Duck disease prevention and control requires attention during the transition between summer and autumn

Currently we are in the transition between summer and autumn, with large temperature fluctuations, and various pathogens easily breed and multiply. This is a season when livestock, poultry, fish and other animals are prone to disease. Neglecting prevention at this time can easily trigger disease outbreaks, causing death of livestock, poultry and fish from mass and epidemic diseases, resulting in relatively large losses. Therefore, the symptoms and prevention and treatment methods of common duck diseases during this period are introduced below.

1. Duck plague.

It occurs frequently in spring, summer and autumn, with high morbidity and mortality. Prevention: inject duck plague vaccine at 10 to 15 days of age. Treatment: for every 100 adult ducks, use 15 g each of Chuanxiong (Ligusticum chuanxiong) and Dangshen (Codonopsis pilosula), 20 g each of Huashi (talc), Rougui (cinnamon), and Gancao (licorice), 10 g of Shuanghua (honeysuckle), 12 g of Yujin (Curcuma aromatica), and 8 g of Huajiao (Sichuan pepper), decoct in water and take the juice, add 200 g of 50-degree baijiu and mix well, and give to the ducks to drink. For those that cannot drink on their own, administer by gavage, 4 ml to 5 ml per duck. Using 2 doses consecutively can cure the disease.

2. Duckling hepatitis.

Ducks 1 to 3 weeks old are susceptible, and it occurs frequently within 5 weeks of age, with acute onset and rapid spread. Prevention: immunize breeder ducks twice a year. Treatment: for every 100 ducks, use 100 g of Yinchen (Artemisia capillaris), 40 g each of Xiangru (Mosla chinensis), Dahuang (rhubarb), Longdancao (Gentiana scabra), Zhizi (gardenia), Huangqin (Scutellaria baicalensis), Huangbai (Phellodendron amurense), and Banlangen (Isatis root), decoct in water and take the juice, add 500 g of white sugar, and give to the ducks as drinking water or mix into feed, 1 dose per day, for 3 consecutive days. At the same time, add 50 g of poultry multivitamins and 100 yeast tablets (crushed) per 50 kg of feed and mix well.

3. Duck infectious serositis.

Prevention: usually add 2% to 4% sulfamethoxazole to drinking water. Treatment: use 7,500 international units of gentamicin per kg of duck body weight, add to drinking water, for 2 to 3 consecutive days, and add an appropriate amount of poultry multivitamins to the feed to improve the therapeutic effect.

4. Duck pasteurellosis.

The most acute type of sick ducks often show no symptoms at all, suddenly flap their wings a few times, and fall to the ground dead. The course of disease is 1 to 2 days, the body temperature of sick ducks rises above 43 degrees C, the tail and wings droop, water intake increases, foamy liquid flows from the mouth and nose, and they often shake their heads. For duck farms where this disease occurs frequently, mix olaquindox into the feed every 10 days for 3 days, using 25 mg per kg of feed, or mix Andrographis paniculata powder into the feed for 2 to 3 days each week, or mix oxytetracycline base into the feed at 50 mg per kg of body weight for 2 days, which has a good preventive effect. For sick ducks, inject penicillin and streptomycin intramuscularly at 50,000 units each per kg of body weight, twice a day, for 2 consecutive days, with quick results. Sulfonamide drugs, such as sulfadiazine, sulfadimidine, etc., are mixed into feed at 0.05% to 0.1% and fed for 3 to 5 consecutive days.

5. Duck colibacillosis.

Sick ducks are listless, have reduced appetite, increased thirst, and in severe cases develop difficulty breathing. When laying ducks suffer from this disease, the feces often contain egg white, coagulated protein, and egg yolk; the penis of male ducks becomes swollen and partly exposed. Duck houses and equipment, etc., are usually disinfected once every 2 weeks, and once the disease is found, disinfect twice a week. Mix chloramphenicol into feed at a concentration of 0.1%, for 3 to 4 consecutive days. Inject gentamicin intramuscularly at 10,000 units per kg of body weight, once a day, for 3 consecutive days, or add 20,000 units per kg of body weight to drinking water and administer, for 3 consecutive days. Use norfloxacin premix according to the drug instructions, for 3 consecutive days. The traditional Chinese medicines Qinjunling and compound Andrographis paniculata have good therapeutic effects on this disease.