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Help prevent avian influenza in Mississippi

Filed Under:
Publication Number: P3070
View as PDF: P3070.pdf

Avian influenza (AI) is a highly contagious viral disease of birds that can strike domestic poultry without warning and could prove devastating to the Mississippi poultry industry. AI in any of its forms is a serious threat to all commercial poultry farms.

White hen isolated on white background.

CRITICAL PRECAUTIONS

  • Have strong biosecurity practices in place to protect your farm.
  • Wear dedicated footwear or plastic boots in each individual chicken house to prevent tracking AI inside.
  • Develop and maintain a “line of separation” (clean vs. dirty) at your farm.
  • Change clothes and boots before checking chickens if you have visited any location where other chicken growers may have been.
  • Maintain a good rodent control program on your farm.
  • Use footbaths (i.e., dry bleach) at control room and chicken house entrances.
  • Know how to recognize disease symptoms and chickens that are not thriving.
  • Avoid wild birds (especially migrating waterfowl) and their fecal material.

SYMPTOMS

  • Sudden and extreme increase
    in mortality
  • Coughing and sneezing
  • Swollen sinuses and watery eyes
  • Nasal discharge
  • Twisted neck
  • Stumbling/falling down
  • Watery or green diarrhea
  • Lethargy
  • Decreased feed/water intake
  • Purple discoloration of wattles, comb, and legs
  • More than 10 percent of flock shows symptoms

Yellow chick with egg.

M3070 (03-23) • Produced by Agricultural Communications

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