What are the common diseases when raising chickens in spring and how to prevent and treat them?

Chicken is one of the meats people cannot do without in daily life. Compared with red meat, white meat has lower fat and is healthier to eat. There are many breeds of chickens, and ordinary farming households generally keep chickens. Raising them is not particularly troublesome; usually you only need to give them a bit of leftover food, and they can find food on their own. When raising chickens, the thing people fear most is disease. Let us take a look below at what are the common diseases when raising chickens in spring? What are the prevention and treatment methods?

1. What are the common diseases when raising chickens in spring?

1. Respiratory diseases

This is one of the diseases that often appears when raising chickens in spring, because the temperature in spring is still not very high, especially since the temperature difference between day and night is relatively large. If the chicken coop is not properly insulated, the chickens' resistance will decrease, leading to respiratory infection. In addition, some cases are caused by poor ventilation, high stocking density, poor sanitation in the chicken coop, or failure to promptly clean up manure or feed residue, which causes the chickens to become infected with pathogens in the environment and develop respiratory infection. Most farming sites, unlike chickens raised free-range in farming households, do not get sunlight or regular exercise, so their immunity declines and respiratory diseases appear.

2. Influenza

In spring, not only are people prone to influenza, animals are too. When chickens have influenza, they usually show symptoms of listlessness and drowsiness. If you see one chicken showing such symptoms, be sure to isolate it promptly, because influenza is highly contagious, and chickens are social animals. Once one is infected, it is very easy for infection to spread through the flock, so medication treatment is needed, along with good disinfection measures and good environmental sanitation.

3. Newcastle disease

Newcastle disease is also a condition that often occurs in winter and spring. If a chicken has this disease, the comb is usually darker in color, breathing is very difficult, mental state is poor, and the droppings appear yellow-white or yellow-green. Generally, the mortality rate is not high, but it reduces the egg production rate and egg quality.

2. Prevention and treatment methods for chicken diseases in spring

1. Do a good job of insulation

In spring, insulation measures are still very necessary. Chickens at this time are very sensitive to temperature changes. If they are not kept in a warm environment for a long time, they are very likely to develop influenza. Normally, it is recommended to provide warm water for drinking, close doors and windows, and add warming equipment when necessary.

2. Always ventilate

Although doors and windows should be closed for insulation, the air in the chicken coop should also be kept circulating, so that fresh air can be breathed at all times and bacterial growth is reduced.

3. Do a good job of disinfecting the chicken coop

The environmental sanitation of the chicken coop is very important. Once disease appears, it is very easy for the whole flock to become sick, so disinfection measures should be done routinely, and manure and excess feed should be cleaned up.

Finally, the chickens' resistance can be increased through feeding. For chicks, increase the protein content of the feed; for growing chickens, increase the energy in the feed; and in the middle growth stage, increase the supply of vitamins and trace elements.