1 00:00:13,820 --> 00:00:22,430 Welcome to Around the Homestead podcast, where we share information on topics from gardens to goats. Our aim is to provide small 2 00:00:22,430 --> 00:00:29,330 farmers and landowners valuable education on projects that may arise around the homestead. 3 00:00:29,330 --> 00:00:34,460 Whether you have been on the homestead all your life or you have just began the farm lifestyle. 4 00:00:34,460 --> 00:00:39,410 We hope you garner helpful tips to make your rural lifestyle most rewarding. 5 00:00:39,410 --> 00:00:58,080 Now here are host Brad McGinley and Shaun Rhoades. 6 00:00:58,080 --> 00:01:05,640 Well, hello and welcome to the Around the Homestead podcast, this is second in a two part series about backyard hobby flocks. 7 00:01:05,640 --> 00:01:14,880 And we're certainly glad to have Dr. Clark back with us to discuss poultry health issues pertaining to backyard hobby flocks. 8 00:01:14,880 --> 00:01:21,990 And so, Dr. Clark, what just about let's talk about some just some general care issues lice, those sorts of things. 9 00:01:21,990 --> 00:01:26,340 Are there some general guidelines for just general care for backyard poultry? 10 00:01:26,340 --> 00:01:31,260 Most people that get into small flocks after they've had the bird for any length of time, 11 00:01:31,260 --> 00:01:36,390 they will be the best source of being able to a veterinarian. 12 00:01:36,390 --> 00:01:45,060 When something's off because they're going to see those birds every single day, typically at least twice a day, first thing in the morning, 13 00:01:45,060 --> 00:01:49,830 last thing in the evening, and that's a good thing to do, just go out there and check on, 14 00:01:49,830 --> 00:01:53,220 you know, you want to make sure they got clean water, they got feed. 15 00:01:53,220 --> 00:01:58,950 One of the disadvantages of feeding a feed free choice is that you may have some rodents get into it. 16 00:01:58,950 --> 00:02:03,420 So you got to look for that check on that. Those birds get tame enough where you can pick them up. 17 00:02:03,420 --> 00:02:09,870 Just kind of give them the once over. You're going to be able to tell just the general behavior of those birds what's going on. 18 00:02:09,870 --> 00:02:14,010 Do you have a bird in the flock staying by itself, huddling in the corner? 19 00:02:14,010 --> 00:02:23,670 You know, they should be interacting with each other. They should be able to walk around and you watch them and normal chicken behavior, shall we say, 20 00:02:23,670 --> 00:02:28,710 if they're not if they're huddling or their eyes are closed or they're sitting down or they're hunkered down, 21 00:02:28,710 --> 00:02:33,150 feathers ruffled up, then there can be a problem there. And it's not always a disease. 22 00:02:33,150 --> 00:02:38,610 It could be something like an injury. Or maybe they've run out of feed. 23 00:02:38,610 --> 00:02:44,400 You know, they could be the lowest one on the pecking order. So that gives you a chance to to check into them. 24 00:02:44,400 --> 00:02:49,380 Even if you do free choice feeding, go out and look at those birds at least once a day. 25 00:02:49,380 --> 00:02:52,740 It's better if you go out there two or three times. 26 00:02:52,740 --> 00:02:57,120 I know when I had chickens, I'd go out first thing in the morning, check on them and when I got in from school, 27 00:02:57,120 --> 00:03:05,790 and then I'd check them again right before they went to roost and care, clean feed, clean water, try to keep rodents out of the pan. 28 00:03:05,790 --> 00:03:11,580 And one of the reasons for using the very, very small chicken wire is to keep out wild birds. 29 00:03:11,580 --> 00:03:17,550 You don't want them getting in there because they can bring in lice and mites. Just periodically examine your birds. 30 00:03:17,550 --> 00:03:23,730 If you see a bird that's not acting like a normal chicken, catch it and just give it the once over. 31 00:03:23,730 --> 00:03:30,390 Look at it. Do we have swelling's? Do we have discharges? Do we have damage to the feathers? 32 00:03:30,390 --> 00:03:34,980 You know, look for lice. A good place to look for lice and mites is on the neck, 33 00:03:34,980 --> 00:03:43,050 feathers underneath the wings and back at the top of the tail head there, right around the bend is another good spot on there. 34 00:03:43,050 --> 00:03:48,860 So an individual and most individuals will do that. You know, you. 35 00:03:48,860 --> 00:03:53,210 You'll know when something's wrong with those birds and it's kind of monitor that feed, 36 00:03:53,210 --> 00:03:56,780 you know, just how many days does it take that feed to be empty? 37 00:03:56,780 --> 00:03:59,600 How many scoops did you put in there? Just get a rough idea. 38 00:03:59,600 --> 00:04:05,780 It is a very good idea to keep records on egg production, water consumption, feed consumption. 39 00:04:05,780 --> 00:04:10,630 And you can just write down a couple of notes. No, everybody looks OK. 40 00:04:10,630 --> 00:04:16,990 Or somebody is staying by himself, we'll check them the next morning, make sure they're doing OK, look in the pan, 41 00:04:16,990 --> 00:04:24,370 just look at the droppings and see how those look look for signs of outside influence or what I call outside influence. 42 00:04:24,370 --> 00:04:32,170 When I go out to a farm to do an examination checking for disease, first thing I do is I just look at the facility. 43 00:04:32,170 --> 00:04:38,590 Do you know what does it look like? Is it is it safe? Do I have a chicken pan that's got nails sticking out? 44 00:04:38,590 --> 00:04:43,600 That could be a source of injury, you know, does it look like something's trying to dig in? 45 00:04:43,600 --> 00:04:48,880 What type of substrate are they on? Bedding. What type of litter? Look at the feed in the water. 46 00:04:48,880 --> 00:04:54,070 They got it secure, you know, where there is in the pan. And they look at the behavior of the birds. 47 00:04:54,070 --> 00:04:57,820 How do they react when I walk up there? Are they all real, real flighty? 48 00:04:57,820 --> 00:05:01,240 If they are possibly. Something's been trying to get in there. 49 00:05:01,240 --> 00:05:07,180 You know, any abnormal smells if you smell a skunk, maybe the skunks been trying to get in there. 50 00:05:07,180 --> 00:05:12,400 And then if you see a bird is not acting right, as we call it, ADR ain't doing right. 51 00:05:12,400 --> 00:05:17,110 Catch that bird. Take a look at it. Yeah, it's always a good idea to catch a normal one. 52 00:05:17,110 --> 00:05:21,610 Do just have them just compare. I'm sure you a little. Sure. 53 00:05:21,610 --> 00:05:33,790 And most people have small flocks. They look at those birds, they they can tell you almost to the hour when that something's gone awry. 54 00:05:33,790 --> 00:05:43,690 Yeah, now, you know, talking about care that we've got, the facilities that emerge picked out, 55 00:05:43,690 --> 00:05:48,310 we fed and watered, we get everything that we started in egg production. 56 00:05:48,310 --> 00:05:54,490 Let's talk a little bit about how to handle those eggs after production. 57 00:05:54,490 --> 00:06:03,130 So you have any recommendations on how people should handle or store care for their age after they start getting eggs for their chickens? 58 00:06:03,130 --> 00:06:09,160 It is best to gather those eggs on really, really hot days, go out and gather twice a day. 59 00:06:09,160 --> 00:06:15,970 Most chickens are going to lay that egg somewhere around, say, 10 o'clock before that. 60 00:06:15,970 --> 00:06:17,980 Some others may lay early in the afternoon. 61 00:06:17,980 --> 00:06:25,210 So I would check it twice a day in hot weather and same thing in the cold weather because you don't get those eggs to freeze this last winter, 62 00:06:25,210 --> 00:06:30,220 we had some cold enough days that they would have frozen and take those eggs in. 63 00:06:30,220 --> 00:06:38,410 If they're really, really dirty, you can take and use a lot of that will be dried out and you just wipe it off. 64 00:06:38,410 --> 00:06:48,540 You want to refrigerate them now they can sit out. Out on the kitchen cabinet, things like that for a day or so, but it is best to just go ahead, 65 00:06:48,540 --> 00:06:52,470 refrigerate that egg, you know, clean it up if you wash your eggs. 66 00:06:52,470 --> 00:06:56,700 There are certain rules that have to be followed and the water has to be a certain 67 00:06:56,700 --> 00:07:01,710 temperature so that it expands the contents of the egg so it doesn't set things in on it. 68 00:07:01,710 --> 00:07:06,420 Same thing for the rinse water. And then there are egg washing products that you can get. 69 00:07:06,420 --> 00:07:13,980 So you want to follow those directions that come with that on how to handle those eggs and and prepare them. 70 00:07:13,980 --> 00:07:20,190 And that would be at least for Selling them. But putting them in the refrigerator, most eggs in the refrigerator will you know, 71 00:07:20,190 --> 00:07:24,930 they'll last for three or four weeks without too much deterioration in quality. 72 00:07:24,930 --> 00:07:28,800 One of the biggest quality aspects is that go from that, 73 00:07:28,800 --> 00:07:34,360 not the yolk setting up the real nice on that egg white to where it just kind of runs all over the pan. 74 00:07:34,360 --> 00:07:42,250 But if you gather those eggs twice a day, there's less risk of the hands sitting on them and getting broody and you may 75 00:07:42,250 --> 00:07:47,780 missing an egg and then you you crack egg open and there's little embryo in it. 76 00:07:47,780 --> 00:07:56,350 Hmm. Yeah. Now, with that said, occasionally you might see what's called a meat spot or blood spot. 77 00:07:56,350 --> 00:08:04,330 A lot of times if the birds are being disturbed and everything, they may get a little hemorrhage that is passed into the egg itself. 78 00:08:04,330 --> 00:08:10,210 Typically, when that egg yolk is released off the hands ovary, there's a tear on the ovary. 79 00:08:10,210 --> 00:08:14,710 Word that's released from the follicles released out of it's called. 80 00:08:14,710 --> 00:08:20,110 And there may be a little blood vessel that goes across that. So you get a little blood, a little blood spot or sometimes meat spots. 81 00:08:20,110 --> 00:08:24,710 But one of the things that happens on that, it can be some genetic predisposition. 82 00:08:24,710 --> 00:08:28,480 But many times because of being disturbed, that's not going to hurt anything. 83 00:08:28,480 --> 00:08:36,040 But a it is a unappetizing. We do see sometimes that roundworms get in the eggs. 84 00:08:36,040 --> 00:08:40,120 They kind of get lost in there and get processed in into the bird. 85 00:08:40,120 --> 00:08:45,670 You see it in the egg. So that brings up something about the. 86 00:08:45,670 --> 00:08:52,210 Just carry the birds, you do want to have a health program that you follow, but egg handling, 87 00:08:52,210 --> 00:08:56,200 I suggest getting those eggs, get them under refrigeration as soon as you can. 88 00:08:56,200 --> 00:09:04,330 That will help keep down deterioration of quality. And then if you are going to sell eggs, get in touch with livestock and poultry, 89 00:09:04,330 --> 00:09:11,620 get those rules and follow those rules on selling those eggs because you want to protect your health and the health of others. 90 00:09:11,620 --> 00:09:15,910 Sure. Sure. So let's let's kind of talk about now. 91 00:09:15,910 --> 00:09:24,460 We've got we've talked about, you know, general care. We've talked about equipment, facilities, breeds. 92 00:09:24,460 --> 00:09:32,470 Let's just talk about some common issues that we may face in a perfect world. 93 00:09:32,470 --> 00:09:37,380 Everything is going to go perfectly right. And that's right. 94 00:09:37,380 --> 00:09:43,180 We don't ever have any problems, no, pest or anything like that. 95 00:09:43,180 --> 00:09:53,180 Let's talk about some common illnesses, some common pests, some common problems that somebody might face as they have a backyard flock. 96 00:09:53,180 --> 00:09:59,050 OK, well, one of the do you want to start with? 97 00:09:59,050 --> 00:10:03,910 The biggest problems I see is a predation. 98 00:10:03,910 --> 00:10:09,070 If you have a good year, if you're in a rural environment, there's all kinds of predators out there. 99 00:10:09,070 --> 00:10:14,530 So you want to make sure that you keep those birds secure. Locking them up at night is a big, big thing. 100 00:10:14,530 --> 00:10:21,520 And you can you can look for evidence of predation and same thing with and disturbance. 101 00:10:21,520 --> 00:10:25,960 If they're not laying eggs and they have been something's probably getting those eggs. 102 00:10:25,960 --> 00:10:30,100 It could be snakes. It could be skunks. Could be possums. It could be who knows what. 103 00:10:30,100 --> 00:10:38,080 It could be your dog. So that's that's something that I see egg loss and then predation in baby chicks. 104 00:10:38,080 --> 00:10:43,780 One of the most common things that I see is toxic boxes. It is a protozoa disease. 105 00:10:43,780 --> 00:10:48,400 That's one of the reasons that we put them on a chick starter that has a Coccidiostat in it, 106 00:10:48,400 --> 00:10:54,430 which is a type of drug to keep down the coccidia from growing and inhibits it. 107 00:10:54,430 --> 00:10:58,990 They will pick it up coccidia . That's just pretty much out there in the environment. 108 00:10:58,990 --> 00:11:05,050 And we see that in baby chicks usually when they're about three weeks or less and they'll have a bloody diarrhea, 109 00:11:05,050 --> 00:11:09,130 they're going to have just regular diarrhea with some blood in it. 110 00:11:09,130 --> 00:11:15,250 They're going to sit around, they're going to chirp, they'll be all huddled up and it will kill them, fortunately. 111 00:11:15,250 --> 00:11:20,560 anticoccidials and we do have some medications that treat it really, really well. 112 00:11:20,560 --> 00:11:28,270 Getting those baby chicks on a coccidiosistat which is a preventative, is the way to take care of that in layer's. 113 00:11:28,270 --> 00:11:35,380 One of the biggest problems that I see reported is egg binding and it can be egg binding because they're not getting enough calcium. 114 00:11:35,380 --> 00:11:41,470 So they have a softshell egg and they just can't the strain and just can't get that egg out of there. 115 00:11:41,470 --> 00:11:46,210 Or it may be too big of an egg if these birds were not fed a proper diet. 116 00:11:46,210 --> 00:11:53,950 They don't have the frame strength and everything in the body type that they need develop where they can produce eggs. 117 00:11:53,950 --> 00:11:58,900 What else as far as lice and mites back on predation. 118 00:11:58,900 --> 00:12:06,460 Just to point out, I think, you know, these predators, whether it's a possum or a coon or whatever it is, 119 00:12:06,460 --> 00:12:09,820 they're really inventive about getting into there to those chickens. 120 00:12:09,820 --> 00:12:20,420 Absolutely. And so I think my recommendation would be, as you're planning your facility plan in accordance to that. 121 00:12:20,420 --> 00:12:28,360 So, for instance, when we made our new chicken pen, we took and I took some chicken wire and I dug a trench around our 122 00:12:28,360 --> 00:12:37,120 run and I buried that chicken wire about six to eight inches to a foot deep around that chicken run. 123 00:12:37,120 --> 00:12:42,850 But just for that reason, because we've had instances where they've tried to tunnel in, you know, 124 00:12:42,850 --> 00:12:50,590 if you if you've got a limb hanging over your your your chicken run and you don't have a cover over the top of it, 125 00:12:50,590 --> 00:12:59,560 you know, they could potentially get in that way as well. So just be thinking about those kinds of things as you're planning your facility, 126 00:12:59,560 --> 00:13:03,460 because especially if you're in a rural area, you know, you really have to be in a rural area. 127 00:13:03,460 --> 00:13:07,980 There's lots of coons and raccoons and possums. Yes. Know in a suburb for sure. 128 00:13:07,980 --> 00:13:10,270 And the coyotes and the coyotes as well. 129 00:13:10,270 --> 00:13:19,660 So those are all things that you just have to think about as to in terms of predation and go out go out to check your chickens at night, 130 00:13:19,660 --> 00:13:28,900 take you little damn flashlight. All of us have one of those. Yeah, yeah, you cut it out and go, it's dimmer than I thought it was to go out and look. 131 00:13:28,900 --> 00:13:32,080 Do you see as you're shining a flashlight out, 132 00:13:32,080 --> 00:13:37,510 if you got all kinds of little glowing eyes sitting around checking in with raccoons and everything else, 133 00:13:37,510 --> 00:13:44,350 it's a good idea to see what you're up against. But I absolutely if you go to free range birds, pen them up at night, 134 00:13:44,350 --> 00:13:50,110 because if you don't, the owls will take a toll on them as well as everything else. 135 00:13:50,110 --> 00:13:53,890 Just kind of get an idea of what's out there. You pretty much know what the wildlife is. 136 00:13:53,890 --> 00:13:57,430 You can use small wire, you can like sit bearing the wire helps. 137 00:13:57,430 --> 00:14:00,490 A lot of people will put an electric wire around it. 138 00:14:00,490 --> 00:14:07,030 The only thing with that is you've always got to remember just to disconnect that before you go in there or it's going to give you a pretty good shock. 139 00:14:07,030 --> 00:14:13,870 Yeah. You know, in the bad thing about that is what I have seen people get into is like, 140 00:14:13,870 --> 00:14:18,910 got these nice chickens and everything's been going great for months. 141 00:14:18,910 --> 00:14:23,020 And then all of a sudden one or two are disappearing a night in a week's time. 142 00:14:23,020 --> 00:14:28,750 They don't have any. That's right. And you know, once what's one of those things 143 00:14:28,750 --> 00:14:33,550 find it at night. It's awful for everybody. 144 00:14:33,550 --> 00:14:37,210 You know, they'll be back and we'll be back. It's a free meal. 145 00:14:37,210 --> 00:14:40,870 And the problem is, you know, you don't know whether you're prepared for them or not. 146 00:14:40,870 --> 00:14:45,700 You know, a lot of times because you don't know how they're going to get in. 147 00:14:45,700 --> 00:14:54,250 But, yeah, they will they will take you take you out of business pretty quick, you know, look for animal droppings out there, 148 00:14:54,250 --> 00:15:03,360 Coyote's real sneaky fox can get into or one of the things with raccoons that you see is if they can. 149 00:15:03,360 --> 00:15:05,550 They may not get in if they can reach in there, 150 00:15:05,550 --> 00:15:12,760 you may notice that you've got a bird that's got a broken wing or broken leg or missing a toe or the has been torn. 151 00:15:12,760 --> 00:15:17,770 That indicates that something's been in there trying to get them because they will grab on to them to put them through the wire. 152 00:15:17,770 --> 00:15:24,780 Yeah, they will. They can pull them up and get them killed back on the lice and stuff. 153 00:15:24,780 --> 00:15:34,140 I guess one of the hardest questions that we have to answer now, I guess it's a question I don't know that we can answer is what about. 154 00:15:34,140 --> 00:15:39,150 Internal parasites in your poultry. OK, well, how to treat for that? 155 00:15:39,150 --> 00:15:45,360 We do see internal and external parasites, external parasites are primarily lice and mites. 156 00:15:45,360 --> 00:15:50,130 There are lots of good commercial products that you can use on those birds that'll help with that. 157 00:15:50,130 --> 00:15:56,550 And then there's a whole range of internal parasites, tapeworms, roundworms, what we call thread worms. 158 00:15:56,550 --> 00:16:01,260 Most of those you can still purchase anthelmintics that can be used. 159 00:16:01,260 --> 00:16:04,770 It's getting to be less and less. 160 00:16:04,770 --> 00:16:11,340 It's getting her more of those are going to be on prescription and then it's getting restricted to where you may not be able to use any. 161 00:16:11,340 --> 00:16:16,680 One of the biggest problems with them is the withdrawal period before you use the eggs. 162 00:16:16,680 --> 00:16:22,110 Some of them have like an eight week withdrawal period. So you got to look at that and go, well, eight weeks. 163 00:16:22,110 --> 00:16:24,840 I can't eat these eggs now. 164 00:16:24,840 --> 00:16:33,960 Now, what I recommend is that if you are taking your birds to various shows and things like that, then, yes, deworm them when you get back. 165 00:16:33,960 --> 00:16:42,300 In fact, I recommend that the worm twice a year work with your veterinary practitioner on something that can be used for deworm twice a year. 166 00:16:42,300 --> 00:16:48,630 You can time it so that they are not in peak production, that they're basically out of production. 167 00:16:48,630 --> 00:16:56,010 One of the easiest things to do is just have those birds checked. You can take a fecal sample in with your veterinary practitioner. 168 00:16:56,010 --> 00:17:00,480 They can do what's called a fecal flotation and look for worm eggs and can tell you what what's in there. 169 00:17:00,480 --> 00:17:09,800 They can look for cociddia capillary worms, which we call thread worms, roundworms, tapeworms they can prescribe then the appropriate medication. 170 00:17:09,800 --> 00:17:18,200 It is not uncommon in adult birds to see if you look in a normal stool sample to see a few worm eggs, 171 00:17:18,200 --> 00:17:21,470 but they may not have a very heavy load of worms. 172 00:17:21,470 --> 00:17:29,240 So I would say the thing to do is, is take a fecal sample in, have those birds examined to see what they got. 173 00:17:29,240 --> 00:17:35,600 And you're veterinarian will usual. Have you collected over two or three days and make a composite of it and do a fecal flotation. 174 00:17:35,600 --> 00:17:38,900 And if they see large numbers of eggs, 175 00:17:38,900 --> 00:17:47,000 then they can describe they can prescribe the appropriate medication for that and then get you set up on a rotational program. 176 00:17:47,000 --> 00:17:52,040 We do many times a bird that's got internal parasites. 177 00:17:52,040 --> 00:17:58,280 Naturally, it's more of a problem in the very young birds because it's a basically competition for the nutrients. 178 00:17:58,280 --> 00:18:05,680 The older birds, they may not show much of a problem with it, but I recommend just getting them checked twice a year. 179 00:18:05,680 --> 00:18:13,770 And that's easy with taking a sample of chicken droppings and your veterinarian can check that the fecal flotation, 180 00:18:13,770 --> 00:18:16,420 they see something they can they can help you out with it. 181 00:18:16,420 --> 00:18:24,820 That way you can deworm them at a period of time when they're either not in production or that it's not going to they're not at their peak production. 182 00:18:24,820 --> 00:18:35,960 You know, they're just getting started. So you're not throwing out as many eggs. There are a lot of people will feed diatomaceous earth for. 183 00:18:35,960 --> 00:18:42,470 The jury is not come in on that one, does it help? It does help for external parasites. 184 00:18:42,470 --> 00:18:51,110 If you put diatomaceous earth out where they can dust, bathe in it or put it in, saying it does have an impact on some of those lice and mites, 185 00:18:51,110 --> 00:18:55,580 when it contacts them. Feeding it to them? Uou know, you got to think about that. 186 00:18:55,580 --> 00:18:59,600 If it's going through there and it's cutting up the worms that bad, what's it doing to 187 00:18:59,600 --> 00:19:05,660 The intestinal track of the chicken? And so we really don't see that impact. 188 00:19:05,660 --> 00:19:08,510 There are some what we call nutraceuticals. 189 00:19:08,510 --> 00:19:18,770 There's a lot of investigation into looking at various oils like oregano oil and Thymol and some of the the mints to see what that can be used for, 190 00:19:18,770 --> 00:19:24,380 protozoan parasites and then other things that what we call a vermifuge looking at plants. 191 00:19:24,380 --> 00:19:34,220 A lot of people feed garlic, but there's the jury is still out on the efficaciousness of those nutraceuticals, on treating internal parasites. 192 00:19:34,220 --> 00:19:39,950 We are seeing resistance in both internal and external parasites. 193 00:19:39,950 --> 00:19:46,250 A lot of the commercial products that we use for external parasites, for lice just don't work anymore. 194 00:19:46,250 --> 00:19:53,180 And they're having to go back to some of the older things like sulfur, which is dangerous for a person to use. 195 00:19:53,180 --> 00:20:01,160 So there's there's research being done on that. I know those that have organic chickens, they really can't use a lot of things. 196 00:20:01,160 --> 00:20:05,490 And that's that's a challenge for them. 197 00:20:05,490 --> 00:20:18,510 Yeah, you know, we had a lot of questions about all organic type cures, and I'm not sure that there's a lot of answers for that out there right now. 198 00:20:18,510 --> 00:20:24,810 Dr. Clark, I guess last topic, one more topic. 199 00:20:24,810 --> 00:20:28,530 It's kind of the biggie, biosecurity. 200 00:20:28,530 --> 00:20:33,330 Do you let everybody come pet your chickens? 201 00:20:33,330 --> 00:20:38,010 Absolutely. Now, as you know, as you know, 202 00:20:38,010 --> 00:20:44,880 biosecurity is something that we are living with every day now as we as we wear gloves 203 00:20:44,880 --> 00:20:51,400 and masks to spray our hands and and don't avoid touching people and everything else. 204 00:20:51,400 --> 00:20:54,030 And at one time, you know, you remember you went down the aisle, 205 00:20:54,030 --> 00:20:58,770 everybody went traffic control up and down the aisle, all those things about security principles. 206 00:20:58,770 --> 00:21:03,210 I thought it was kind of amazing. But biosecurity, by definition, 207 00:21:03,210 --> 00:21:10,260 is any and all things that we can do to prevent disease introduction into a flock or a 208 00:21:10,260 --> 00:21:15,960 herd or all the things that we can do to keep it from spreading out of there. Now 209 00:21:15,960 --> 00:21:24,030 As such, I mentioned earlier about having a closed flock as you every time you add birds, you take the risk. 210 00:21:24,030 --> 00:21:30,870 And that's why you always need a place where you can isolate them to see if they're going to break with any disease. 211 00:21:30,870 --> 00:21:35,100 I mentioned about learning to recognize the symptoms of disease. 212 00:21:35,100 --> 00:21:39,270 That's a key thing because you can stop a lot of things very, very early. 213 00:21:39,270 --> 00:21:48,540 So those two things are key. Examine those birds, look at them, isolate any birds that you do get for a period of time, 214 00:21:48,540 --> 00:21:55,860 keep things clean, keep down the grass from around your your pens and your poultry houses. 215 00:21:55,860 --> 00:22:01,020 You don't want areas where rodents can hide. Keep your feed in a secure band, keep wild birds out. 216 00:22:01,020 --> 00:22:08,760 Those are all principles of biosecurity because we do know that rodents can bring in things like salmonella. Wild birds can bring in fowl 217 00:22:08,760 --> 00:22:12,840 cholera and can bring in lice and mites and things like that. 218 00:22:12,840 --> 00:22:21,120 Certain diseases. You don't want to go visit somebody birds and then immediately come back and go look at your birds. 219 00:22:21,120 --> 00:22:24,480 And sometimes people we don't think about that. 220 00:22:24,480 --> 00:22:31,350 You know, you go to the city park and you're out there flicking out pieces of bread to the to the wild waterfowl. 221 00:22:31,350 --> 00:22:39,690 Well, you may have duck or goose poop on your shoes, so clean those before you go visit your flock because they might have something. 222 00:22:39,690 --> 00:22:43,500 We talk about avian influenza, an exotic Newcastle. 223 00:22:43,500 --> 00:22:51,660 Those are the biggies that we worry about. But you don't want to even worms you wouldn't want to track in in worms and things like that or fowl pox. 224 00:22:51,660 --> 00:23:00,960 If you visit someplace where they have chickens, it is always a good idea to come home, shower, clean up, change clothes. 225 00:23:00,960 --> 00:23:06,450 And really it's best if you can just avoid going to look at your birds for at least a couple of days, 226 00:23:06,450 --> 00:23:12,600 especially if you're at that event and you saw sick birds. Those are all good biosecurity principles. 227 00:23:12,600 --> 00:23:18,570 Somebody comes to visit you and they want to look at your chickens, yet let them look at them, but not get in there and touch them. 228 00:23:18,570 --> 00:23:27,300 You know, you can spray their shoes. You can use various various types of disinfectants that are in spray or have a place where they can do. 229 00:23:27,300 --> 00:23:33,960 A lot of people will have these plastic boots. You have put those on, but you don't want them going in there and handling your birds and, you know, 230 00:23:33,960 --> 00:23:39,660 just let them look at them just, OK, you can look through the fence and don't don't touch don't handle them. 231 00:23:39,660 --> 00:23:42,560 You know, that's one of the reasons for. 232 00:23:42,560 --> 00:23:51,080 Like, if you buy birds at a flea market, what is the first tendency of people when they go up to somebody that has got cages full of chickens? 233 00:23:51,080 --> 00:23:55,550 What's the first thing they do? They poke the chicken! 234 00:23:55,550 --> 00:23:59,210 Yeah. Now, you think about that all day long. That's chickens being poked at. 235 00:23:59,210 --> 00:24:03,500 Yeah. It's a possibility that something could be transmitted to it. 236 00:24:03,500 --> 00:24:05,960 So that's why you really got to think about that. 237 00:24:05,960 --> 00:24:12,800 If you're going to buy those birds from some of those sources, you for sure need to look at them and then isolate them. 238 00:24:12,800 --> 00:24:17,330 But good biosecurity, there are vaccines that we can use. Admittedly, 239 00:24:17,330 --> 00:24:21,890 there's not very many vaccinating for fowl. Pox is a good idea. 240 00:24:21,890 --> 00:24:28,940 That's a one time thing. Vaccinate the birds for Merrick's. That's done at one day of age. 241 00:24:28,940 --> 00:24:35,240 Checking them for parasites, checking them for internal parasites twice a year is a good idea. 242 00:24:35,240 --> 00:24:39,020 More and more veterinarians are wanting to work on chickens. 243 00:24:39,020 --> 00:24:45,770 I know when when I was in veterinary school 40 some odd years ago, I was the only one in my class that had any interest in poultry. 244 00:24:45,770 --> 00:24:50,720 Now we're seeing more and more because the chicken is the pet of the future. 245 00:24:50,720 --> 00:24:53,270 Everybody wants to have a few pet chickens. 246 00:24:53,270 --> 00:25:02,960 And then one of the best things you can do as far as biosecurity that the small flock owner can do if you see something that's just not right, 247 00:25:02,960 --> 00:25:11,750 get some help. Call your county agent. Called the diagnostic laboratory. Call an extension specialist, 248 00:25:11,750 --> 00:25:21,240 get some help and there is a federal hotline that you can call into, it's part of their health program to report sick birds. 249 00:25:21,240 --> 00:25:25,610 You want to get that help as soon as possible. Now, a big part of help is knowledge. 250 00:25:25,610 --> 00:25:32,990 So there are all kinds of resources. And we've got that backyard poultry course that we offer the extension. 251 00:25:32,990 --> 00:25:40,940 It is totally free. It's online, gives you some good pointers, You know, reading, don't believe everything you hear and see on the Internet. 252 00:25:40,940 --> 00:25:46,910 So that's always a challenge. But get some help from a reputable source. 253 00:25:46,910 --> 00:25:53,060 Now, I can say more and more veterinarians are wanting to treat chickens and getting where they will treat chickens. 254 00:25:53,060 --> 00:25:58,520 Years ago, used to call them up. They go, I don't treat chickens. And that was it. But now they do. 255 00:25:58,520 --> 00:26:03,980 So those are the things that the points that I like to reemphasize on biosecurity, 256 00:26:03,980 --> 00:26:09,800 keep things clean, don't go visiting places where there's birds and then come back and visitors. 257 00:26:09,800 --> 00:26:17,930 You want to make sure you clean up, learn to recognize the signs of disease and look for that. 258 00:26:17,930 --> 00:26:22,210 Don't let people keep out visitors. Don't let them go handle your birds. 259 00:26:22,210 --> 00:26:30,020 Look for them and they can look at them. I know of several breeders that have remote cameras in their chicken pens where 260 00:26:30,020 --> 00:26:34,250 they can show all their birds for exhibition and they never let them in there. 261 00:26:34,250 --> 00:26:38,320 I was at one location where we rode around on a golf cart. 262 00:26:38,320 --> 00:26:43,720 They sprayed my shoes, we got in this golf cart, rode around, drove by the pins as close as you get. 263 00:26:43,720 --> 00:26:50,200 Yeah, you could touch them if you if you want to look at one, they'd get out and catch it and hold it up and look at it. 264 00:26:50,200 --> 00:26:57,040 But, you know, you weren't allowed to get out of the golf cart, basically, which, you know, you think of it as kind of a good idea. 265 00:26:57,040 --> 00:27:06,490 So limiting that exposure and then getting help get help when you need it, if something is not right and that's one, 266 00:27:06,490 --> 00:27:10,420 people have small flocks, they're going to go out there and check, you know, a couple of times a day. 267 00:27:10,420 --> 00:27:17,710 They will know if if you see something, if they're just not doing right, get some help. 268 00:27:17,710 --> 00:27:26,890 Sure. That's what Extension is for. That's right. I would encourage our listeners out there to get in touch with your local county extension agent. 269 00:27:26,890 --> 00:27:31,000 You know, they may not be formally trained in poultry, might not be there. 270 00:27:31,000 --> 00:27:34,990 Their area of expertize. But Dr. Clark is on staff. 271 00:27:34,990 --> 00:27:36,550 We have other, you know, 272 00:27:36,550 --> 00:27:44,440 extension professionals in Fayetteville that we can get a hold of and try to figure out what the issue is and tell you how to proceed. 273 00:27:44,440 --> 00:27:48,400 And we can even. Dr. Clark, you talked about the laboratory. 274 00:27:48,400 --> 00:27:54,430 You can even even, you know, diagnosis through through the laboratory if we needed to. 275 00:27:54,430 --> 00:28:02,680 Yes. And currently the diagnostic labs at this point in time for a basic diagnostic workup for the first one, 276 00:28:02,680 --> 00:28:08,360 for a backyard hobby flock on or if they have a bird that's died, it's not going to cost them anything. 277 00:28:08,360 --> 00:28:16,520 Bring it in and a basic diagnostic evaluation is doing a necropsy, examining the burden and doing a necropsy and looking around in there, 278 00:28:16,520 --> 00:28:21,980 and it's not going to cost them at all in many instances or it's not going to cost them very, very much. 279 00:28:21,980 --> 00:28:25,070 And I would I would encourage individuals. Yeah. 280 00:28:25,070 --> 00:28:31,670 And if you go out there and you see that there's owl feathers or feathers and you've got a dead chicken, 281 00:28:31,670 --> 00:28:36,110 it's halfway through the wire, you don't even take that chicken in. 282 00:28:36,110 --> 00:28:41,450 If you go out there today and all your birds look good, you go out there tomorrow and there's only one bird left alive. 283 00:28:41,450 --> 00:28:45,980 Yes. Get some help. Get those birds into the diagnostic lab. 284 00:28:45,980 --> 00:28:48,770 Call your county agent, you know, get in touch. 285 00:28:48,770 --> 00:28:53,270 Let's get those birds looked at to make sure that it's not something that it's going to get really going. 286 00:28:53,270 --> 00:28:57,710 And a lot of times with predators, you may see all your birds killed. 287 00:28:57,710 --> 00:29:01,780 As you mentioned, Shawn, you know, you go out there and there's. 288 00:29:01,780 --> 00:29:08,700 You start losing one or two and then all of a sudden you lost them all and they will, you know, raccoons will kill them. 289 00:29:08,700 --> 00:29:12,610 You know, we see this with mink, weasel's and all kinds of different things. 290 00:29:12,610 --> 00:29:16,970 Now, sometimes you just kill all the birds. It's not a good thing. 291 00:29:16,970 --> 00:29:23,620 Sure. If somebody wants to, you know, have a necropsy done on a dead bird, 292 00:29:23,620 --> 00:29:28,780 And I've got a bird and I want to get it to the lab as the best way for them to handle that. 293 00:29:28,780 --> 00:29:36,970 Best thing you can do is they can get you a bucket and fill it up with cold water, put a couple of drops of dishwashing detergent in it, 294 00:29:36,970 --> 00:29:41,860 and then take that bird and switch it around in there to get the feathers wet and then just kind of, 295 00:29:41,860 --> 00:29:46,360 you know, basically scrape off, I guess kind of you don't ring it out, but, you know, 296 00:29:46,360 --> 00:29:51,190 get as much water off as you can put it in a plastic bag, tie that plastic bag shut. 297 00:29:51,190 --> 00:29:59,290 You may want to double bag it, put it in the bottom of your refrigerator or in a small ice chest with just regular ice. 298 00:29:59,290 --> 00:30:04,590 Do not freeze it. OK, that's important. Do not freeze it. 299 00:30:04,590 --> 00:30:06,570 A lot of times we say put it in an ice chest with ice. 300 00:30:06,570 --> 00:30:12,390 Don't put dry ice in there because you will freeze it and then get it to the diagnostic laboratory as soon as you can. 301 00:30:12,390 --> 00:30:18,030 And there are two diagnostic laboratories. There's one here at the university. There's one in Little Rock. 302 00:30:18,030 --> 00:30:22,410 I would call the lab to see if there's any specific instructions that they have. 303 00:30:22,410 --> 00:30:29,280 I know the laboratory many times. If you've got sick birds, they would prefer to have those sick birds first. 304 00:30:29,280 --> 00:30:33,030 You know, if you got if you got sick a couple of sick birds, you can spare the dead one. 305 00:30:33,030 --> 00:30:36,390 Take all three of them in, you know, so they can look at them that way they can run. 306 00:30:36,390 --> 00:30:41,310 They may need to take a blood sample or something like that. Yeah. Do not freeze it. 307 00:30:41,310 --> 00:30:45,660 Now, a lot of people are not real keen on putting them in the bottom of their refrigerator. 308 00:30:45,660 --> 00:30:47,580 The reason for that is that they won't freeze. 309 00:30:47,580 --> 00:30:53,910 But you can just take a little Styrofoam ice chest, put it in there, put some ice in there on it and get to the diagnostic lab. 310 00:30:53,910 --> 00:30:58,130 And they can they can work it up to see what's in there. 311 00:30:58,130 --> 00:31:00,720 If you've got birds, you know that. 312 00:31:00,720 --> 00:31:07,620 And that's fresh, dead, you know, in this heat, that means you're looking at your birds two or three times a day, which will help you. 313 00:31:07,620 --> 00:31:13,220 But a bird that's been dead. If you go out there and your body looks OK today and then in tomorrow or tomorrow morning, 314 00:31:13,220 --> 00:31:19,250 you've got a dead bird out there, it's kind of 50 50 on whether or not it's any good to use, 315 00:31:19,250 --> 00:31:23,750 depending on how hot it was. A couple of weeks ago, the hot, humid nights we had, 316 00:31:23,750 --> 00:31:32,730 it's probably not going to be of much value unless it is something that's just, you know, obvious, like egg binding or something like that. 317 00:31:32,730 --> 00:31:39,450 Sure. Well, Dr. Clarke you have provided us with the wealth of information, 318 00:31:39,450 --> 00:31:45,100 a lot of a lot of there to digest, but I really appreciate you being here with us. 319 00:31:45,100 --> 00:31:52,800 Always appreciate your willingness to to reach out to to homeowners and individuals 320 00:31:52,800 --> 00:31:57,270 and always been super good about reaching out to them if they have issues. 321 00:31:57,270 --> 00:32:02,660 But, you know, I do want to point our listeners to our website. 322 00:32:02,660 --> 00:32:11,250 We have a wealth of information on our website. And again, our website is www.uaex.uada.edu 323 00:32:11,250 --> 00:32:22,830 And I would certainly point you to that. You can click on we do have a hobby, flock. Hobby and small flock webpage there. 324 00:32:22,830 --> 00:32:26,040 If you click on Farm and Ranch and then click on Animals and Forages, 325 00:32:26,040 --> 00:32:36,330 there's a poultry section in there and you page on Hobby Flocks and it's got the online backyard online course that Dr. Clark was talking about. 326 00:32:36,330 --> 00:32:42,750 It's got a link to that in there, that link to some publications there as well. 327 00:32:42,750 --> 00:32:50,760 And it's also got even a small video there on on getting started, a presentation there about getting started in the backyard flock. 328 00:32:50,760 --> 00:32:59,450 So there's a wealth of information there. And I would hope that our listeners would try to access that and really get information. 329 00:32:59,450 --> 00:33:03,900 But anyways, again, we appreciate you being with us today. 330 00:33:03,900 --> 00:33:11,160 We hope that you've enjoyed this time, this discussion that we've had today on around the Homestead podcast. 331 00:33:11,160 --> 00:33:17,620 And we wish you luck in your poultry endeavors in the future. And we'll catch you next time on around the Homestead podcast. 332 00:33:17,620 --> 00:33:23,880 You had good luck out there. We hope you have enjoyed this episode of Around the Homestead. 333 00:33:23,880 --> 00:33:28,910 Podcast. To learn more about today's topic. Be sure to visit our website at 334 00:33:28,910 --> 00:34:53,640 www.uaex.uada.edu. Be able to be sure to join us next time on Around the Homestead Podcast.