How to Diagnose a Chicken

[C&C Chickens]

Does anyone know of a thread/website/book that outlines how to examine a chicken and diagnose based on exam and symptoms? There are 50 million things that can cause illness in a chicken (I had no idea they were so vulnerable!) and it would be very helpful if I could find a logical way to approach a diagnosis - e.g., if this symptom, most likely one of these kinds of illnesses. I have The Chicken Health Handbook but quite frankly, it is overwhelming and doesn't seem to have recommendations on systematically examining and diagnosing. Any recommendations would be very much appreciated, thanks!

 

[RiddleMe]

Two links that I have found useful are http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/ps044 and http://www.poultry.msstate.edu/extension/pdf/diseases_poultry_diagnosis_symptoms.pdf. Fortunately I've only had to use them once, to diagnose a new bird that was in quarantine, but it was a real eye opener, especially with regard to the whole no cure/lifetime carrier. Saved me a lot of potential grief (the bird was culled).

 

[cowcreekgeek]

The links listed at the bottom of this post (referred to as the signature) open in a new window.


Link #1 of 4:

http://www.clemson.edu/public/lph/ahp/disease_links/images/poultrydiseases.pdf

COMMON DISEASES OF CHICKENS, TURKEYS & GAMEBIRDS
was published NOV 2004, and is but one of a handful of manuals written by Julie D. Helm, DVM, DACVP, of Clemson Livestock-Poultry Health. She is employed at Clemson University to this day, where she has been nationally recognized for her work, and holds the following list of impressive titles:
Poultry Veterinarian, Animal Health Programs
Extension Veterinarian - Poultry
Adjunct Professor, AVS
SC National Poultry Improvement Plan (NPIP) State Inspector
Foreign Animal Disease Diagnostician (FADD)


Link #2 of 4:

http://www.poultry.msstate.edu/extension/pdf/diseases_poultry_diagnosis_symptoms.pdf

POULTRY DISEASE DIAGNOSIS BASED ON SYMPTOMS
enables simpler folks like me to identify poultry diseases and maladies symptomatically, and is a living document provided by the Cooperative Extension Service at Mississippi State University.


Link #3 of 4:

http://www.merckvetmanual.com/mvm/index.jsp?cfile=htm/bc/toc_200000.htm

THE MERCK VETERINARY MANUAL
is now in it's Ninth Edition, and has served veterinarians and other animal health professionals as a concise and reliable animal health reference for over 50 years.


Link #4 of 4:

http://archive.org/stream/diseasesofpoultr00pea#page/n7/mode/2up

DISEASES OF POULTRY,
Their Etiology, Diagnosis, Treatment, and Prevention,
was published in 1915, and co-written by three biologists in the Maine Agricultural Experiment Station, and is my favorite for reading, as it is an actual copy of the original from Smithsonian Libraries, and provided by archive.org (yet another favorite, among favorites ~'-)


There are many more, but these oughta get ya where ya need to be most quickly ~'-)

 

[C&C Chickens]

Thank you both for your responses. These sites will definitely be very helpful in the future. If there isn't a post with this information under the learning center section there should be.

 

[cowcreekgeek]

Thank you both for your responses. These sites will definitely be very helpful in the future. If there isn't a post with this information under the learning center section there should be.

You're most welcome, good point, in regard to placement of informations -- will look into doin' just that ~'-)