Presentation of Diseases

Rickets and Osteomalacia

• Lameness

• Soft and pliable beak

PM:

• Crooked keel bone

• Beading of ribs

• Enlarged Epiphysis and enlarged parathyroid glands

Sodium deficiency

• Feather pecking and excessive preening

• adrenal hypertrophy

• cannibalism

• abrupt drop in egg production

Chlorine deficiency

• Poor growth, dehydration, nervous signs

• Chicks fall forward with their legs stretched out 

Encephalomalacia 

• Loss of balance 

• torticollis 

• Swollen, yellow cerebellum that may be congested/hemorrhaged 

Muscular Dystrophy

• Locomotive issues

• White muscle fibers

Exudative diathesis 

• difficulty walking and falling over 

• green-blue stained viscous edema 

• Degeneration of the skeletal muscle and heart

Xerophthalmia (Vit A deficiency)

Chicks:

• caseous exudate in nostril and eyes 

• corneal opacity 

• Nodules in upper GIT due to squamous metaplasia (esophagus and conjunctiva)

• Hyperkeratosis 

Polyneuritis (Thiamine B1)

• Star gazing 

• Swelling of peripheral nerves

Curled toe paralysis (Riboflavin B2)

• Toes curled inward

• reluctance to stand or walk 

• clubbed feathers in embryos 

• swelling of peripheral nerves 

Biotin deficiency

• Dry, flaky skin

• Breast blister 

Vitamin K Deficiency

• Blood spots in eggs

• hemorrhages in legs and breast muscles 

Methionine and lysine deficiency

• Stunted growth

• Poor FCR

• Birds eating feathers → cannibalism 

Salt toxicity

• intense thirst

• incoordination 

• convulsive movement 

• increased mortalities 

• severe anasarca

• ascites

• pericardial edema, hydropericardium, pulmonary edema 

• cystic testes 

Calcium and Phosphorous Toxicity

• Rickets 

• Gout, urolithiasis, nephrosis 

Vit D toxicity

• Soft tissue calcification 

• kidney damage 

Vit A toxicity

• Slow growth

• unsteady fait, reluctance to walk 

• reduced bone mineralization, tibial dyschondrolplasia 

• Conjunctivitis, adhesion of eyelids 

Copper toxicity

• atrophy of thymus 

• gizzard erosions 

• blue droppings 

Lead toxicity

• hypocalcemia

• sudden muscle weakness and anemia 

• Sour crop and pasty butt

Aflatoxin B1

• Decreased pigmentation 

• Hemorrhaging of muscles 

• Fatty liver (pale)

• Gizzard erosions 

• Ataxia, convulsions, lameness

Ochratoxin A

• Uniformity issues 

• Pale shanks 

• Gout 

• Swelling and discoloration of kidney 

• Bone marrow suppression 

Trichothecenes (T2)

• Abnormal feathering 

• Oral lesions and gizzard erosion 

• crusts on beak

• yellow caseous ulcers at the margin of the beak 

• Pale/yellow discoloration of bone marrow 

Zearalenone

• decreased egg production 

• enlarged comb and wattle in females 

• cloacal prolapse 

Heat Stress

• Wings outstretched 

• Panting 

• High mortality 

• Reduced feed intake 

• Increased occurrence of metabolic alterations, respiratory, skeletal and skin lesions 

• Muscles have a cooked appearance 

Hypoglycemia Spiking Mortality Syndrome

• normal broilers with sudden increase in mortalities for 3 days 

• lying on bellies, leaning forward with legs extended 

Sudden death syndrome

• male fast growing dies after short terminal wing beating convulsion 

• Dead lying on back 

• Contracted ventricles and congested lungs 

Tibia dyschondroplasia

• Bowing of tibia 

• reluctance to move, awkward gait 

• Large non-vascularized cartilage mass that extends into the metaphysis 

Dilated Cardiomyopathy/ Round Heart Disease

• Poults 1-4 weeks

• Bilateral dilated cardiomyopathy

• ascites, hydropericardium, congested organs 

Ascites Syndrome

• Sudden death

• potbelly appearance 

• labored breathing 

• Fluid accumulation in heart, lungs

• Hypertrophy of right ventricle and enlarged, flaccid heart

• grossly affects heart, lung, liver, kidney 

Fatty Liver Hemorrhagic Syndrome

• Layer flock on high-energy diets 

• Dead without clinical signs 

• Enlarged, pale, friable liver with degrees of hemorrhage

Cage Layer Fatigue

Hen in peak egg production

• thin eggshell 

• drop in egg production 

• lameness, fragile bones, dehydration, starvation 

Gout

• urate deposition on heart, liver, spleen, air sacs, lungs

• Tophi in kidney 

• Soft tissue around joints enlarged 

Woody Breast Syndrome

• Abnormal hardness and rigidity 

• Ridge-like bulge on the end of fillet

White Striped Disease

• White striations running parallel to muscle fibers in breast, tenders, thigh

Green Muscle Disease

• Necrosis and atrophy of the deep pectoral muscle detected when birds are deboned 

Aspergillosis

• gasping, dyspnea 

• High mortalities 

• Ataxia, falling over, torticollis

• Pale yellow nodules in air sacs, lungs, brain, eye, heart 

Ochronosis

• Brooder-pneumonia like 

• cream-coloured nodules in lungs

Candidiasis

• Psuedomembrane and diptheric membrane in upper digestive tract

• Lesions in crop, mouth, esophagus, proventriculus 

Dermatophytosis

• White crusting on comb, wattle, shanks 

• Epidermal hyperplasia and hyperkeratosis 

Eimeria acervulina

• White bands on duodenum

• mild to severe enteritis 

Eimeria maxima

Mucus, blood-tinged exudate in jejunum

Eimeria tenella

Marked typhlitis, blood or cecal cores

E necatrix

• Ballooned ileum with hemorrhage, necrosis and blood feces

• schizonts 

Eimeria brunetti

• Fibronecrotic caseous cores in cecum

Histomoniasis

• sulfur coloured droppings

• target-like lesions in liver 

• cecal cores

Trichomoniasis

• Raised, caseous necrotic lesions in upper digestive tract of pigeons 

Ascarids (A. galli/ A. dissimilis)

• lethargy

• emaciation 

• diarrhea 

• intestinal obstruction 

• decreased egg production

Capilaria (C annulata/ C contorta/ obsignata)

• thickening and inflammation of mucosa of crop or intestines (obsignata)

Syngamus trachea

• Dyspnea 

• Suffocation 

Davainea proglottina 

• Hemorrhage and necrosis in intestine 

• Attach to intestinal mucosa 

Northern Fowl Mite

Ornithonyssus sylvarium

• Blackened feathers 

• anemia 

Poultry red mite

Dermanyssus gallinae

• Anemia

• High mortality in young birds

Scaly Leg Mites

Knemidocoptes mutans

• hyperkeratosis of unfeathered areas 

Sticktight fleas

Echinodphaga gallinacean

• Dark brown spots on face, comb and wattles 

• Mortalities due to blood loss 

Runting and Stunting Syndrome

7-10 day old chicks

• ruffled feathers 

• uneven growth 

• yellow heads

• helicopter feathering 

• undigested feed and orange, mucoid droppings 

• Pale, transparent intestines

• Cystic enteritis and villous atrophy

• Lymphoid cell depletion

Black Vomit (Ventriculitis)

• Erosions to koilin layer

• Ulceration to mucosa of gizzard (ventriculus)

Transmissible viral proventriculitis 

• Enlargement of walls of proventriculus with spotty discolouration

• Weakness of gastric isthmus

• Infiltration of lymphoid cells

Duck Virus Hepatitis (DVH)

Pekin 1-3 weeks

• spasmodic convulsions of head and neck followed by mortality in opisthotonos position 

• Petechial and ecchymotic hemorrhages in liver

• Hepatic necrosis and bile duct hyperplasia 

Duck Virus Enteritis (DVE)

Muscovy ducks (older)

• Mortality (persistent in older birds)

• Bloody diarrhea, soiled vents 

• Annular bands in the intestines and necrosis of GALT

• Petechial and ecchymotic hemorrhage in heart, liver, pancreas, mesentery

Derzy’s Disease

Muscovy ducks

• high mortality in young birds 

• Fibrinous psuedomembrane covering tongue and oral cavity

• Perihepatitis, pericarditis, pulmonary edema 

• Rounded apex of heart, pale myocardium 

• Cowdry type A intranuclear inclusion bodies in the heart and syncytia 

Amyloidosis

• Affected organ is enlarged and pale (liver, spleen, kidneys)

Angel Wing Disease Syndrome

• Carpal joint of wing grows awkwardly

Riemerella antipestifer (Duck septicemia)

• High mortalities 

• Respiratory and GI signs 

• Neurological: neck tucked, back paddling 

• Polyserositis

• Pneumonia