Hi all, I´m working in a poultry farm including both broiler and layers. Lately, we have observed lameness in broiler chickens between age of 2 weeks up to 3 weeks with a prevalence of 3% with higher prevalence in customer level, what do you think about the causes of this lameness?
Dear Dr Dawit ,
Ensure level of calcium in broiler diet as high calcium binds trace minerals like Zinc , Manganese and phosphorous lowering their biological activity . Zinc , Manganese and Copper in conjunction with vitamin C ( Ascorbic acid ) are responsible for bone matrix formation . Deficiencies of these mineral may cause leg abnormalities . Also ensure your source of calcium whether dolomite or non dolomite . Dolomite sources are hazardous as they rich in magnesium . Calcium and magnesium are antagonist to each other .
Thanks
Dr Rakesh Nimbalkar
Consultant - Poultry Nutritionist
Polchem Hygiene Laboratories Private Limited
Pune, India
Dear Dr. Lameness can be due to several reasons. nutritional, vertical transmission, toxins and viral diseses. rule out the possibilities one by one and DD (differential diagnosis ) is v. important. Reo virus can be a mjor reason. Go ahead and start ruling out all the possibilties. hope your flock will get back to normalcy soon. good luck.
Apart from viral and nutritional problems bacterial infection can also be the culprit like ecoli and mycoplasma. Carryout a diagnostic test to best identity the pathogens and the best drug to use.
If the problem is heredity that means parent stock which has not been vaccinated with AE and AE is the big concern in commercial broiler. So, in this situation, what type of preventive care should be done in both PS and Commercial Farm to control the lameness problem? Thanks for your opinion.
Kbd.Shahidul Islam (Shaheed) B.Sc in Animal Husbandry Bangladesh
How could we recover paralysis or lameness problem in broiler? (10-30% paralysis) after 15 days of age. Not significant problem found after lab test of birds. Please give me suggestion.
