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
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