets help you react quickly; diagnosis and treatment always belong to the veterinarian in your area.
Newcastle disease
A highly contagious viral disease with no cure, which can empty an unprotected house within a few days. It has three faces depending on age: sudden deaths in young birds, nervous signs in pullets, a drop in laying in layers. It is prevented by vaccination and biosecurity, and it must be notified.
Notifiable diseasevirus · seriousGumboro disease
A viral disease of young birds that destroys the organ producing their defences. It kills quickly then stops within a week, but survivors remain weak and catch other diseases more easily. The virus survives for months in the house.
virus · seriousMarek’s disease
A viral disease causing paralysis and tumours. The virus spreads through feather dust and stays in the house for a long time. There is no cure: protection relies on vaccinating chicks very young and on hygiene.
virus · seriousInfectious bronchitis
A highly contagious viral respiratory disease that spreads quickly through the whole house. In layers, it causes a drop in laying and damages egg quality. It also opens the door to bacterial infections.
virus · very seriousAvian influenza
A highly contagious viral disease whose severe forms kill a large part of a house within one or two days. It spreads with wild birds, ducks and poultry from live bird markets, and it can also infect people. Notification is compulsory.
Notifiable diseasevirus · moderateFowl pox
A viral disease spread mainly by mosquitoes and wounds, common in the rainy season. It forms scabs on the comb and head; its form in the beak and throat is more serious as it hinders breathing and eating. It lingers over time and slows growth and laying.
parasite · seriousCoccidiosis
A disease caused by tiny parasites that multiply in the gut. Their eggs are passed in the droppings and become infectious within one or two days in warm, damp litter. It is the disease of wet litter: without dry litter, nothing else works.
bacterium · moderateMycoplasmosis
A slow bacterial respiratory disease: the flock does not die suddenly, it lingers, coughs and grows poorly. It becomes much worse with ammonia, dust, cool nights and other respiratory infections. It can pass through the egg: hence the importance of buying chicks from a licensed hatchery.
bacterium · moderateInfectious coryza
A bacterial respiratory disease recognised by a swollen face and a foul-smelling runny nose. It spreads quickly through a flock and mainly affects growing birds and layers. It kills few birds but causes a drop in feed intake and laying.
bacterium · seriousFowl cholera
A bacterial disease that mainly affects adult birds. Its acute form causes sudden deaths; its chronic form causes swollen wattles and swollen joints. Rats and backyard poultry are its main reservoirs.
bacterium · moderateColibacillosis
An infection caused by a bacterium found everywhere in the environment and in the birds’ gut. It takes advantage of a poor start, dirty water, damp litter or another respiratory disease. In chicks it often affects the navel; later, the respiratory tract.
bacterium · seriousSalmonellosis (pullorum disease and fowl typhoid)
A group of diseases caused by salmonella bacteria. Pullorum disease mainly strikes chicks in their first weeks (white diarrhoea); fowl typhoid tends to affect older birds. Some salmonella can also infect people through eggs or meat: hygiene protects consumers too.
fungus · moderateAspergillosis
A disease caused by a mould that grows in damp litter or feed. Chicks breathe in its spores and their lungs fill with small nodules. There is no effective treatment: everything depends on prevention, especially in the rainy season.
parasite · moderateLice and mites
External parasites that live on the birds or hide in the house. They rarely kill outright, but they wear the birds down and reduce laying and growth. The red mite hides in cracks by day and feeds on the birds at night.
parasite · moderateIntestinal worms
Worms that live in the gut and steal part of the feed. They slow growth, reduce laying and weaken birds against other diseases. They mainly concern birds kept for a long time and those with outdoor access.
non-infectious · seriousHeat stress
In Côte d’Ivoire, heat is one of the flock’s main enemies. Above 30 to 32 °C, especially when the air is humid, the chicken can no longer get rid of its body heat: it pants, eats less, drinks much more and may then die. It is not a contagious disease, but it is prevented like one.
non-infectious · moderateFeather pecking and cannibalism
Feather pecking is when birds pull out other birds’ feathers with their beaks; cannibalism is pecking that goes as far as serious injury and death. It is not a contagious disease but a behavioural disorder, almost always linked to housing conditions. Once established, it spreads quickly through the flock.