Biosecurity in poultry farms

In Part 1 only the principles of bio-security were discussed. In part II and part III the other aspects of bio-security will be discussed. What are critical points of a poultry farm which needs special attention, how we can make bio-security plan successful, why bio-security is breached especially in Asian countries, what mistakes we commit, how we can implement proper bio-security plans, can we monitor our bio-security plans, is bio-security a big investment, why bio-security is so important during these days, what are our limitations in bio-security operations,

Bio-security is very lengthy topic. It will be discussed in detail. Followings are some strategic points to be considered before selection of location for farms:

Isolation of the location is extremely important. The place you are selecting should be away from other poultry and live-stock facilities. It should also be away from human populations. Some experts recommend 8 kilometers or more from other farms ,if possible.
Water quality of should be cheeked before purchase of land (if possible). There should be no trees as these are source of wild birds.
It should be away from main roads and traffic.
There should be no pond or open storage of water near your purposed location for poultry farm.
Please also check that there should be no factories or industries very near to your location as noxious gases omitting from these factories can disturb your birds.
It should be elevated so that rain water cannot enter your farm area.

The construction should comply with all the conceptual bio-security plans. The sheds should be constructed keeping in view the environment of the area. If weather conditions are extreme please make sure the sheds are well insulated. The required "R" values of roof and walls for insulations will depend upon the temperature and other condition of that area. Please consult any expert. If the birds in sheds are affected by outside environment there is always risk of disease in the farm increases. All necessary infra structure should be there to implement bio-security procedures.

Boundary wall is extremely important in structural bio-security. It should be as away as possible from your sheds. There should be no access of wild animals through the boundary wall as you all are aware that wild animals can spread many diseases.

There should be only one main gate for entrance of the farm as in case of more than one gate bio-security can be breached easily.
Farm should be divided in "dirty" and "clean area".
Immediately after main gate there should be shower area, egg room, feed storage room (in some countries feed is transported in bags). And other stores. This is dirty area and it should be as away as possible from the sheds area.
All the stores and construction should be rodent and wild bird proof.
As vehicles are potential source of diseases, no vehicle should be allowed to to go beyond this area. For clean area there should be separate vehicle.
The leveling of land should be in such a way that the rain water or washing water of dirty area should no go towards clean area. It should go to outside area.
There should be vehicle disinfection area near main gate.

Now we address the above asked questions:

There are many factors which can breach bio-security easily.

In Asian countries generally education level of workers is very low.
It's a general psyche of the peoples that they are generally happy to violate laws.
Distance between farm to farm is not observed.
Because labour is cheap in these countries. a lot of people work on one farm.Mnay people enter and come out from the sheds many times a day. As peoples are very common vector of disease transmission they can spread disease at any time.
Workers and other staff do not know what are bad effects of poor bio-security.
There is lack of communication between farm management and workers.
No audit or analysis of bio-security.
Generally people do not careful about there health they enter in the sheds even they are sick. They can spread disease by coughing and sneezing.
Even after shower ,changing clean clothes and shoes they can spread disease, because some time they do not cut their nails and this may transmit disease.
Normally there is lot of turn over of the farm labors, new comer working on other infected farm can bring disease with him as quarantine period is not observed.
Sometime the water for shower and for washing of cloth is not sterilized and clean, it can spread disease.
On some farms gum boots are used as farm shoes. If the sole is corrugated, there is lot of organic matter filled in these corrugations and when they dip shoes in foot dips it become loose and falls inside shed, becomes a source of disease.
On some farms UV lights are used for sterilization and disinfections, for some equipments in entering farm area. Remember these sterlize only surfaces and there is risk of disease.
Sometime it is observed that after washing farm uniforms are spread on ropes for draying. This is not good practice these can easily be contaminated by dust and by wild birds or insects and become source of disease.
Technical visiting farm (Veterinarian, vaccinators, technicians etc) sometimes visit more than one farm and may be infected farm can spread disease easily. Vaccinator with infected injectors and technician with his infected equipments can bring disease at farm.
During rearing sometimes workers bring eggs from market for mess . It is very dangerous.
Some owners do not observe bio-security protocols. This can breach bio-security.
Sometimes every thing is OK but small mistake i.e. worker keep the shed door opened and wild bird can enter in the shed causing disease.
Bedding material is brought inside shed without proper disinfection.
The water used for evaporative cooling pads is not sterilized properly.
Water leakage from roof and walls can be dangerous as on roofs there may be pings of wild birds and contaminated water coming inside can breach bio-security.
Insects from outside can bring disease easily.
Improper rodent control is big threat to bio-security.
In some countries feed is transported to farms in bags and these bags are brought inside sheds can bring infections.
Medicine and vaccine cartons can carry disease.

Another important point is proper cleaning and disinfection of the sheds and other farm areas after disposal of old flock. If not properly disinfected and cleaned new chicks may be infected with remaining infections in spite of all bio-security arrangements. It should be noted that when birds are sold the immediate work to be done is spray of insecticide on used bedding material otherwise poultry insects like fleas will escape from sheds and will hide on other areas of farm and come again in sheds when birds are there. Before cleaning and disinfection consult some microbiologist and other experts. The grower should have complete knowledge of disinfectant, their properties, limitations and mode of action. Many factors like temperature, dilution rates, contact time, residual period pH, hardness and quality of water being used for dilution.

Some of the points look minor but their impact is very big. If we manage above points we can make our plans successful.

Making plan is very easy but implementation is very difficult. One should minutely observe the minor things and think again and again. There should be some impartial teams for auditing and monitoring of the bio-security status. There should be continuous monitoring and upgrading of bio-security. Written protocols and printed banners may helpful. On banners bio-security should be elaborated in pictures as visual material is more influential than written material.

All the above stated points are well known to most of respected readers and repetition is just for remembrance. The measures to be adopted is inside the points mentioned above. Please read carefully and implement properly.

In the end bio-security is most important during these days because outbreaks of H5 N1 human health can be influenced. There is huge investments in poultry industry which makes bio-security so essential. This is insurance of your investment and the cost of bio-security is very minor as compared to investments. There are still some limitation i.e. it is difficult to control air born diseases but isolation is the key.

In III part the control of Rodents, Wild birds and Insects will be discussed in details.