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Growing
Healthy Chicks:
The first few days of a chicks life are
critical if it is going to develop into a healthy, quick growing bird that will be able to
withstand the stresses and disease challenges that it will encounter during it’s
life.
 A top quality
chick should not need any antibiotics or multivitamins for it to thrive if it is managed
correctly. The objective is to give the chick optimum levels of heat, light and
ventilation, a good quality starter food, clean water and an environment that is not
contaminated.
The
quality of the housing and brooders largely determines the heat, light and ventilation for
the birds. Before use the housing and equipment should be cleaned thoroughly and
disinfected using a Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) approved
disinfectant.
This
is likely to be more effective and less toxic than the creosote that has been the
traditional disinfectant for chick houses. There are many disinfectants available and your
veterinary surgeon should be able to direct you to a suitable product or at least direct
you to someone with the necessary information.
It
is good practice to reduce the levels of bacteria, viruses, protozoal parasites and fungi
in the environment during the growing period. For this purpose a number of products are
available that can be applied to the floors of brooder houses before the chicks are
introduced and can be applied weekly with the chicks still present. This produces a
healthier, dryer environment for the chicks.
Newly
hatched chicks have a sterile gut that is rapidly colonised by whatever bacteria are
present in the environment. These will usually be a mixture of disease and non-disease
causing bacteria.
Alternatively
the chicks may be dosed with a product such as Aviguard. This is a mixture of safe
bacteria that rapidly colonise the gut and crowd out the environmental bacteria. This will
reduce the incidence of both Salmonellosis and E.coli infections and establishes a healthy
colony of bacteria within the bird’s gut.
Avigard
should not be given at the same time as antibiotics or water sanitising agents as these
will kill off the bacteria present. If, under veterinary advice, chicks have to be given
antibiotics for their first few days of life then the Avigard may be given about 48 hours
after the end of the antibiotic treatment.
Finally
the chicks require a clean supply of water. Too often they receive a bacterial
‘soup’ because the drinkers are not cleaned out adequately or on a regular
basis. Water in chick houses tends to warm up rapidly and it is then that the bacteria
multiply.
Drinkers
must be thoroughly and regularly cleaned and if water is supplied from bulk storage tanks
it should be disinfected daily to reduce the bacterial contamination. This may safely and
cheaply be done using chlorine tablets or one of the many products available for this
purpose.
The
importance of clean water cannot be overstated. It is possible to check how effective your
water management is by getting samples of the drinking water cultured and your veterinary
surgeon should be able to arrange this for you.
Main
Problems:
The
two major problems encountered in chicks in their first few days of life are yolk sac and
/ or navel infection and starve-outs.
Yolk
sac and navel infections can be a major cause of mortality in the first week of life. A
variety of bacteria may be present and the condition is usually related to high levels of
bacteria being present at the time of hatching. If there are any problems in the hatchery
that result in a delay in the yolk sac being absorbed into the abdomen or delay the
healing of the navel then the incidence of infection will be higher. Antibiotics may
reduce the death rate in affected batches of chicks but the incidence of poorly thriving
birds is then likely to increase.
Starve-out
mortality is usually seen between days 3 and 5 and results from the failure of the chicks
to take food and / or water. When levels of starve-out deaths are high this is usually as
a result of the birds having been stressed e.g. long journeys, poor conditions in the
brooder houses etc. or it may be related to poor quality chicks.
If
there is significant mortality in chicks in their first week of life it is always
advisable to find out the cause by having a post-mortem examination done as this may help
avoid problems with the later batches of chicks.
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