These respiratory diseases in chickens need to be carefully differentiated

No matter which respiratory disease occurs, it is difficult to determine from the clinical symptoms and the performance of the flock which respiratory disease is present, which brings certain difficulties to diagnosis. To help everyone make a preliminary diagnosis on site, various respiratory diseases and common frequently occurring diseases with respiratory disease symptoms are introduced as follows:

Chicken chronic respiratory disease

This disease is a respiratory disease caused by Mycoplasma gallisepticum. Mycoplasma widely exists in the chicken body, and it can be said that in commercial laying hen flocks of various breeds, a certain proportion of chickens carry this pathogen in their bodies. However, under normal conditions, when no other disease occurs, this mycoplasma will not cause disease in the flock. Therefore, for mycoplasma to cause disease in a flock, certain conditions must be present, or in other words, it can only occur under the action of multiple stress factors.

Chicken infectious bronchitis

This disease can occur in chickens of all ages, but it is more common in chicks and growing chickens. The disease is caused by a virus. Its characteristics are sudden onset and rapid spread. This disease has three types, namely the respiratory type, kidney type, and proventriculus type.

Chicken infectious coryza

It is a disease caused by a bacterium called Avibacterium paragallinarum. It can occur in chickens of any age, but it is more common in growing chickens and laying hens. This disease is prone to occur in cold seasons. Once it occurs, it spreads quickly, and within a few days it can affect the whole flock. In a chicken farm, flocks of suitable age are all affected. Sick chickens have nasal secretions, and head shaking is commonly seen.

Chicken Newcastle disease

Although this disease is not classified as a respiratory disease, the occurrence of Newcastle disease is relatively common, especially the occurrence of atypical Newcastle disease, which has obvious respiratory symptoms. At this time, if Newcastle disease is misdiagnosed as another respiratory disease (this kind of thing often happens in actual production), it will cause great losses. Therefore, when respiratory symptoms appear in a flock, the diagnostic approach should be to first rule out Newcastle disease before considering whether it is another respiratory disease.