Poultry Medicine: Nutritional Disease

Question 1

What are broilers? When are they marketed?

Answer 1

meat-type breed of chicken - White Plymouth Rock, Cornish

6-9 weeks of age at 4.5-5 lbs

Question 2

What 4 vaccines are recommended for broiler chickens?

Answer 2

1. Marek’s disease - SQ
2. Newcastle disease - coarse spray, water
3. infectious bronchitis - coarse spray, water
4. infectious bursal disease - coarse spray, water

Question 3

What are layer chickens? What are the 2 classifications?

Answer 3

female chickens used for table eggs - Leghorn hybrids

1. Pullet - sexually immature female used as a replacement layer
2. Hen - sexually mature

Question 4

When do hens begin laying eggs? How long are they incubated?

Answer 4

18-20 weeks of age –> produce 250-310 eggs per laying cycle

21 days

Question 5

When are layers stimulated to molt? How? Why?

Answer 5

stimulated to molt at 6 weeks old my decreasing photoperiod

get it done before laying so they can put all energy into laying eggs

Question 6

How long are laying flocks held in production?

Answer 6

until they are 75 weeks of age

Question 7

What 6 vaccines are recommended for laying chickens?

Answer 7

1. Marek’s disease - SQ
2. Newcastle disease + infectious bronchitis - water, coarse spray, aerosol, parenteral
3. infectious bursal disease - water
4. laryngotracheitis - intraocular drops
5. fowl pox - wing web injection
6. encephalomyelitis - wing web injection

Question 8

What turkey breeds are used in the turkey industry?

Answer 8

• Large White/Broad Breasted White
• Holland White
• Beltsville White

typically debeaked to decrease cannibalism, unable to breed naturally

Question 9

What 3 types of turkeys are used in the turkey industry?

Answer 9

1. poult - young sexually immature
2. tom - males, marketed at 19-20 weeks, weighing 28-30 lbs
3. hens - females, marketed at 14 weeks, weighing 14-16 lbs

Question 10

What 3 vaccines are recommended for turkeys?

Answer 10

1. Newcastle disease - water, spray
2. hemorrhagic enteritis - water
3. fowl cholera - water, SQ

Question 11

What breeds of duck are used in the industry?

Answer 11

• White Pekin
• Rouen
• Muscovy

used for meat, eggs, feathers, and pest control

Question 12

When are Pekin and Rouen ducks marketed?

Answer 12

7-9 weeks –> 6-7 lbs

5 months

Question 13

When are broilers/fryers, roasters, and mature/old ducks marketed?

Answer 13

8 weeks, 5-6.5 lbs

16 weeks, 7-8 lbs

over 6 months, meat used in processed products

Question 14

What breeds are most commonly used in the goose industry?

Answer 14

Emden and Toulouse

used for meat, down for pillows, grass control, guards, show

Question 15

What is a male and female goose called? When are goslings and young geese marketed?

Answer 15

gander, goose

marketed in the fall at 24-30 weeks, 11-15 lbs

marketed at 10-13 weeks, 10-12 lbs (fed for rapid growth)

Question 16

What breeds are most commonly used in the quail industry? When are the processed?

Answer 16

Bobwhite, Coturnix/Japanese –> used for eggs and meat, chicks debeaked

when mature at 16 weeks, 3-7 oz

Question 16

When are pheasants marketed?

Answer 16

16-18 weeks

used mostly for meat +/- hunt clubs, eggs, feathers

Question 17

What are the 4 important components to poultry nutrition?

Answer 17

1. ENERGY - grains, grain byproduct, molasses, vegetable/animal fat
2. PROTEIN - soybean meal (+ other plant meal), fish meal, meat meal
3. VITAMIN SUPPLEMENTATION
4. MINERALS - Ca, P, salt

(corn meal, alfalfa meal, corn gluten meal produce yellow color of skin and yolk)

Question 18

What birds are most commonly affected by Ca, P, and vitamin D deficiencies? What lesions are associated?

Answer 18

young poults 3-6 weeks of age in backyard/hobby flocks

RICKETS - rubbery/soft bones and beak, enlarged joints, beaded ribs

Question 19

What clinical signs are associated with rickets in poultry? How is it diagnosed? Treated?

Answer 19

lameness, stunted growth, poor feathering

gross/microscopic description of bones, feed analysis

supplement Ca, P, and Vitamin D3, balance diet

Question 20

What do Ca, P, and vitamin D3 deficiencies cause in older poultry? Why?

Answer 20

cage layer fatigue in adult hens (osteoporosis)

higher Ca requirement needed for laying eggs, resulting in Ca resoprtion from bones

Question 21

What 5 signs are associated with cage layer fatigue?

Answer 21

1. thin-shelled eggs with low hatchability
2. panting
3. spread wings
4. prostration
5. paralysis, death

Question 22

What 4 lesions are associated with manganese deficiency? What treatment is recommended?

Answer 22

1. perosis - shortening and rotation of long bones
2. joint swelling –> lameness
3. displacement of gastrocnemius tendon
4. thin-shelled, poorly hatched eggs

manganese supplementation - corrects egg and hatchability issues, not leg deformities

Question 23

What can salt deficiency cause in poultry? What is a characteristic sign?

Answer 23

• poor growth
• decreased appetite and water intake
• ascites, decreased plasma fluid volume
• softened bones
• adrenal hypertrophy
• decreased CO/MAP
• reduced utilization of protein and energy

falling forward when startled with legs stretched out behind

Question 24

What occurs with salt toxicity in the absence and with adequate water?

Answer 24

ABSENCE OF WATER = rapid dehydration and death WITH WATER = diarrhea, PD, dyspnea, weakness, mucoid discharge from beak

Question 25

What 3 things does a zinc deficiency cause in poultry?

Answer 25

1. perosis and decreased growth 2. hyperkeratosis of foot pads and poor feathering 3. decreased egg production and hatchability - mortality mid-incubation --> skeletal abnormalities

Question 26

What 5 signs are associated with selenium deficiency in younger birds? In older birds?

Answer 26

5-11 weeks 1. exudative crusting 2. unthriftiness 3. ruffled feathers 4. edema - weeping skin 5. skin bruises/scabs easily decreased egg production/hatchability and feed conversion

Question 27

What 6 clinical signs are associated with vitamin A deficiency in chicks?

Answer 27

1. anorexia, emaciation 2. stunted growth 3. drowsiness 4. weakness 5. incoordination 6. ruffled feathers

Question 28

What are signs of severe and chronic deficiencies of vitamin A in chicks?

Answer 28

SEVERE = ataxia CHRONIC = pustules of esophagus MM, uric acid deposits within kidneys (obstruction!)

Question 29

What is characteristic of vitamin A deficiency in adult poultry?

Answer 29

squamous metaplasia and hyperkeratinization of secretory/glandular epithelium ---> pustules in oropharynx, serous/casous ocular discharge

Question 30

What are 2 major causes of vitamin E deficiency in poultry?

Answer 30

1. feeding rancid diets - cod liver oil, soybean oil 2. diets grown in selenium-deficient soil (Colorado)

Question 31

What 4 clinical signs are associated with vitamin E deficiency?

Answer 31

1. encephalomalacia - 2-3 weeks old (crazy chick disease) - ataxia, flexed toes/legs, torticollis, red necrotic lesions in cerebellum 2. exudative diathesis - edema accumulates over breast area 3. muscular dystrophy - degeneration of muscle fibers (white muscle disease) 4. decreased reproductive success

Question 32

When is vitamin K deficiency observed in poultry? What signs are associated?

Answer 32

not until 3 weeks of age prolonged coagulation times --> hemorrhage under the skin and in liver, erosion of ventriculus lining

Question 33

What is indicative of vitamin B12 deficiency? How can it be prevented?

Answer 33

decreased hatchability - embryo mortality peaks at 18 days, edematous, hemorrhagic, chondrodystrophy use feedstuffs from animal origin or add cobalamin supplement

Question 34

Which poultry are most severely affected by niacin deficiency? What signs are seen?

Answer 34

turkeys, ducks, pheasants, goslings severe bowing of legs and enlargement of hock joint

Question 35

What signs are seen with chicks and hens with niacin deficiencies?

Answer 35

tongue, oral cavity, and esophagus inflammation --> black tongue weight loss, decreased egg production and hatchability

Question 36

What are 7 clinical signs associated with pantothenic acid (vitamin B5) deficiencies?

Answer 36

1. stunted growth and ruffled feathers 2. ocular exudates cause eyelids to stick together 3. scabs around the beak and bottom of feet 4. depigmentation of feathers 5. feather loss on head and neck 6. myelin degeneration of spinal cord 7. decreased hatchability in layers

Question 37

Which vitamin is most likely to be deficient in commercial chicken feed? What does this affect? What 6 signs are seen in chicks?

Answer 37

Riboflavin (vitamin B2) --> epithelium and myelin sheath of brachial and sciatic nerves 1. stunted growth with appropriate appetite 2. emaciated, weak 3. diarrhea 4. reluctant to move 5. leg muscle atrophy 6. dry skin

Question 38

What tissues does a folic acid deficiency affect? What signs are seen in adult poultry and chicks?

Answer 38

tissues with rapid turnover - GIT, epidermis, BM macrocytic anemia and leukopenia --> comb becomes a white waxy color + pale MM / embryos with deformed beaks and tibiotarsal bending stunted growth, poor feathering/pigmentation, chondrodystrophy, increased mortality

Question 39

What is the most common group of poultry affected by folic acid deficiencies?

Answer 39

poults --> cervical paralysis

Question 40

What unique sign is indicative of biotin deficiencies in chicks/poults? Adults?

Answer 40

feet, eyelid, and beak dermatitis +/- broken flight feathers, leg bone bending, fatty liver and kidney syndrome (death) decreased hatchability --> chondrodystrophy, syndactyly, micromelia in embryos

Question 41

What is the most common sign of thiamin deficiency in chickens?

Answer 41

opisthotonus - rare!