Must Know Newcastle Disease Tips

Newcastle disease is generally the most common and most serious disease of chickens in Zambia. It has a mortality rate in unvaccinated birds of around 90%. Meaning 9 out of 10 birds will die.

Vaccinated birds can still get the disease, but less seriously and with fewer deaths.

The symptoms are many and varied. They include squeaky voices, sneezing, coughing, running nose, gasping, eye infections, paralysis, twisted neck, diarrhoea and shivering. The birds usually die on their stomach with legs stretched behind and neck bent round in a hook shape.

Confirmation is done by post-mortem of dead birds which usually shows bleeding in the walls of the intestine and the joints.

The only medication that helps at all is antiviral like virukill or similar. It’s not obvious, but the virukill instructions are behind the label. And they are in a form beyond most people’s maths skills.

For drinking water, Antibiotics do not work at all.

This disease can spread easily.

The best prevention is vaccination, but as I said, vaccination will not totally prevent the disease so some biosecurity is advisable also where possible. This means controlling who and what enters your chickens and disinfecting on the way in.

The easiest way to administer vaccine is in drinking water, but it is also possible to administer by eye drop and injection. It may be worth considering these methods if there is a serious outbreak in your area and you have large numbers to protect.

Vaccinating sick birds makes it worse. Don’t!

Do your vaccines when birds are healthy.

There are numerous claims of various traditional medicines for both prevention and treatment of Newcastle disease. I haven’t seen scientific studies of the efficacy of these and so treat them with doubt until I do. All methods “work” until there is an outbreak.

I have also seen numerous comments that vaccines are not natural or organic and so should be avoided. This is a misunderstanding of how vaccines work. Vaccines work by giving a weakened or dead version of the disease which stimulates the immune system to make antibodies for the disease and so recognise and defeat it if it appears again. This is a way of using a natural process to enhance the body’s own system to protect your birds without losing 90% of them in the process. It leaves no residue. Newcastle vaccine is best repeated several times for good coverage.

Note that knowing this information is only the first step. You have to apply it for it to work. I am often guilty of neglecting vaccinations and not getting them done or not getting them done at the right time. I have paid the price for this. I have only myself to blame because I know better. Now you know too. So when you get a Newcastle outbreak, go and take a long hard look in the mirror.

– Ruth Henson