Talking about birds - Urban Chickens

Backyard poultry is becoming very popular in the last few years. This is because chickens are not only great pets but they also provide eggs and/or meat depending on the owner. However, there are two important things to remember: 1) the increase close contact between people and chickens increases the risk of zoonotic diseases (diseases transmitted to people); and 2) poor husbandry could lead to poor pet care (e.g. infectious diseases, malnutrition, behavioral issues, exposure to predators and environmental conditions).

Picture taken from avma.org

Two of the most important zoonotic diseases of poultry in the USA are salmonellosis and campylobacteriosis. Please do not hesitate to contact me for further information about zoonotic diseases. As always, a good source of information is the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (http://www.cdc.gov/). Among diseases affecting poultry, some of the more common diseases are mycoplasmosis, fowl cholera, fowl pox and coccidiosis. Something important to remember is that poultry can become carriers for some of these diseases after recovering from it. Therefore, when new birds are introduced into an established flock, they may bring serious diseases with them. So please, remember to isolate new individuals before introducing them into the collection as well as contacting your vet for advice and test that can be run before introduction.