Poultry Quality Monitoring

  Monitoring day old poult quality is an established practice of companies or individual flock owners who purchase day old poults from outside sources.  All seek sources that participate in the National Poultry Improvement Plan, a voluntary monitoring program which originally concentrated on Salmonella pullorum and Salmonella gallinarum, but also covers Mycoplasmasynoviae, Mycoplasmagallisepticum, and Mycoplasmameleagridus.  These organisms can be responsible for transovarian disease.  Because of the program’s success among buyers and sellers, genetic potential of various participating breeds has been enhanced.  The Indiana State Poultry Association, in conjunction with ADDL and the Office of the State Veterinarian, put on several “Blood Testing Schools” throughout the state.

  In addition to the NPIP standards, individual companies set goals for weekly livability and compare various hatcheries.  First week mortality can be the result of breeder flock, hatchery, transportation, grower and management stresses placed upon the individual bird.  For example, egg size, time in hatchery and transportation time can determine the state of hydration as the poult arrives on the farm.  Consequently, the service man and grower have been asked to pull a number of the worst appearing poults for laboratory diagnostic work.  Tests include visual observations of beaks, weights, wing and body feathering, navels, cloaca, legs, toes, and necks for signs of trauma.  Internal monitoring include air sac cultures for fungi, yolk and bile cultures for bacteria, as well as serological tests for MG,

MS, and MM.  There are many times that routine observations from the laboratory do not correlate to the first week mortality; however, when early infections are apparent on the day one observations, corrective action is more easily accomplished.  In some respects, the poult day one monitoring anticipates possible problems in the future.

  -By Tom Bryan, DVM, MS, Heeke ADDL