fbpx
Sign up now!
Don't show this again
Sweepstakes Rules

We’re glad you’re enjoying Poultry Health Today.
Access is free but you’ll need to register to view more content.
Already registered? Sign In
Tap to download the app
X
Share
X
REPORTSCollect articles and features into your own report to read later, print or share with others

Create a New Report

Favorites

Read Later

Create a new report

Report title (required) Brief description (optional)
CREATE
X
NEXT
POULTRY
follow us


You must be logged in to edit your profile.

Sponsored by Zoetis

Sponsored By Zoetis

.
PHTweb Toxicity 264545049

Tips for uncovering toxicity in poultry flocks

Toxicity is a relatively rare affliction for hens, and tracking down the source can prove challenging, as one case study outlined by a poultry diagnostics expert revealed.

It concerned a spike in mortality and decreased feed and water consumption in a flock of 39-week-old broiler breeders.

Eric Shepherd, DVM, clinical assistant professor of avian medicine at the University of Georgia’s Poultry Diagnostic and Research Center, presented the investigation.

He said that initial inquiries involved looking at where birds were dying and whether it was roosters or hens — or both — that were predominantly affected. The issue was primarily found within one house on the farm.

In cases like this, avian influenza and exotic Newcastle disease were two major worries, he added, but testing ruled out both.

Necropsy revealed no signs of any infectious diseases such as fowl cholera that may have caused the high mortality.

“The next thing in my mind is some type of toxicity. We had some feed samples sent to us and saved a few different batches of it throughout the house,” Shepherd said.

“We also took a bunch of tissue samples for histopathology, and then we did some blood work using the i-STAT [portable blood testing] machine.”

What the samples revealed

There are rarely major lesions present in cases of acute toxicity, Shepherd said, though in this case, there were some pale kidneys found in birds — evidence of damage.

Histopathology uncovered some acute tubular necrosis in birds’ kidneys, and there was also some acute skeletal muscle damage.

The feed analysis revealed the likely cause of the problem. A basic analysis of the mineral content took place.

“What jumped off the page was potassium. Potassium should be about 0.6%, and it was over 5%, which is astronomical.

“There were quite a few other things that were elevated as well, but the potassium was super, super high,” Shepherd said.

Potassium poisoning made sense as a diagnosis, he added. “Potassium definitely makes sense here, along with [increased water consumption] you have skeletal muscle damage, so the birds are having more potassium released from the muscles, and then also the kidneys are damaged so they can’t adequately get rid of this potassium. So that drives the potassium content up in the blood.”

During the investigation it was determined that the birds had access to the contaminated feed for about a day before it was pulled, and the other house on the farm had not yet started consuming it.

Performance never quite recovered, Shepherd said, but mortality “got back to normal” after about a week.

“When you’re pulling feed, sometimes some stays in the feed lines,” he added. “So they‘re going to kind of gradually keep eating it. But they did the best they can, vacuuming it out, and mortality got back to normal in about a week.”

Shepherd said it is crucial to save a good amount of the potentially contaminated feed; running a small trial can help prove that’s what caused the issue, which will have financial implications.

A portable blood testing machine is also a worthwhile investment, Shepherd added. “It’s hand-held, it’s easy, and it’s pretty useful.”

 

 

Shareicon Pht 1
Share It
Toxicity is a relatively rare affliction for hens, and tracking down the source can prove challenging. When a flock experienced a spike in mortality and decreased feed and water consumption, what did one poultry expert find?

Click an icon to share this information with your industry contacts.



Posted on October 12, 2021

tags: ,
RELATED NEWS



You must be logged in to edit your profile.

Google Translate is provided on this website as a reference tool. However, Poultry Health Today and its sponsor and affiliates do not guarantee in any way the accuracy of the translated content and are not responsible for any event resulting from the use of the translation provided by Google. By choosing a language other than English from the Google Translate menu, the user agrees to withhold all liability and/or damage that may occur to the user by depending on or using the translation by Google.