Troubleshooting Chicken Health Problems During Processing

[caption id="attachment_1113" align="alignright" width="300"] Plucked chickens ready to be examined along with healthy hearts, liver, and gizzard.[/caption] Episode 68, I help you identify poultry production problems from your gutting table. When your chickens are laying on your table naked and unafraid, they hold no secrets. It's the perfect time to observe them as a way to identify production problems. This episode examines the scratches, bruises, hearts, livers, gizzards, green muscle disease, ascites, and uneven growth and ties it back what happened during the growout period.

Pastured Poultry News Round Up

• A Small Business Administration report identifies over $1 billion in bad loans for contract poultry barns. At issue is whether or not poultry contract growers are really independent businesses or just affiliates of the integrators. Spoiler alert. SBA calls them affiliates and therefore finds they aren't entitled to taxpayer subsidized and guaranteed loans. Read article.
• Ding. Dong. The Organic Livestock and Poultry Practices update to the NOP is officially dead.
• Fertrell announces a non-soy protein pellet that doesn't sacrifice growth. Check them out.
• Poultry Man developed a new universal, round kill cone for broilers, hens, ducks, geese, and heritage turkeys. Contact [email protected] for details.

Ascites (aka water belly)

You identify ascites by the belly full of fluid and purple skin. Ascites likely happened weeks before and many times can be traced to a traumatic event in the brooder-at least for most pastured poultry producers.

Scratches on Back of Broilers

When the back of your broilers are scratched up, you have feeding problem. It's time to reevaluate your approach to feeding and management.

Bruises and Dislocations

Did you know that a bruise requires blood, and the color of a bruise is an indicator of the age of the bruise? It is. Many times you blame the plucker for breaking your chicken's wing, but if there is bruising, look at handling errors or other injuries in the field.

Runts and Uneven Growth

Of all the things I talk about on this episode, identifying the cause of uneven growth is the most difficult to diagnose. I share some common places to investigate. It's not always genetic, and it's not always your feed.

Green Muscle Disease

Also called deep pectoral myopathy. Green muscle is discovered by the green decaying tender of large breasted birds. You only see it when you cut open the bird. While green muscle is likely genetically predisposed, a high incidence rate is a signal that you should look for problems in the field.

Healthy Hearts, Livers, and Gizzards

Always examine the organs. Healthy livers have crisp edges, a uniform color, and are firm. Hearts should be firm, have a bit of fat on the tip, and muscular walls. The gizzard should be firm, large, and muscular. There's a good test when dealing the organs and judging their health. Ask yourself, "would I eat that?" If the answer is no, then there's a problem. Have some feedback? [email protected]