Are you a poultry farmer?
What you need to know about Avian InfluenzaBIRD FLU
Table of contents
The Disease - General FactsPrint Pdf version
How to increase protection for your animals when the disease is not reported in Kosovo – Biosecurity
What to do to protect your farm when there are outbreaks reported in Kosovo
What to do when there is high poultry mortality on the farm
What to do with dead and sick birds and other contaminated objects
Cleaning and disinfection of premises and equipment on your farm
Useful telephone numbers
The Disease – General Facts
Avian Flu is a dangerous disease since it can kill all poultry on your farm.
Avian Flu is a dangerous disease since it can spread rapidly to other farms and to the whole of Kosovo.
Some types of Avian Flu can make humans sick and some even die.Cause of Avian Flu and types of virus:
Avian Flu is a disease caused by a virus. This disease can present different forms:
• No clinical signs, the animals appear healthy but carry the virus;
• Mild clinical signs = Low Pathogenic Avian Influenza virus (LPAI);
• Severe clinical signs = Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza virus (HPAI).Affected species and natural hosts:
• All birds including chickens, ducks, geese, turkeys, pigeons, canaries and numerous wild birds;
• Other animals like pigs and wild boars can also be infected and pass on the virus.How can Avian Flu infect my animals? (see fig.1)
The virus may enter your poultry farm through various ways:
• Purchase of new animals that appear healthy, but are infected (poultry, pigs);
• People (you, family members, relatives, workers, traders who deliver live animals and animal feed) coming to the farm after having been on an infected or contaminated farm, market or slaughterhouse;
• The virus can be carried on clothes, shoes, vehicles (car, tractor, bicycle), on egg crates, animal feed sacks etc;
• Your domestic poultry that feed outside your farm;
• Dogs and cats that carry dead birds to your farm from an infected farm;
• Migrating wild birds. They may contaminate the farm through close contact with your domestic birds or through their infected faeces dropped into your farm, as they fly;
• Contact with contaminated water ponds;
• Contact with manure from an infected farm.Incubation period:
• Usually 2 to 5 days from contamination/infection to the start of clinical signs.Clinical signs:
You must suspect Avian Flu when you see rapid death in your poultry!
• The disease appears suddenly in a flock, and many birds die:
- 50 % of your flock dies in 24 h;
- 5 % of your flock dies every day for three days or more.• Some animals, especially younger birds may show neurological signs;
• Hens may at first lay soft-shelled eggs, but soon stop laying;
• Combs and wattles are dark red to blue and swollen and may have pinpoint haemorrhages at their tips;
• Profuse watery diarrhea is frequently present, and birds are excessively thirsty;
• Respiration may be fast and laboured;
• Turkeys infected with Avian Flu have clinical symptoms similar to chickens, but they last 2 or 3 days longer;
• Ducks infected with Avian Flu and excreting the virus may not show any clinical signs or lesions.Treatment
There is no treatment for poultry infected by Avian Flu.Zoonosis
Avian Flu can infect humans in close contact with infected animals. Certain types of virus (HPAI) can cause
humans to die. Immediate medical treatment must be sought.
How to increase protection for your animals when the disease is not reported in KosovoBiosecurity is a way to avoid contact between animals and the virus
• Biosecurity is common sense;
• Biosecurity does not need to cost too much money, it mainly consists of establishing good practices on your farm;
• If Biosecurity measures are not followed, you will spend more money to try and control the disease when it does appear;
• Principles of Biosecurity can be applied in both large-scale farms and backyard or small-scale farms;
• Biosecurity will help to protect your farm against every disease, not only avian flu;
• For small-scale poultry production, biosecurity consists of simple, sometimes zero-cost measures that will keep the virus away from your poultry - and - keep your poultry away from the virus;
• With Avian Flu, there is almost never a time when the risk of getting the disease is zero. Even if you have not heard of outbreaks being reported in Kosovo, there is still a risk of getting the disease. This is a low to medium risk situation;
• When you hear about an Avian Flu outbreak being reported in a neighbouring country, it does not mean that some farms close to yours or even that your farm is not yet infected. Poultry and human beings may have traveled from the infected area to your area before the disease was observed and the outbreak reported.
Always consider that Avian Flu may come!By following some basic principles, a farm will remain free of disease. These principles are:
Keep your poultry in good condition
Keep your poultry in a protected environment
Control all entries into your farm
Principle No. 1:
Keep your poultry in good conditionPoultry in good conditions:
Have good access to clean water and adequate food
Have access to adequate housing
Receive de-worming products and vaccinationIf your poultry are not in good condition:
They produce fewer eggs, less meat, therefore: less food or less income
They are more likely to catch diseasesPrinciple No. 2:
Keep your poultry in a protected environment (see fig.2)Ideally, poultry should be kept in a protected place in a closed building. In small-scale production, this is sometimes impractical.
Birds are always kept in a closed building;
Birds have access to a fenced park;
Birds are let free in the farmyard;
Birds are let free in and outside the farmyard.
• If you let your poultry out of the poultry house and into the farmyard, keep the ground clean; (see fig.3)
• When you see one or more dead birds, remove them and place them in a closed container for the
veterinarian; (see fig.3)
• When you see one or more birds with the first signs of sickness, separate them from the flock and place them away from the poultry house in a cage with food and water; (see fig.4)
• When you take care of your poultry, always start with the healthy flock and then go to the sick birds.
Principle No. 3:
Control the entries on to your farmWhat are the entries to control?
• Everyone coming from a place where there are sick poultry can carry the virus on their clothes, shoes, boots, etc.;
• Family members: coming back from neighbours, from the local market; from other farms;
• Family relatives: coming for special occasions (wedding, new year);
• Neighbours;
• Traders coming to buy or to sell poultry but also pigs, cattle or other agriculture products;
• New chicks, ducklings, piglets bought from a trader, from a neighbour’s farm, from the market;
• Purchase of animal feed, new or used equipment, etc.;
• Entry of cars, tractors, motorbikes, bicycles into the farmyard;
• Dogs or cats that bring dead animals;
• Manure from another farm;
What can you do?
• Always consider that anyone may carry the virus! Even if the person is someone you know very well, be careful!
• Keep visitors away from where the poultry live or drink and eat;
• Do not let traders enter your farmyard. Go outside yourself to sell/buy animals;
• Wash your hands with soap before and after you take care of the animals;
• Change clothes when you or your family members come back from outside,
especially from another farm;
• You should have a bucket of water & soap at the farm gate so anyone can wash hands and clean shoes before entering the farmyard;
• If you take manure from another farm, you must store it in a protected place for at least 3 weeks and mix it with quicklime to disinfect it. Turn it over every 2 or 3 days, so that any virus is exposed to the air and dies.
Quarantine (see fig.5)
• If you buy some animals, put them in a closed and separate place with no contact with your other animals for at least 2 weeks;
• Even if the new animals look healthy, no one can know if they carry the virus or not. If they do, not only they will die but all your poultry may also die;
What to do to protect your farm when there are outbreaks reported in Kosovo?
When you hear official notification from the Ministry of Agriculture about an Avian Flu outbreak being reported in Kosovo, it is possible that the disease is already very close to your farm.Poultry and human beings may have traveled from the infected area to your area before the disease was observed and the outbreak known. This is a high risk situation!
Consider that Avian Flu may be next door!
By following some basic principles, your farm will remain free of disease.
These principles are:
Keep the poultry in a closed environment
Do not buy nor accept new animals into the farm
Do not allow people come into the farm
Clean the farmyard, the animal buildings, the equipment, the car and tractor frequently
Store the manureRely on yourself to keep your farm free of disease!
Principle No. 1:
Keep the poultry in a protected place (see fig.6)
• When there is an outbreak nearby, allowing your poultry to be completely free, is a very risky practice;
• A closed building for the night and a fenced park for the day is a practical solution;
• Do not allow your poultry to walk freely in the farmyard. Keep your poultry in a protected place;
• Feed the poultry yourself (even if you may need to buy some corn or other feed) rather than letting the poultry scavenge freely.Principle No. 2:
Do not buy nor accept new animals onto the farm.
• Even if the new animals are isolated from the rest (“quarantine”), the risk of getting the virus is too high;
• Do not introduce new animals even for a short duration;
• Do not bring live poultry for cooking at home. Cook poultry in a separate place that can be cleaned
thoroughly. Burn or bury the feathers and other wastes away from the farmyard;
• Do not take your poultry out of your farm to sell. Do not bring poultry back to your farm.
Principle No. 3:
Decrease and control entries from humans
• Only family members should be allowed to come onto the farmyard;
• Everyone, including family members, should wash with soap, brush and disinfect their hands, shoes, boots, wheels of car, tractor, motorbike, bicycle at the farm gate before going onto the farmyard;
• Only one family member should take care of the poultry.Principle No. 4:
Sweep the farmyard, clean the animal buildings, the equipment, the car, tractor often
• The farmyard should be swept every day (wear a mask to do it);
• The fenced park and poultry housing should be swept and brushed every day if possible;
• Take away the feaces and the unconsumed feed. Destroy or store them in a protected place;
• Wash, brush and disinfect the garnden and agricultural equipment more regularly.Principle No. 5:
Store the manure (composting)
• Viruses can stay alive in manure for many weeks. If manure is spread too early in the fields, the virus may contaminate poultry;
• Composting kills bacteria and viruses and increases the quality of the manure for fertilization.Method
• Take manure away from the poultry every day;
• Store manure (away from ponds, wells, etc).- in a plastic bag;
- on the ground under plastic;
- in a hole dug in the ground.• When you have 10 kilo or more
- add some water to the manure (2,5 litres for 10 kilo of manure);
- add some quicklime (half of kilo for 10 kilo of manure);
- turn twice a week for the first 2 weeks and then once a week.• The length of time required for decomposition is extremely variable from compost to compost;
• The compost is ready when the temperature has come down, when the colour is dark brown and when it has an earthy smell.What to do when there is high poultry mortality on the farm?
• In poultry production, the death of a few birds can be a regular problem. Poultry may die for several reasons;
• Some diseases are not so important because they will only affect a small number of animals;
• Avian Flu is different: consequences are much more severe. This means that when you observe High Mortality you should think about Avian Flu;
• For the Farmer it is impossible to be certain that the poultry death is due to Avian Flu, but you should act as if it was Avian Flu. This is why, in this chapter, we refer to “Suspect Mortality”.What is suspect mortality?
• Sudden death of your poultry (this means that your chickens were healthy and they die suddenly in less than 24 hours);
• and a daily mortality over 5 % of your flock over a few days.For instance, if you have 50 chickens, the first day you have 3 chickens dead, without symptoms, and the second day 3 again, and the third day 4 etc.
• When you have suspect mortality on your farm:
Only the laboratory can confirm that it is or that it is not Avian Flu.
The farmer and the Veterinarian must act before getting the results from the laboratory. If you wait for the laboratory results, the situation will become impossible to control.When you observe suspect mortality in your poultry, the farmer and the Veterinarian must work together.
Your objectives must be:
• To eliminate the virus from the infected farm as soon as possible;
• To avoid contamination of other farms;
• To avoid infection of human beings;
• To report immediately to the Village & Commune leaders and to the Government Veterinary Officer;
• To write down information about the event.The farmer must inform immediately his veterinarian.
• Usually, most of the small-scale poultry producers do not use the services of a Veterinarian to take care of poultry. One of the reasons is because the economic value of few poultry is not high enough in comparison with the fees of the Veterinarian or the cost of treatment;
• However, when a suspect mortality occurs, it is crucial to inform your Veterinarian or the Government Veterinarian. This is the law, but it is also simply in your interest.Why?
• The Veterinarian will help eliminate the virus from the farm:
• It will be safer for the you and your family and will reduce the risk of you and your family getting sick;
• You will be able to restart poultry raising quicker;
• You will receive money from the Government to compensate for the economic losses.
What to do with dead and sick birds and other contaminated objects?
• Never throw the dead birds in river; (see fig.8)
• Never eat them;
• Dead birds should be put immediately in a bag. (see fig.7)The Government Veterinarian may come and take some specimens from these birds. After the Veterinarian has come or after one day, these birds must be destroyed as described below.
All dead birds and other contaminated objects (for instance: manure, eggs, blood, feathers, egg crates) must be destroyed properly as soon as possible during the day by burning and by burying.
(see fig.9 and 10)What to do with sick birds?
• Never eat sick birds;
• Sick birds should be put in a fully closed building with no contact with any other animal. The Government Veterinarian may come and take some specimens from these birds. After the Veterinarian has come or after one day, these birds should be immediately culled (because when they are alive, they continue to produce the virus and anyway they will very probably die);
• Culling: in small-scale poultry production, there may be no other method available for culling than to do it by hand with, or without, a knife (twisting of the neck or decapitation). It is important that people who do the culling are in good health and protect themselves (with mask, glasses, gloves, boots, etc.) from the start of the culling until they finish cleaning the area and equipment used. All waste including blood, must be collected and destroyed (see above). The culling must be done away from natural sources of water (pond, well). The culling must induce death of the bird as quickly as possible both to avoid spreading of contaminated feathers in the environment and to limit the pain induced to the bird before death;.
• Destruction: by burning or burying as described above.
What to do with healthy birds ?• Birds that are apparently healthy can be kept alive as long as they are kept in a fully closed building, with no contact with any other animal;
• Your Veterinarian or the Government Veterinarian may suggest culling these birds immediately if the risk is too high, without waiting for the lab results. If the lab test is positive with Avian Flu, these birds should be culled immediately (if they are still alive), as explained above;
• You must never sell nor give away these birds or the eggs even though they may look healthy!! You put yourself and other people in danger of catching the disease. You put people’s poultry in danger of catching the disease.
Cleaning and disinfection of premises and equipment on your farm• The virus may be present on many objects, materials and areas that have been in contact with infected poultry or that have been used during the observation, the culling and the destruction of the animals;
• Plastic bags, animal feed, wooden baskets / walls, etc. can be easily burnt. Manure can be composted or buried;
• Poultry buildings whether made with bricks or wooden must be:WASHED => BRUSHED => SPRAYED with disinfectant
• The ground where poultry walked should be cleaned (with a broom) then sprayed with disinfectants;
• Quicklime is the cheapest disinfectant and should be used for ground and poultry housing.
Remember:
(In case of an outbreak in Kosovo)• Do not visit other poultry farms: you could bring the virus to them;
• Do not lend your equipment (for instance: bicycle, egg crates) to someone else;
• Do not sell, nor give away any animals, eggs, manure;
• When you and your family members leave the farm, you must all wash and brush your shoes / boots and the wheels of the car / tractor / bicycle / motorbike, and spray them with disinfectant.
Protection of human beings
• When there are outbreaks reported in Kosovo, everyone should be aware that they may get the virus. The avian influenza can be transmitted to human beings mainly through the faeces or by inhaling the virus that are spread by infected birds when breathing;
• In non-infected poultry farms, only one person should take care of the poultry. This person should be an adult in good health. Pregnant women and young children should avoid contact with the animals;
• Don’t eat animals which die of disease, because you take a risk of getting infected by avian flu when preparing the poultry;
• Each time you have to touch your animals or their products (meat, eggs), you should wash your hands with soap afterwards;
• Traders, market sellers, people buying live birds at the market, people preparing birds for home consumption or for restaurants, etc. should protect themselves when in contact with poultry. They should at least wear masks and if possible gloves, glasses, etc. They should wash their hands with soap frequently. They should wash their clothes, shoes, and boots at least once a day;
• In infected areas, any contact with poultry or poultry products must be avoided. The only people who have to be in contact with poultry should be: farmers and veterinarians, and they should wear protection.
• Advice should be sought from local nurses or doctors;
• When you or a member of your family, who was in contact with animals, especially sick birds, has fever or respiratory problems, go as soon as possible to a health center and inform the doctor that you were working with poultry.
Useful Telephone Numbers
Ministry of Agriculture,
Forestry and Rural Development
24 Hours: 038 / 542 578Kosovo Veterinary Food Agency
038 / 252 5312
038 / 252 5313
038 / 252 5314
038 / 252 5315
038 / 252 5316The text of this book was compiled and adapted by the Kosovo Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Rural Development on the basis of publications issued by Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), World Health Organisation (WHO), Veterinaires Sans Frontieres and World Organisation for Animal Health (OiE)
Graphic design by UNMIK / DPI, Luan Tashi
Web design by UNMIK / DPI, Shpend Bërbatovci
This booked was printed in Albanian and Serbian in November 2005
