Post-mortem In Poultry: Steps And Results

Poultry business is a very lucrative agribusiness; it is one of the fast ways to make money from agriculture. Poultry products are essential for the growth and development of humans. Poultry meat is one of the highly nutritious meats; so also the egg, it contains necessary vitamins and minerals for healthy living. These virtues have provided a promising market for poultry business; it is a business that can never be saturated. Its opportunity increases as population increases.

However, as lucrative as the business is, it has just one cog in its wheel. It is called a disease. A disease is a deviation in the normal state of health of any animal; for a poultry business to be productive, the birds have to be in good health condition always. Any change in their state of health can be detrimental to the productivity of the birds. In case of any disease outbreak, a post-mortem is the best operation to know the actual bane of the disease.
Post-mortem operation is an operation carried out on birds to know the real cause of its death. Its result will give the farmer a precise and relevant solution. A post-mortem is done when there is acute mortality on the farm claiming a humongous number of birds. This operation gives a precise cause of the disease and the actual medication to prevent further outbreak of such disease. A live bird is needed to carry out this operation; below are the steps required to carry out this operation and the symptoms of common poultry disease as indicated by the internal organs.

 

  Steps involved in carrying out a post-mortem operation

Prior to carrying out the post-mortem in poultry operation, you should first check your environment for any causative agent like the nature of the litter material. Check the moisture content level of the litter material; check the birds’ droppings for any change. After these, the major poultry post-mortem operation starts and it goes thus;

 

post mortem

 

  • Take a live bird; hit it on the wall three times to make it drop dead. 

 

  • Soak the bird in water to avoid the spread of disease through the spreading of its feather. 

 

  • Cut the skin of the thigh, if there is spotted blood on the thigh it is a sign of GUMBORO DISEASE but to confirm this check the chest if the same blood spots stain the chest, then .you conclude the bird has GUMBORO disease.

 

  • When you observe that there is excess fat on the intestine, it means the bird has PROLAPSE. 

 

postmortem in chicken

 

  • If you notice the gizzard is greenish in color, it is a MIXED INFECTION, use antibiotics for 3-5 days.

 

post mortem in poultry

 

  • If there are spots on the liver, the disease is LEUCOSIS. Apply antibiotics to treat this.

 

postmortem in poultry

 

  • If there are blood spots on the proventriculus, the disease is NEWCASTLE DISEASE.  Use antibiotics and when the birds are well treated apply Newcastle disease vaccine.

 

postmortem in poultry

 

  • When the intestine looks brownish or of cola color when cut, it means the bird has  COCCIDIOSIS.  

 

postmortem in poultry

 

NOTE: Any of the above results above could be seen on a bird, it is advisable to treat the remaining birds on the farm against the disease gotten from the post-mortem. Also, a bird cannot have all the above disease but one or two maybe observed. 

Effective treatments and vaccination should be administered to debar further losses. Also, do not vaccinate sick birds, rather give necessary treatments before vaccination; vaccination prevents diseases while treatment cures diseases. 

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9 thoughts on “Post-mortem In Poultry: Steps And Results”

  1. Thank you for the guide
    I will be visiting this very informative
    & Important site so as to learn how to
    Protect my birds, and I am also a student in veterinary school.

    Reply

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