Duck Plague Strikes: How to Identify and Prevent It? A Must-Read for Duck Farmers

Duck plague, also known as duck viral enteritis, is an acute, febrile, septicemic infectious disease of ducks, geese and other anseriform poultry. For farmers raising ducks, geese and other poultry, how to identify and prevent it is very important. The content below is important, so the vast numbers of farmers had better read it carefully!

How to identify duck plague?

1. A sudden, persistently high mortality rate appears in the duck flock; the ducks are listless, have reduced appetite, and their body temperature rises to 42°C; their wings droop and they lie prostrate on the ground; sick ducks have swollen heads and necks; the bill, feet and mucous membranes are blue;

2. Diarrhea, with green or grayish-white watery droppings; the cloacal mucosa is congested, hemorrhagic, edematous or everted, and covered with a green pseudomembrane that leaves an ulcerated surface when peeled off.

3. The duck's whole body skin, mucous membranes, serous membranes and internal organs have blood spots; the subcutaneous tissue is edematous; some ducks have swollen heads and necks;

4. The oral mucosa is covered with a yellow necrotic pseudomembrane; scraping off the pseudomembrane with a knife reveals shallow mucosal hemorrhage and ulcers; the surface of the esophageal mucosa is covered with a yellow or straw-yellow pseudomembrane, in the form of small patches or streaks;

5. The cloaca is severely congested, and the mucosal surface is covered with brownish-yellow or greenish-brown necrotic scabs that are difficult to peel off.

When duck plague strikes, how do you prevent and treat it?

1. Strengthen hygienic control of the duck house environment and pay attention to regular disinfection.

2. Vaccination should be carried out according to the immunization schedule; it is forbidden to purchase ducklings or breeding ducks from non-immunized areas. If sick ducks are found, immediately isolate the whole flock and urgently vaccinate them with attenuated duck plague vaccine, intramuscular injection of 1 dose; immunity develops after 1 day.

3. For early treatment, use 200 grams of ampicillin sodium and 100 grams of ciprofloxacin hydrochloride, together with 100 grams of purified astragalus polysaccharide raw drug, mix with water for drinking; withhold water for 1 to 2 hours beforehand, let them drink it all in 1 session, for 3 to 5 consecutive days.

4. Each sick duckling should be urgently injected with duck serum-duck virus antibody; small ducks (10 days old or weighing within 150 grams) are injected subcutaneously in the chest with 0.8 to 1 milliliter, and adult ducks (over 10 days old or weighing more than 150 grams) are injected with 1 to 1.5 milliliters, for 2 to 3 days. Alternatively, an antiviral drug for poultry, Jiuji Raogansu, can be given in the feed or drinking water: 50 milliliters in drinking water per 800 adult poultry or 1,000 young poultry; generally one drinking session is enough, and for severe cases give it in drinking water for 2 days, once a day, with remarkable results. This method achieves a cure rate of 90% to 96.1% for treating sick ducks with duck plague. To prevent bacterial infection, each duckling can be injected intramuscularly with 1,000 to 2,000 units of gentamicin, once in the morning and once in the evening, for 2 to 3 consecutive days, to help strengthen the constitution and restore physical strength.