How to prevent and treat pullorum disease in partridges? Farmers need to master these methods

Pullorum disease is caused by Salmonella pullorum and poses the greatest threat to young partridges within 1 week of age, with a mortality rate as high as over 85%, and even whole-flock death. Adult partridges are somewhat less affected when they fall ill. The later the disease occurs, the greater the hope of a cure, but illness severely affects the health of the partridge, causing it to become emaciated.

1) Symptoms. Sick young partridges are listless, seek warmth and fear cold, have drooping wings, closed eyes, and a retracted neck, often hide in dark places, stand motionless, refuse to eat or drink, have ruffled feathers, and pass yellow-white or gray-white pasty droppings. The feathers around the vent are often stuck with droppings, and sometimes the vent is blocked by droppings. When defecating, they often emit a “cheeping” scream, and the vent is exposed and contracts and relaxes repeatedly.

2) Prevention. The pathogen of pullorum disease, Salmonella, spreads very widely and very quickly. Its transmission routes include: ① Droppings. When sick partridges pass droppings, the bacteria are expelled together with them. The bacteria expelled from the body not only have strong vitality, but also constantly multiply, infecting other young partridges. ② Breeding eggs. Adult breeding partridges generally rarely develop pullorum disease, but once they carry the bacteria, they will pass the bacteria to the young partridges through the eggs they lay, and the sick young partridges then transmit the bacteria to other healthy young partridges. ③ Drinking water, feed and all rearing facilities (such as cages, feed troughs, drinkers, etc.). Drinking water, feed, feed troughs and cages contaminated by Salmonella will all become sources of infection. Among these, bacteria-carrying partridges are an important link in Salmonella transmission. Therefore, eliminating bacteria-carrying partridges is an important link in preventing pullorum disease. For this reason, it is necessary to actively establish and cultivate breeding partridge flocks free of Salmonella, immediately cull sick partridges when found, promptly wash and disinfect utensils such as cages, feed troughs and drinkers, and do a good job in all routine daily hygiene and disinfection work.

3) Testing. Whether partridges carry Salmonella is generally tested by the “serum test method.” The specific method is: take a drop of blood from the partridge's wing and mix it with an antigen solution not infected with pullorum bacteria. If the mixture quickly coagulates, it is a positive reaction, indicating that the tested partridge is infected with Salmonella and should be immediately culled; conversely, if the mixture does not coagulate within 2~3 minutes, it is negative, indicating that the tested partridge is not infected with Salmonella.

For farms where pullorum disease has already occurred, it is best to conduct a serum test on all partridges every 2~3 months, so as to cut off the transmission route of pullorum disease in time. For farms that have never had pullorum disease, testing once a year is sufficient.

4) Treatment. There are many drugs for treating pullorum disease. The first is antibiotics. Various antibiotics have a certain therapeutic effect on pullorum disease in young partridges. Oxytetracycline: add 0.02% oxytetracycline to the feed of newly hatched young partridges (that is, add 0.2 grams per kilogram of feed), feed 2~4 milligrams per bird per day, continuously for 7~10 days, to inhibit bacteria and prevent disease; when the disease occurs, the dosage can be increased to 0.04%~0.06%. The usage and dosage of chlortetracycline and tetracycline are similar to those of oxytetracycline. Penicillin can be dissolved in drinking water for drinking, with a dosage of 500~1000 units per bird per day. The dosage of chloramphenicol is to add 0.2%~0.4% to the feed or drinking water of sick young partridges, continuously for 3~4 days, with good therapeutic effect. The second is sulfonamides. Adding 0.05%~0.1% sulfadimidine to the feed, together with an equal amount of baking soda, has a certain therapeutic effect on pullorum disease in young partridges. Adding 0.4%~0.8% sulfaguanidine or sulfadiazine, or 0.1%~0.2% sulfaquinoxaline, to the feed of sick young partridges all have a certain therapeutic effect. The third is furazolidone. Adding 0.02%~0.04% furazolidone to the feed of sick young partridges, or adding 0.02% furazolidone to drinking water, continuously for 3~5 days, can treat sick partridges. Because young partridges are relatively sensitive to furazolidone, it must be fully mixed with the feed when used (or thoroughly dissolved in water before mixing into the feed), to prevent partridges from ingesting excessive furazolidone and being poisoned, causing death. When using furazolidone, note that furazolidone accumulates in the partridge's body and is relatively toxic; therefore, after about 5 days of medication, feeding should be stopped for 2~3 days, or it should be used alternately with oxytetracycline, so that the partridges can detoxify.