To breed chickens is quite simple and profitable. This poultry can be a source of income or be grown exclusively for the needs of the family. Regardless of the purpose for which they start laying hens, their owners periodically face difficulties. One of the most common problems is the loss of plumage in the livestock. We will talk about what can cause chickens baldness, how to prevent and cure it.
What is this disease
Complete or partial pathological loss of feathers is called alopecia. Even if the bird is not completely bald, the remaining feathers become brittle, dull and are lost under the cannons.
Important! Meat and meat-egg breeds are more likely to suffer from alopecia than laying hens. This must be considered when planning a household.
Why chickens go bald
The disease can occur for several reasons:
- often the bird begins to grow bald with improper and unbalanced diet. The lack of vitamin A and vitamins of group B, as well as various macro- and microelements (calcium, sulfur, iodine, cystine, manganese and phosphorus) negatively affects plumage;
- unsanitary conditions in the hen house;
- lack of sunlight and artificial lighting;
- excessive humidity or dry air;
- improper temperature conditions in the house;
- parasitic lesions of livestock (fluff or peroedy);
- lack of fresh air (no walking).
Symptoms
The disease manifests itself as follows:
- Feathers fall out near the tail and on the back.
- Bald spot appears in the chest, neck and head of the bird.
- Skin lesions in the tail, neck and back.
- Reduced egg production.
What to do
The main thing is not to start the disease, as the birds can lose their plumage almost completely (up to 90%). With timely diagnosis and proper treatment there is a chance to save and restore feathers. Therefore, it is very important to act immediately when the first symptoms are detected. For quick and effective results, it is necessary to adjust the nutrition, adjust the conditions of the birds and get rid of parasites.
Important! In order for the chickens to not be sick and to fly well in the winter, the ultraviolet lamps in the house should be burning for 6-8 hours a day. In the summer period, birds should spend more time outdoors, getting their own food. Walking helps to saturate the body with vitamin D and strengthen the immune system.
Adjust feeding
Proper and balanced nutrition is essential. At the first signs of illness, you must enter into the diet of poultry complex mineral supplements, which can be purchased at a veterinary pharmacy. You should also add to the menu blood and meat-bone meal, white cabbage and bean sprouts.
All these products have a high sulfur content, and therefore are necessary for feathered alopecia. In addition, it is useful to feed pets with feather meal, glauber's salt and sulfur. The presence of fat in the diet should be minimized, but the amount of proteins, on the contrary, should be increased.
Get acquainted with the features of a balanced diet for chickens.
You should also worry about calcium, because it is necessary not only for the bones and beak, but also for the formation of plumage. Calcium contains such products as chalk, gypsum, tricalcium phosphate or monocalcium phosphate. The solution from iodine or potassium permanganate, which the birds need to give every 2 days, is also considered effective. It is also recommended to add vitamin B12 to the feed or intramuscular injection. Make sure that the chickens gorge themselves, as the lack of food is one of the possible causes of alopecia.
Did you know? Israeli breeder Avikdor Kohaner worked for more than 20 years to breed a breed of chickens that completely lack plumage and presented it to the world in 2002. Bald teeth are intended for cultivation in a hot climate, they are practically not affected by parasites and they do not need to be plucked before being used for food.
Improve conditions
The home of the hens must be clean, warm and well ventilated. In the poultry house, it is necessary not only to maintain cleanliness, but also to regularly disinfect with the use of chemicals, and you need to process absolutely everything: the floor, walls, perches, water bowls and feeders, nests, etc. If the bird is caged and walking is not possible, it is necessary to equip the chicken coop with UV lamps that will help prevent vitamin D deficiency.
Learn how to make a drinking bowl and feeder with your own hands, as well as how to build roosts and nests for laying hens.
Get rid of parasites
First of all, you need to get rid of rats and mice in the chicken coop (if any). Then the bird is inspected (use protective gloves). The presence of parasites is indicated by lumps resembling cotton wool and pest excrement. If such nests or waste products of pests have been found, they must be removed and the chickens treated with special preparations, for example, use Iwomek or Frontline.
VIDEO: METHODS OF FIGHTING THE PUSHED EATER
For preventive purposes, the feathers at the base are smeared with vegetable oil, and also containers are installed in the house with ash so that the chickens can bathe in it and remove the pollution themselves.
We recommend to learn how to deal with parasites in chickens: how to remove worms and how to treat coccidiosis in poultry.
How to treat
In addition to improving the quality of food and living conditions, you will need therapy, which can be carried out with the help of pharmaceutical medicines and folk remedies.
Preparations
In order to improve immunity and replenish the reserves of vitamins and minerals, they are given such vitamin complexes and additives as Chiktonik, Ganasupervit, Gamavit and Oprerin. Get rid of wounds on bald areas will help "Desi spray." It will not be superfluous to treat each hen with 10–15 g of insect-acticidal powder.
Folk methods
There are popular recipes to combat alopecia. For example, you can collect the feathers that have fallen from the birds, wash them thoroughly, dry, grind and add to feed. Ground horns and livestock hooves are also considered effective. Such flour is added to food of birds, in order to replenish the reserves of vitamins and minerals in their body.
Did you know? A rooster from the United States nicknamed Wonder Mike lived for 18 months without a head, but with only one ear and a fragment of the brain. Its owner made him a real star of America, at the same time feeding him from the pipette with milk and grains, and also cleared his esophagus with a syringe.
How to prevent
The main preventive measures include the following actions:
- Observance of the rules of bird hygiene, as well as maintaining cleanliness in the hen house.
- Ensuring comfortable living conditions for kvochek (temperature, humidity, the availability of space for walking).
- A varied and balanced diet, which certainly needs to be supplemented with vitamin and mineral supplements, especially in the autumn-winter period, when chickens consume significantly less greenery.
- Increase the amount of food and enter into the diet vitamin complexes during molting birds.
- It is necessary to conduct a regular inspection of the livestock in order to diagnose diseases or parasites on time.
We advise you to find out what are the methods of preventing diseases of chickens and what to do if your birds caught pasteurellosis and Newcastle disease.
Now you know what can cause alopecia in chickens. Despite the fact that the disease is not fatally dangerous, it is better not to allow it, and to identify the first symptoms immediately take action.
Reviews on the fight against baldness chickens
